Think I just overfired my stove

[GrendelShooter]

We’ve had our Lopi Endeavor for a few months now and have loved it! We heated exclusively with wood through all of December here in western Oklahoma and it cut our electric bill in half! Very impressed and it’s a beautiful piece to boot! We’ve since added a heat barrier and some other accoutrements to make it very cozy.
Getting ready to burn overnight tonight and instead of filling it with larger logs (we burn oak and black locus) I used up the last of a small pile. Stuffed it full of smaller pieces. Figured it would burn hot but shorter and warm the house well enough.
Well it did burn hot-hot enough that the cook top started glowing red. FREAKED me out! I closed off the air and opened the dampers to cut off the secondary burners. Then opened up all the windows in the room where it’s located to try to bring down the ambient temp slowly to cool it off. It worked and the stove is no longer glowing.
So the thing that disturbed me the most was the feeling of helplessness-this is an element gone amok in a steel box in my living room. I don’t want this to happen again but I’m still a novice, so it might.
Is there a way to cool off a stove that is in the process of over firing? I tried looking at the links here that were stickied but I kept getting “too many redirects” errors.
Any and all adevice would be appreciated. Thanks all.

 

[Woody Stover]

If you opened the bypass and it killed the secondary, then you cut the air and the flames slowed down and the stove cooled, you were still in control.
If you load a bunch of small stuff on a big coal bed, the wood will gas off fast and result in very strong secondaries.
How long was it glowing?

 

[Woody Stover]

I've read that you can shovel ash or sand into the stove to smother the fire. Some say that opening the door will cool the stove but you'll have flames shooting up the pipe and would overheat it if you kept it up. If it's just cheaper single-wall, guess I wouldn't be as concerned. I don't think you'd have to keep the door open for too long to cool the stove some, maybe a minute would do it. Better hope you've been burning dry wood; If your chimney is gunked up and you open the door like that, you might have a chimney fire on your hands, too!

 

[begreen]

If it's just cheaper single-wall, guess I wouldn't be as concerned. I don't think you'd have to keep the door open for too long to cool the stove some, maybe a minute would do it.

Once the door is open the inrush of cool room air drops the temperature. This can take 2-5 minutes, though it will seem like forever. Ask member Dix.

 

[begreen]

s there a way to cool off a stove that is in the process of over firing? I tried looking at the links here that were stickied but I kept getting “too many redirects” errors.

If you have a fan you can point to blow across the stovetop that helps or run the built-in blower if the stove has one.

Stuffing a firebox with a lot of small stuff is generally not a good idea. It's going to take off in a hurry. Doing this on a hot coal bed might cause the fire go nuclear. One needs to turn down the air aggressively and soon. Put large logs on the fire for overnight.

 

[ColdNorCal]

When our stove gets runnin too hot, I point a large box fan at it.

For practice once, when stove temp was only ~500, I opened the door and flames came out of the door opening. I didnt like it, it looked and felt very wrong in sooo many ways. Box fan...

 

[Ludlow]

Lots of people claim to overfire their stove. Few say their stovetop was glowing. I think we finally have a winner!

Hopefully the stove is OK.

 

[blades]

i have had one over fire in some 25 odd years, how did i know it ws overfired? well when your double walled flue pipe in side the mobile home is slightly glowing in a darkend room for about 2 ft of its length I think that qualifies. Later upon closer inspection ( when cold of course) the top of the fire box had been deformed, I still have that stove and it still works fine. in this case the external portions of the stove never attaind the exciting dull red glow- but it sure scared the everliving out of me at the time. Fuel was 4x4 cutt offs from a pallet company supposedly hard wood- well very hard conifer type lot of resin on that stuff. all I could do was wait it out after closing both the main and the secondary air controls. 1980 mobil home if they caught on fire all you do is run away. they basically implode and melt down in apx 4 hours. which is what happen a few doors away about a week before- electrical short. 2 am in morning.

