Woodstove pipe temperature

[survriggs]

I have a Schrader wood stove with the pipe that goes vertical through the ceiling and into triple-wall stainless. I have a magnetic thermometer that attaches to the pipe. It gives an ideal temperature ( I think it is 300-400 degrees). My question is at what height above the stove should the thermometer be attached? There were no instructions for the thermometer. I have it 18" above the top now. thanks in advance for any information.

 

[Boondox]

That's about where I put mine.

 

[scott_vt]

The ones that I have seen are about 18" to 24" away from the exit of the stove, I think you should be fine were its at now. I dont have one on my stove but for the money they are a good investment!

scotty

 

[PA John]

Survriggs, I had a Hitzer wood stove with a vertical pipe. It was used for several years. The Pipe from the stove was double wall and became tripe wall stainless when it connected at the ceiling into the second floor. I think single wall would get awfully hot. You indicate a temp of 300-400 F. Put the double wall on and scrap the thermometer. PAJOHN

 

[db2]

Play it safe. A thermometer gives you an indication of the flue temperature. Too hot and you will ignite any creosote present. Even a chimney fire in a triple walled chimney is not a good thing. Use a probe type thermometer on single, double or triple walled pipe.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Highbeam]

You want the "ideal" temp to be maintained to prevent the formation of creosote. At that temp, the smoke is hot enough to prevent condensing on the pipe before it leaves the top. The real die hards actually have measured the temperature at the chimney outlet to know that the smoke hasn't cooled to the creosote point. I use the thermometer as a creosote prevention and efficient burn temp.

The temperature that is "ideal" varies on the installation. In general, a short chimney doesn't need the high stove temps to keep the smoke hot all the way out. The long chimney needs a hot fire to prevent creosote. Longer, well constructed, chimneys improve draft.

If your pipe is single wall then just above the stove is fine. If double wall or triple, I would plant it on the top of the stove which should be the hottest part. A decent chimney sweep will measure exit temps of the smoke so that you can discover your own ideal temp.

 

[PA John]

Dave, I agree that it's always better to be cautious. I have found that if you burn hard, a horizontial flue will stay cleaner than a vertical pipe to the chimney. If I had a temperature gage and saw it rising and heard the rush from the cresote fire I would close the air off to the chimney, open a window to get the smoke out, put the fire out in the stove. Then consider the fire department and hope the fire is contained within the pipe. I am not sure the temperature gage would be very helpful at this point. By the way--been there and done that.

 

[survriggs]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Put the double wall on and scrap the thermometer. PAJOHN )</font>
PAJOHN: Good idea but with the higher temps coming from the single wall pipe I believe I am reclaiming some of the heat that would otherwise be lost out the chimney with the double pipe. In fact I am trying to figure out some fabricated attachment with a small blower to reclaim even more of the pipe heat.

Thanks everyone for the helpful comments. I don't post very much but when I need to know something, tractorbynet is where I go. I've learned a lot from you guys.

 

[JimR]

You don't want to cool the pipe too much or you will lower the temperature to the point where you may creat creosote. If you burn one hot fire a day it will burn off any creosote in your chimney. My woodstove at the old farm has been running continuosely since December. I burn it off once a day by running it up in the 500-600 range for 20-30 minutes. Sometimes it has hit 700+ when I wasn't keeping a close eye on it. I only use a single wall pipe right into the chimney flue through the damper plate that I modified.

 

[survriggs]

JimR:
Point well taken. Seems like I read somewhere that if you burn an aluminum can in the stove it will loosen up the creosote so it will fall down into the stove. Anyone else heard of this or am I dreaming? I did burn one completely up Sat. morning but couldn't tell that it did a thing.