Stove Pipe Temps

the stove pipe how hot isnt it supposed to get? the manual says not to let it get beyond 500 degrees I have a Harman sf 250 I did burn some wood in it. it burns well the fan is a little louder than exspected but I can live with it. so if a stove puts out say 55,000 btus a hour the pipe temps shouldnt reach 500 degrees and if your stove puts out 100,000 btus a hour it shouldnt reach 500 degrees if the stove puts out more heat then how can the pipe stay the same as a stove that has less heat out put..

When the stove is putting out only 40-50K, the pipe will be at around 250-350*

In really big stoves, the pipe is bigger, say 8" instead of 6" so the temp stays lower with the higher BTU output.

You won't see 500* unless you are making the stove really cook!!

Greg L

i cant imagine this stove doing what it realy does best . it says you can fill it up with wood and fill it up till the top of the fire brick with coal, and coal burns hotter than wood . I had the thing not even filled up all the way and it was burning like hell in there, actualy got kind of worried lol!!

I have a Harman fireplace insert and don't even know how to begin to set-up a stove pipe temp gauge.

Here's my stove: Here's My Harman Insert (Pics)...

Can I install one on my setup??? How difficult is it? And since my pipes and such are hidden behind decorative panels/chimney....How would I be able to read it regularly? Remote sensor?

Thanks Folks!

Big Chunk, don't forget that you were just playing around, esperimenting with the stove. You were not in the middle of the heating season with a month or two of burning experience under your belt and just heating the house.. When you have a big load of wood in the stove, you need to feed it lots of air to get going, then you need to back the air way down to make the fire last a reasonable length of time.

With coal, you will get a fire established, and just add fresh coal to the top of the coal bed, let the fresh coal catch, then shake the ashes out of the bottom of the coal bed. The air setting will only vary with heat requirements. Not with fresh fuel.

Coal is a very steady-output heat source. You will be amazed how you will be able to regulate the stove once you learn it's characteristics.

Many coal users write down the outside air temps and the air setting that keeps the house comfortable. Then just match the weather with the air setting from your notes and you are good for the night.

Greg L.

ok Ls farm, I will keep that in mind. Thanks for your help.

hey Bigchunk,i heated with wood all my life until last year when I went with coal,what I have learned is...i wish I switched along time ago,but also is with wood more heat goes up the flue than with coal and to get the same BTU output you have to run a hotter fire,like gregg said...more air so the flue temps will be higher.i found with wood stack temps around 400-450 wasnt un common...with coal I feal the same warmth with stack temps around 250-300...i have a shorter chimney than most so I have to run my draft alittle more open than some do.some guys on here run stack temps around 150. one thing tho....if you leave your ash door open too long,it wont take long for the temps to get...500 and it takes longer for it to cool down when you close the door with coal than with wood...and I can tell ya....when it gets that hot....things smell funny!

ok I will remember that , see I had a fire going and felt a little silly about it, but needed to do so cause the house was a little chilly been 30 at night and the house is cooling off a bit. so I had started a fire two seperate occasions. the second fire I had was larger than the first . I used kindlin to start it, being a boyscout growing up I do know how to start a fire, so besides all that, I got one going and used a wood product called bio brick , not trying to give the product a plug by the way, the fire had gotten very should I say impressive. and the amount of fuel that the stove says it can handle wasnt nearly to its handleing ability. maybe it was pure excitement and some adrenilin but I got concerned cause I suppose some woodstoves that I know of cant accept the amount of wood or coal that my stove can. and im not trying to sound obnoxtous about the product I purchased cause I bought the stove with a large heat capacity for the reason of heating a large area. but man the flames were just a rolling in there and I was concerened about them going right up the chimney I was very conscience about the draft control and monitored the air intake very carefully, when I was a kid I was home alone with a chimney fire and know what one sounds like, so im very smart about it. don't want one in my home. if others with sf 250s in there living areas could tell me to what exstent they fill theres up that would be great and others with hand fired stoves how much they fill theres up that would be great as well , and hey how about some stories of over filling them and what has happened . don't want to bring up any bad feelings of major trageties just some story time. thats all plain and simple.

bigchunk wrote:if others with sf 250s in there living areas could tell me to what exstent they fill theres up that would be great and others with hand fired stoves how much they fill theres up that would be great as well , and hey how about some stories of over filling them and what has happened .

Whether you need a little or a lot of heat, always fill your stove to the top of the firebrick. Anthracite needs a deep bed to burn properly, you will have better control and less upsets filling it than trying to run it with less fuel. You can run wood like that, but not coal. Fill it completely and regulate the draft for heat output.

I bought these little remote Temp. Probes, just took out a sheet metal screw and pushed the probe into the hole in the pipe. Works great, 10 foot leads.

http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/Panel_mount_Rem ... W-90205-26

I have one in the flue Temp and one in the Heat Duct to upstairs to keep an eye on things.

Cool! Thanks WNY!

But......How far away from the stove should I put the probe?

Thanks!

Gary in Pennsylvania

bigchunk wrote:the stove pipe how hot isnt it supposed to get? the manual says not to let it get beyond 500 degrees I have a Harman sf 250 I did burn some wood in it. it burns well the fan is a little louder than exspected but I can live with it. so if a stove puts out say 55,000 btus a hour the pipe temps shouldnt reach 500 degrees and if your stove puts out 100,000 btus a hour it shouldnt reach 500 degrees if the stove puts out more heat then how can the pipe stay the same as a stove that has less heat out put..

If its a double wall pipe, its not going to get too hot on outside--you would be able to touch, even if stove is 500 degrees.

Gary the probe should be in the pipe if you have a 6" put in 3" so it is in the middle of pipe 8" would be 4" inside the middle of the pipe is the hottest part . you will get the most accrete temp reading

Berner.....Understood......But how far away from the stove should the probe be? Two feet? Three feet? Eighteen inches?

Thanks!

Gary in Pennsylvania

Gary, I think we have a communication problem. The probe has to go in the area you want to monitor the temperature of. So the probe to measure the flue temp needs to go in the flue pipe.

Now the readout, the plastic box with the LCD screen can be up to ten feet away with the 10' wire lead that comes with the thermometer.

If you want to monitor the room temp, just place the probe where you want to pick up the temp. Or outside the window for outside temps. Put the plastic readout boxes where you can see them...

I think this will answer your question... ?

Greg L