 

[wagne223]

We’ve had our Lopi Endeavor for a few months now and have loved it! We heated exclusively with wood through all of December here in western Oklahoma and it cut our electric bill in half! Very impressed and it’s a beautiful piece to boot! We’ve since added a heat barrier and some other accoutrements to make it very cozy.
Getting ready to burn overnight tonight and instead of filling it with larger logs (we burn oak and black locus) I used up the last of a small pile. Stuffed it full of smaller pieces. Figured it would burn hot but shorter and warm the house well enough.
Well it did burn hot-hot enough that the cook top started glowing red. FREAKED me out! I closed off the air and opened the dampers to cut off the secondary burners. Then opened up all the windows in the room where it’s located to try to bring down the ambient temp slowly to cool it off. It worked and the stove is no longer glowing.
So the thing that disturbed me the most was the feeling of helplessness-this is an element gone amok in a steel box in my living room. I don’t want this to happen again but I’m still a novice, so it might.
Is there a way to cool off a stove that is in the process of over firing? I tried looking at the links here that were stickied but I kept getting “too many redirects” errors.
Any and all adevice would be appreciated. Thanks all.

I am also a novice operator. What I have learned is this.
When the stove conditions are ripe for an overfire ,such as in your case, the normal reaction is "cut the air" however by closing off the primary air you are actually retaining heat in the stove.
The only way to choke a stove fire is to make a plug that completely blocks the air inlet. Both the primary and secondary. Of course this must be done in advance of a panic situation.

What you need to do is increase the air so more heat goes up the flue. After opening the air control, you can also slowly open the door. That will kill the secondaries and allow a tremendous amount of heat up the flue.

Those steps will cool the firebox, but cooling the stove takes time and can only be done by moving air across and around it.

I too have read on here about shoveling ash or sand on the fire but I have no experience with that.

As always, keep your stove gloves by the stove, have a functional fire extinguisher nearby and have functional smoke detectors in the house.

 

[Woody Stover]

Lots of people claim to overfire their stove. Few say their stovetop was glowing. I think we finally have a winner!
Hopefully the stove is OK.

I've read quite a few "glowing stove/parts" posts here over the years. If, like some, you are OK with running your stove 750+, it's not all that far to 900, where metal starts to glow. Unless light in the room is low, you might not see it until it got well over 900.
The OP didn't say if he was out of the room, then came back and saw it glowing, or what actually happened. I usually have a phone or desktop comp timer set, in case I get distracted..
Stove is probably OK. I assume that the front portion of the step-top is what was glowing, and that's a smaller section that might not warp as easily..

how did i know it ws overfired? well when your double walled flue pipe in side the mobile home is slightly glowing in a darkend room for about 2 ft of its length I think that qualifies.

If you just have the air open too far for too long on a new load, but the stove itself isn't too hot yet, you probably get away with no damage..

 

[molly1414]

I keep a zip lock gallon bag of baking soda in a cabinet close to the stove. If anything really bad happens you can open the door and throw the bag into the stove. Should smother most of the fire. Haven’t had to use it yet thankfully.

 

[Dix]

Once the door is open the inrush of cool room air drops the temperature. This can take 2-5 minutes, though it will seem like forever. Ask member Dix.

Yeah, that was one helluva fun evening, BG Had the house packed, and the critter crates ready to rumble. BUT, that was 9 years ago, I've learned not to freak unless really warranted

To the OP (and you have my sympathies )

" I used up the last of a small pile. Stuffed it full of smaller pieces. Figured it would burn hot but shorter and warm the house well enough. "

Well, you were kinda right. but don't do that again Welcome to the "learning curve". It can be a witch !

PS ... I think your stove will be fine. You, on the other hand, will take time to recoup !!

Keep breathing

 

[GrendelShooter]

Yeah, that was one helluva fun evening, BG Had the house packed, and the critter crates ready to rumble. BUT, that was 9 years ago, I've learned not to freak unless really warranted

To the OP (and you have my sympathies )

" I used up the last of a small pile. Stuffed it full of smaller pieces. Figured it would burn hot but shorter and warm the house well enough. "

Well, you were kinda right. but don't do that again Welcome to the "learning curve". It can be a witch !

PS ... I think your stove will be fine. You, on the other hand, will take time to recoup !!

Keep breathing

Dude you ain’t kidding.
We noticed that the stove was putting off a hellacious amount of light, so we got up to check it out and yup, glowing lower step top, and from the two air vents above it as well. Darned stove was HOT!
As you said the stove was fine, but I’m a bit more cautious now lol.
That learning curve

 

[Dix]

Welcome to the Forums, Dude !!

Dix is on your right (Sorry, just had to ! )