Does anyone have a recommendation for a side mounted (magnetic) thermometer for a cast iron stove? I will be seasoning a Jotul Oslo 500 later this fall. Piping is double walled, so I don't placement there. Instead, I was told to get a side mount or place in front of unit. I have see quite a few on Amazon. Which ones read fairly accurate and are meant to be on a cast iron?
Thermometer suggestions for cast iron stove
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Cast iron is not special. Any magnetic surface meter will work. I finally settled on the condar inferno as my favorite and bought two!
Jan Pijpelink
Minister of Fire
I also have 2 inferno's. They are very accurate compared to my IR gun. I think the best location on the stove is on the top as close as possible to where the stove pipe goes into the stove.
Jotul recommends putting the thermometer on the stove top at one of the 4 corners. It's figure 12 in the manual.
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Pretty sure you got some bad advice . . . as BeGreen mentioned the placement location for a surface mount thermometer on the Oslo is at one of the top four corners. In the first few years I experimented a bit and found that one or two of the corners were consistently hotter than the others (but not notably hotter).
I personally opted for a Condar thermometer which has been quite good and when tested against an IR thermometer was fairly close to the temps (within 25 or 50 degrees I believe it was).
These days I run a Condar probe style thermometer in the double wall pipe which I highly recommend as I find this to be a much better indication of how the fire is running. In truth, I use this thermometer almost exclusively to figure out when to open or close the air control. That said, I still have my old surface mount Condar thermometer which now hangs on the front top center lip. I don't consider the temp to be as accurate as being in the four corners, but I have a junk of soapstone on top and find that the surface mount thermometer still gives me a rough idea of how hot the stove is . . . usually if it seems like it's running hotter than normal it's a visual cue to me to dig out the IR thermometer and see if in fact the stove is getting too hot.
Yeah i use both as well but i go by pipe temp. The stovetop temp is just because i am curious. Now for next year i will be running a bk which will change that
That is how I have been running the stove for the past few years. Stove top temp can be deceptive, especially on a cold start up. It can lag while flue temps are very high. Now I start shutting down the air according to the flue temp and that can be with a stove top temp as low as 225º. With good dry wood I know it will continue to climb. If I waited for the stove top to reach 4-500º before turning down the air the flue temp would be over 1000º!
PS: Instrumentation is great, but use your senses too! Watch the fire and let it guide you.
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Thanks for the tips. I ordered an Inferno via Amazon. I'm just overly concerned about seasoning the new cast iron....so I appreciate the input.
I think the top back corners are the suggested location. They heat up the the quickest. Note, ever location on the stove will be quite a bit different temp. The locations will be proportional to each other. In the beginning you'll watch the temp gauge a lot, but after sometime a quick glance at the fire and you can predict the temp.
Burn in's are a number of small fire's with each proceeding fire a little hotter and longer. Start with a little wood and let it burn a complete cycle. Up to temp and back down to cold. It cures the stove cement. At some point you will hear a metal to metal snap. No issue, It's just the cast iron expanding.
Burn in's are a number of small fire's with each proceeding fire a little hotter and longer. Start with a little wood and let it burn a complete cycle. Up to temp and back down to cold. It cures the stove cement. At some point you will hear a metal to metal snap. No issue, It's just the cast iron expanding.
Ctwoodtick
Minister of Fire
Good point. I have an insert so can’t use a probe thermometer. I’ve been relying on a stove top thermometer in the air slot to get to 4-500 degrees and then turn down on cold starts and reloads. I will turn down sooner going forward. I’m confident my one year old heavy wall liner is fine- just has that yellow gold color you see with normal burning, but no need to push it.
You can use a remote thermometer like an auber on an insert to monitor pipe temp
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