Thermometer location

[Founders1]

Hello friends this is my first time posting in the forum. I've been reading quite a bit of threads and learning quite a bit already. We've recently purchased a home. I have bought and installed my first hearthstone wood stove. It is the Phoenix model. The wood stove is currently located in the basement of a three-story and is doing a wonderful job heating the basement and main floor. I'm still researching the best way to move the heat around in hopes that it will reach the upper floor at some point. What I'm wondering at this point is where on my stove or pipe do I put the thermometer? Thus far I have had it on the black pipe that connects to the chimney. I have kept it may be 6 inches higher than the top of the stove. From what I've read I should be running the stove between 350 and 400 degrees and have been doing pretty well to stay in that range. I recently read that was recommended to put the thermometer on the center stone on top of the stove. When doing this the thermometer on the stove reads 200 degrees more than it does on the black pipe where I've had it in the past. I'm worried about over firing the stove and damaging it. Where I keep the stove around 400 degrees with a thermometer on the stove it doesn't seem to be putting out an incredible amount of heat. It does seem much more impressive. Any suggestions or advice on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance. Mark

 

[Squisher]

With a magnetic thermometer on single wall pipe. I believe you want to be more like 12-16" up.

 

[begreen]

6" above the stove on the pipe is too close according to Condar. They recommend no closer than 12" to the stove top. Eye level is ok. But a second thermometer on the stovetop is also important, especially on soapstone.

 

[jcapler]

I keep mine about 12-14 inches (give or take) from the top of the stove. Once in a while I move it to the top of the stove to see what the temp is. I have stopped doing this as much as I used to since purchasing a laser temp gun.
I try to keep my stove top around 600F but it does drop. My flue temp is usually around 300 when the stove is running 600-650. I just installed a new stove so I am trying to figure out the sweet spot ... Somedays I feel like I just can't win.

 

[DougA]

Buy an IR gun when it goes on sale for $20. Then, you can take accurate instant measurements all over the stove to find the hot and cool areas. My soapstone stove rarely gets over 500 on a stove top thermometer but the flue temps can be triple that.
I read this theory here : a flue thermometer tells you what's happening with your fire, a stove top thermometer tells you what's happening with your stove. You really want to know both.
Soapstone reacts very slowly and I have had a few over fires and the stove top a still sitting below 400.

 

[Founders1]

Buy an IR gun when it goes on sale for $20. Then, you can take accurate instant measurements all over the stove to find the hot and cool areas. My soapstone stove rarely gets over 500 on a stove top thermometer but the flue temps can be triple that.
I read this theory here : a flue thermometer tells you what's happening with your fire, a stove top thermometer tells you what's happening with your stove. You really want to know both.
Soapstone reacts very slowly and I have had a few over fires and the stove top a still sitting below 400.

Thanks for the response. If I put the magnetic thermometer in the Center of the Center stone I can get a reading of 600. If I move it to 24inches above the stove on the pipe it reads about350. The manual provides no recommendation on placement, but does say to run between 3 and 4hundred on the stove temp to avoid overfire. So when I keep the temp at 300 on the stove thermometer,center stone, it really doesn't put out much heat at all.not even enough to heat the room it is in.

 

[begreen]

Stove pipe readings and stove top readings mean separate things. The stove top reading is the temperature of the stone. You want to stay at or below mfg. guidelines for temp there. This is especially important for soapstone stoves. The stove pipe reading is a measurement of the temperature of the flue gases. This reading indicates how much heat is going up the flue. It helps to indicate when to start cutting down the air supply. It's also an indicator of how strong the draft is and clean the flue is going to stay. Single-wall pipe temp is measured on the surface. The surface temp will be lower than the flue gases inside. The flue gas will be 50-100% higher than surface reading. On double wall pipe the reading is take with a probe directly in the flue gas stream. No multiplier is needed.

Note that they make specific stove top vs stove pipe thermometers. The latter has colored or marked ranges that take into account the multiplier. Disregard the ranges if using a stove pipe thermometer on the stovetop. Go by the mfg. recommendation instead. You'll probably be running the stove top between 400-600F depending on the heating needs and the stage of the burn cycle.

 

[Dano25]

My imperial stove pipe thermometer wants me to place 18” up from collar. I️ only have about 15 or 16” available before it runs inside chimney. Does this mean I️ should subtract because it’s closer?


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[begreen]

It should be ok. Surface temps on a stove pipe are somewhat relative anyway.