How hot can it go.

I'm having an issue with my Drolet ht2000. At night, before bed, I have been putting about 4 pieces of oak in stove. I allow it to catch on and turn down the damper. Even with the damper shut all the way off, my stove is approaching a surface temp of 650 to 700 degrees. I've already adjusted door for tighter fit. It's got a 6 in flu pipe to an outdoor 8 in masonry chimney. Is this too hot? What can I do?

 

If my stove is not hitting at least 650 ,it's not heating right and I'm not happy .
Do you have a stove pipe thermometer ?

 

No but I have an I R heat gun. Temp is usually between 350 to 400 degrees while stove is at 650 or so.

 

sounds like good numbers to me

 

Is That single wall pipe ? If so , it sounds like she is cruising along just right

 

I would think that 700° would be nothing to worry about on a steel stove.

 

x2
thats the limit on the WS soapstone Fireview

 

In the drolet instruction book, it says 250 to 450 on single wall pipe. It doesn't give any info on surface temp though. I just don't want to damage stove by running too hot.

 

My single wall pipe on the outside, runs from 325 to 400 most of the time.
My Lopi runs up to 700, 720 but once it hits 720 I turn the blower on and start cooling it down some.
I don't usually have to turn my air all the way off though.
Is your door gasket in good shape?
How long have you had the stove?

 

It's on its second year. I tried the dollar bill trick this morning and it was a little loose so I adjusted my door to fit tighter. Could it be that my draft is so strong it is somehow pulling air into stove?

 

By the way, no blower on stove.

 

Looks like your manual says that 450 is the limit for surface temp on the flue pipe and 900 on a probe type temp. The c cast baffle is good for 2000*
Doesn't sound like a problem

 

Modern tube stoves are far from airtight. Max temps are typically controlled by timing on closing the air, how tightly the wood is loaded, and not reloading too soon.

 

I'd guess that 800-850 would be the max. But it would be a good idea to check with the manufacturer unless someone comes along that knows for sure.

 

With the size of the wood box I just don't see how I could fill it up to top of fire bricks without it overheating. I turned the air off tonite at 500 degrees. Guess I'll try 400 next time. Do appreciate all the comments.

 

Play around with it when you have time to watch. You'll get a feel for how it will react.

 

I don't think you've exceeded any temp limits but your stove may still not be burning like you want it to. This year, our third with the Buck 81 we added a flu damper to help control airflow through the stove. I've found that it allows us to control outflow of exhaust gasses to slow the burn in the box instead of using reduction of the primary air to choke the fire down. I feel that the flu damper gives us the ability to fine tune our fire especially in very cold and high wind conditions when the draft may be more than we want with our 26' SS 6" flu. I also think we get a more efficient burn and thus more BTUs out of our wood. Got the damper at HD for about $20. Good luck.

 

Adding more wood doesn't necessarily increase max temperature, any more than filling your gas tank makes your car go faster. Loading technique can help you manage how quickly that wood heats up and starts off-gassing, and thus how hot the stove ultimately gets. I had some misadventures nearer the start of my learning curve, hitting 900F on the stove top a couple of times, but now I find that if I'm careful about loading then I can stuff it with serious high-BTU fuel and not have a problem. Careful loading means moving the coals either off to one side if I'm loading N-S or to the front if I'm loading E-W, so that I'm not piling new fuel directly on a dispersed coal bed that would light everything off at once. I'm also deliberate about how tightly the splits fit against each other, which affects how easily heat and flame can travel through the load, and whether the bottom-most splits are bedded in ash, which can act as a sort of gasket that prevents air and flame from getting underneath them.

 

Are you adding four splits to a hot stove? If so, that's generally a bad idea.

Not that your temps are too high. 650-700 is cruising temp for a lot of us. That's usually a peak for an hour or two, then drop back to the 4-500 range. At least with most non-cat stoves.

You might just have to try different things. I've found that if I catch it just right, I can keep my PE at 550 or less and still burn without smoke from the pipe.

 

Usually it is barely in the white on my condor gauge when I am loading it for the night. I'll try the ash trick. Thinking about adding a damper next year when I clean my flu pipe. Appreciate all the tips.