At What Stove Top Temperature Do you Start to Worry?

I routinely get my stove top up to 700+ before cutting the air all the way, or nearly all the way off, which lets it drop into the 600 stove top range. It's a PE T5 which is a steel/cast iron jacketed stove. Steel stoves are able to take higher temps better or so I've heard, but I know the temps I routinely run in this stove probably wouldn't go so well with others. I've only ever seen parts inside the stove start to glow red once or twice, which to me was an obvious over fire but didn't take long to remedy once the air was cut off.

This is still a pretty new stove. I got it installed last January, burned from then on up until May. I run it daily now, nearly 24/7. I see no signs of damage to the baffle or any other internal parts. No cracks in firebricks. There is a very slight bow/warp to the baffle which is normal for the PE stoves.

I guess my question is, am I pushing this stove too hard by routinely getting it up to 700+ before knocking it down? I see some people getting worried when things go past 600. I consider that a cruising temp. And as the title asks, when do you start to worry about overfiring?

 

I start cutting the air back at 600 or so, and cruise at 500. Could probably cruise higher, but Mama starts to sweat!

 

due to a scary overfire many years ago I start sweating at temps over 600 and it ain't from the heat.

 

I think reading wood burning forums puts my mind at ease in some ways, and makes me nervous in other ways. Reading everyone's horror stories makes me think a bit more! The whole stove top thing doesn't make me too nervous, and even an overfire isn't a big deal in my stove because the fire is so easy to control with the air control. But it seems that a great cruising temp for some makes others totally paranoid. I think my stove purrs at 600-650.

 

Where is you thermometer placed?

 

Dang !!!! If I hit those temps on my stove top (old faithful Nashua) we'd be in our undies with the windows open !!

 

The actual stove top with the trivets swung out. Slightly left of the flue.

 

That's where mine is, too.

So, if the stove top is 650F.....
what is the temp of the actual flue gas?

I found this:
The normal operating temperature for the flex liner is 1000°F (540°C) in the United States and 1200°F (650°C) in Canada.
It has been tested for abnormal intermittent temperatures of 1700°F (927°C) for oil and
2100°F (1150°C) for solid fuels, should temporary appliance malfunction occur.

I would guess that even at stove top 700F, flue is still way under 2100F.

 

I keep it in the white and out of the red (outer band, photo below). At the current position it IR'd at 510, and the bottom of the white "Target Zone" is about 300-350 IIRC. I don't know if I have measured the top of the white yet, but I would guess it is about 800. Any time my stove has been that high has been short lived, such as restarts on hot coals. I run my flue below 900.

Englander does not give a max temp for the NC-30, but says that if anything glows, it is being overfired. Nothing but the burn tubes glow at my max temp, so my simple method works out for me. Just keep it in the white arc as much as possible. Thermometer is placed on the hottest point on the stove top, which for my installation is right in the center of the angle on the top.

 

I run my plate steel stove pretty hard. The manual doesn’t want external parts to glow but it is totally normal for the burn tubes to glow brightly even at relatively low stove temperatures.

I purposely get the stove to 700-750 and adjust the intake control to keep it there as long as possible. All the while my single wall flue temps stay under 400.

 

My stove top temp. rarely gets to 600F and it has never seen 700F. Just my opinion but I would not allow any steel, mechanical parts of the outside of a woodstove to sustain 800F; steel begins to fluoresce by 900F, and it loses a lot of its strength as well as beginning to corrode very rapidly at those temperatures.

Besides that, just my own personal opinion but if one needs to run stove top temps. that high (sustained at 700F and higher), a bigger stove is needed or the window(s) should be closed.

My stove spends most of its time with the STT in the 3XX to low 4XX F range. As my house is not properly closed-in, I require more heat than normal and so with temps. dropping to single digits, the STT has been above 500F recently and I would not hesitate to get into the 600F range, although I would probably stay below 650F, at least sustained temps. If the stove could not keep up with the house at that point, I would supplement with central heat (oil- fired boiler) or make some effort to seal up the worst parts of the outer shell of the house.

Brian

 

Here's where things are at right now. I got home, cleaned all the ash out, reloaded with kindling and 3 small splits. Stove hit over 600 and I choked the air down half way. This is within 30-40 mins with those 3 splits.

 

On just those couple of splits? Cool. What happens when you fully load to the roof?

I run my noncat at max output because I need the heat and I need more heat. I wish they made bigger stoves but the nc30 is about it and no wood furnace is clean burning enough to b legal in Washington. Not even the kuuma!

This is in the shop and the only source of heat. Luckily my home is much smaller and can be easily heated by a cat stove on low or medium output.

 

I get that maybe Lamppa hasn't spent the money that is takes to grease the WA. politicians pockets enough to get the VF "WA. approved"...but the test results that I seen, VF100 beats NC30 hands down as far as emissions go...you find something otherwise?

 

As far as temps go...I kinda watch the fire...if things are rolling good and temps climbed up pretty quick after reload...I will start to close things down at 600...STTs will continue to climb as the secondary burn settles in on "cruise" mode...and I expect it to hit 700* normally if I have the stove loaded up good...sometimes I even see it peak at 800*...which doesn't bother me much, but I will begin to monitor things more so at that point...ideally I don't want things getting too much hotter than that...but as previously mentioned, I wouldn't get too terribly excited unless I saw something external start to glow...then I'm on full alert!!

 

The manual states not to load above the firebrick which seems stupid to me unless you clean out ash/coals daily. I can get that thermometer maxed out pretty quick with a full load. Usually I'll let it creep into the red or around 700 then cut the air. Then it hovers around 600...then I go to bed.

 

The T6 runs anywhere from 450 to 600.
The Progress runs in the 450-500 range.
If the temps are 50-100 past those temps I start to get concerned.

 

I think most people load above the firebricks on the NC-30, I certainly do. I think a "high" load is better than a "wide" one, if you are not loading full.

 

No furnaces have passed the required cordwood test for furnaces in wa. Not that they couldn’t but they haven’t. A few boilers have been approved.