Optimum flue temp for my mutifuel stove.

grahamc2003

jeepjunkie wrote: »

I've never bother with a thermometer as once it is burning nicely I just keep it topped up so it's neither burning hard or slow.

Am I missing a trick :question:

Yes, I think you are, imv.

The heat radiated is a function of the (absolute) temperature to the power 4.

So the heat output is (very) non-linear with stove temperature. Burning hotter means getting more heat radiated for the amount of fuel burnt i.e. the stove becomes more efficient as it gets hotter from radiation consideration alone (and there are other considerations like more complete combustion as the temp rises which further increase efficiency).

This reason is why I always run my stove as hot as I can get it, and never choke off the air supply. If it's not too cold in the evening, I'll just run it full blast for an hour, and then stop fueling it and the residula heat keeps the place warm for the rest of the evening (the alternative is to run it all evening with the air choked off to cause a lower temperature, which overall releases much less heat via radiation for probably more fuel. The second method also deposits soot and tar in your chimney.

No idea what temperature mine gets to, but I haven't done any harm to anything yet. I'm sure some will think I'm in danger of causing a chimney fire, but I think there's a very low chance of that since I think what soot and tar is deposited soon gets burnt off anyhow.

Edit - I also think the reason some people have trouble heating their rooms with a (suitable) stove is possibly/probably due to using not sufficiently dried wood, where much of the heat generated is used to boil off the water in the wood rather than raising the temperature of the stove sufficiently to where it starts radiating sufficient heat).