Fire is Too Hot?

[JUDGE1162]

I have a small quadrafire stove (2100 Millennium), that I use to heat my entire home and it does a great job, but recently I had a neighbor over for diner and he said I was running my stove TOO HOT. Which he said was a fire hazard and a waste of wood as the stove can not use all that heat and it just goes up the stack.

First, I have no idea on what temp I am running at, I looked at my owners manual and it said if they stove starts to glow or if the chimmney pipe starts to glow it is too hot, I have never had this happen, I tend to run my stove with the air vent fully open, he said based on the flame (full wall of flame could not see the wood) that it was running too hot.

This is not a friend it is the husband of my wifes friend so I don't know if he has a clue or if he was full of hot air.

I have a blower which I run must of the time, which cools the stove. From my understading on how a quadrafire stove works you want that wall of flame (burning off the smoke and unburnt gases.

 

[BuschLover]

I am new to this woodburning thing, but I do know you should be aware of what the temperature is at. I have a magnetic themometer on my jotul wood stove and monitor it. I know you will get replys from this site but if you need more answers check out hearth.com they have some really sharp people in the hearth room forum. Good luck

 

[PA. Woodsman]

I have a small quadrafire stove (2100 Millennium), that I use to heat my entire home and it does a great job, but recently I had a neighbor over for diner and he said I was running my stove TOO HOT. Which he said was a fire hazard and a waste of wood as the stove can not use all that heat and it just goes up the stack.

First, I have no idea on what temp I am running at, I looked at my owners manual and it said if they stove starts to glow or if the chimmney pipe starts to glow it is too hot, I have never had this happen, I tend to run my stove with the air vent fully open, he said based on the flame (full wall of flame could not see the wood) that it was running too hot.

This is not a friend it is the husband of my wifes friend so I don't know if he has a clue or if he was full of hot air.

I have a blower which I run must of the time, which cools the stove. From my understading on how a quadrafire stove works you want that wall of flame (burning off the smoke and unburnt gases.

I'd suggest that you get a thermometer like the other guy said and put it about eye-level on your stovepipe and burn it in the "safe" range as indicated on the thermometer. You can also put one on your stovetop, too. Good luck!

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Judge, I have the Quad 5100I and it sounds like your in the ballpark if your stove is running as described.

The only thing that dosent sound the same as my stove as far as you have described it is that I have to throttle my stove back to get the flames to cover the glass, that is assuming that you are talking about the cool downward flames across the glass.


The way I run mine is to throttle the stove back untill a room thermometer (I use a lil electronic job that records peak temp) reads its highest reading for a given burn/damper setting.(using similar wood and similar amount per load)



Once you find the damper setting that gives you the highest reading per load (This is why you want one that records the peak temp) you can just load the stove, get it burning, set the damper and your done untill you need to reload.



After doing this for a while you will be able to recognize what your flame should look like at peak efficiency.

 

[ciscoguy01]

Thermometer

I use this one on my stovepipe dude. But this link has several...

http://www.dukefire.com/stovethermometers.htm

 

[bearsfeat]

quadrafire

Hi there,

I used a quadrafire for 4 years in my last house. It was great, but in the first season I did warp the baffle plate because I left the air all the way in (fully open) to get the thing going and then forgot about it - oops. When I came down, a 4" diameter spot just in front of the pipe was cherry. I only saw it because it was night and the lights were out! I suggest you try looking at your stove while it is running full bore like you've described with the lights out. Either you are burning really wet wood and the heat is just not there (doesn't sound like that to me with your flame description) or you are and have been overfiring it.

With the stove cold, open the door and look at the baffle plate above the secondary air tubes. It should be flat left to right and front to back (except for the lip at a 30° angle).

After that happened to me, I bought a mag thermometer (and a new baffle) and adjusted the air to keep the stack temp in the safe range like the other poster suggested. The dealer where I bought the stove reccommended I put is 12" or so above the stove on the stack. Every fire I have required some throttling of air to keep the stack temp in the safe range.

Hope this helps!

Happy winter.

-bearsfeat

 

[IndyIan]

I would say you're over firing a bit, I have a mid size regency stove with about 16' of straight chimney and I don't ever run it wide open unless I've got some wet pieces. I have a thermometer I keep on the top of the stove and I like to keep it above 600F but under 800-900F. At the upper temperature range with the air intake set right I can throw in a couple pieces of junk mail and it will take over a minute to completely burn. You can see every btu being extracted out of the paper.
You're shooting alot of hot air up the chimney which is being replaced by cold air somewhere in your house so you are wasting quite a bit of wood. Running your stove too cold is not good either so it takes a bit of practice.
Ian