how hot do you let your fire get in your wood stove i was told to let it get 800 to 1000 degresse so their is not much cresote sooot build up
800 is pushing a plate steel stove, stove top. I'd not get it above that. 675-700 for a soapstone. Better to monitor pipe temp to control creosote. I monitor both, + cat temp.
Depending on need I try to stay between 500°F & 700°F. Much higher and some of the steel will start to glow red. Your best creosote controls are if your wood is well seasoned and you have either an internal flue and/or your flue is insulated. Keep the flue gases warm and dry and you will not have a problem. KaptJaq
I have an insert and the only way I can measure stove top temp is with an IR gun through the top vent at a low, glancing angle. I don't know enough about IR guns to say how accurate a measurement method that might be, but I intentionally run it at 500-750 depending on the weather. Unintentionally I've gotten readings a bit over 900 a couple of times right around the flue exit, but it hasn't seemed to hurt anything.
Perfect. Internal flue temps of 800-1000 won't hurt anything, though wasteful. Stove top temps that high could make stuff glow, and prolonged high temps might start warping parts and popping welds. Magnetic thermometers aren't always super accurate or responsive. My IR shows big variations in temps, even in an inch or two in different places on the stove. I keep a magnetic on both stoves, but if I'm concerned about high temps, I pick up the IR.
Which is exactly what the previous owners did with our old Ashley step-top steel stove. I had the thermometer pegged many times before discovering that little gem of a problem. No idea what the actual temp was, but the stove never glowed. If I'd known better at the time, that stove would have been replaced.
Yeah, at 800-1000 you wouldn't have to worry too much about creosote buildup! Though, it may open the possibilities of another worry or two! Clearance to combustibles anyone?
Good on you gunny for asking this question. Stove manufacturers will give recommendations on how high of a temperature you should never get above. It can be different for different stoves. In our case, the Fireview soapstone has a 700 degree maximum recommendation. We know many have exceeded this and we have but only by a few degrees. Most of the time in winter we have the stove top at 500-650 or even closer to 700. Now about the creosote build up, that is old school talk and it is sadly out of date. Get your wood dry and if you have a good chimney, you won't be fighting creosote with today's stoves. In fact, you will not have to clean the chimney as often either because today's stoves burn super clean.....if your fuel is good. Burn bad fuel and you'll get bad results. I usually ask if people would intentionally put poor fuel in their cars or trucks. Well, why would anyone put bad fuel in a wood stove and expect to get good results? It won't happen. Get on the 3 year plan and no worries. In fact, you will burn less wood and get more heat.
Yeah 500-700 is about where I try to burn. I have burned higher but I get that "you're burning too hot" smell and years ago I made the Fisher glow red. I'm definitely not going to do that again!
I run the noncat Englander up around 750 on purpose. Measured at the hottest place. That stove seems to settle at that temperature and the paint has not faded, no parts glowed, at that temp. In the house I have a blazeking cat stove that spends most of it's life at 400 degrees stove top temp. I have seen it as high as 650 during manufacturer recommended burn outs.
nc 30 depending on feed,try not peak over 700 when I leave in morning mostly into cruising around 500
Yeah, me too. Then I open all 3 doors on my Oslo and start banging out horse shoes on the top of it just for the heck of it.
Surface temp? If so, I'm surprised it hasn't pooled up in a low spot of the yard yet. That's above the melting temp of.....everything
I run my Osburn no higher then 450, that is the max recommended by Osburn. I have good wood and no creosote problems.
