What are you guys with inserts doing for thermometers? I have seen some on the stovepipe of people not using the surround and some in the center of the stove for people with the surround on. I have had my Napoleon 1401 for a year now and have yet to get a thermometer. I'm pretty used to running stoves as I had one growing up but it's always good to know what it's doing temp wise, plus I've never had an insert. So, where are you putting your thermometers and what kind of temps are we looking at? Obviously it's going to be different if it's put on top of the stove vs. the actual stovepipe. I have my surround on and the Mrs. will be keeping it that way(it does look way better) so my thermometer will have to go on the stovetop somewhere.
Inserts are always tough to place a thermometer. I aim my IR through the convection opening at the top of the unit. This way I get a reading from the top of the stove at the base of the exhaust outlet. A friend uses a digital thermometer with a remote probe. Snaked the probe to the base of the exhaust outlet and has the readout unit on a shelf off to the side. It also has high and low alarms so he knows if he forgot the air open or needs to add fuel. As with all wood stoves, including inserts, where you take the reading has an effect on what you get. The readouts become "relative" to what you normally get at that spot. They let you know at a glance how your stove is burning. Once you are used to the stove you probably already have a good idea how hot it is just by how it appears. They also come in handy when somebody else is watching the stove. If it goes above this temperature, close the air a little... And if the steel is glowing then you are probably too warm.... KaptJaq
Mine is a little easier because of it being a bay window style insert and I had to custom my surround back in because of the stone. Cat probe in front and magnetic on the side above the window. It's from Lehmans
For now I just shoot my IR at the stove. I have some room on my stove since it's a bay window stove, Quadrafire 4100. Over just not bothered to put a magnetic one on it.
On my insert, there was no place exposed to mount any kind of thermometer. With a huge door, the stove front was pretty much all door except for the top corners but they had an extra cast iron trim piece over top and contained the air intakes underneath, so this decorative trim piece was very cool. It's flush so no stovetop either. You either have to put a magnet mount in the blower slot oriented so some target temperature is pointed outward so you could tell of the dial was in the middle it was at Xº since you really couldn't read the scale. So I just got an IR and shoot it into the blower slot when I need to check temps. If you wanted to get fancy the best way to have it permanently mounted and displayed at all times would be to run a thermocouple with an external digital display.
