Flue thermometer

Peapods

IMO this is actually making me waste fuel.


I have had my aga little wenlock in since last Nov. No thermometer until this Sept. Last year we just burned at what felt comfortable temp (opened living room door when the room heated up to let the warmth upstairs) and had a tiny amount of soot from the sweep in Sept. All seasoned wood, lit well etc etc

Now I am so worried that I am burning regularly at just short of 'creosote' that I add fuel just to keep in the correct area. It is expecting me to burn at a far hotter rate than I did last winter - but can barely get close at 300 flue temp reading due to the heat given off. Even the plastic handle holds the heat. Theres no sooting of the glass, nothing to show I'm burning badly. I am confident with the air to the stove + airwash. (I follow Suki's advice and adapt as I see fit to my settings)

Should I really be that reliant on my flue thermometer?

Swipe

The flue temps only really matter during the first 60% of the combustion cycle. If your room is up to temp and your wood is mostly combusted just let the temperature drop and load the stove less frequently. If there is little or no smoke coming from your wood, don't stress it. If there was just a little soot and no creosote the last time it was swept then I think you are worrying over nothing. I'd just go back to how you burnt before.

A._Badger

Peapods wrote: »

IMO this is actually making me waste fuel.


I have had my aga little wenlock in since last Nov. No thermometer until this Sept. Last year we just burned at what felt comfortable temp (opened living room door when the room heated up to let the warmth upstairs) and had a tiny amount of soot from the sweep in Sept. All seasoned wood, lit well etc etc

Now I am so worried that I am burning regularly at just short of 'creosote' that I add fuel just to keep in the correct area. It is expecting me to burn at a far hotter rate than I did last winter - but can barely get close at 300 flue temp reading due to the heat given off. Even the plastic handle holds the heat. Theres no sooting of the glass, nothing to show I'm burning badly. I am confident with the air to the stove + airwash. (I follow Suki's advice and adapt as I see fit to my settings)

Should I really be that reliant on my flue thermometer?

I've posted the following link before. I think it makes a very persuasive argument.

http://www.woodheat.org/thermometers.html

Peapods

Thank you both, A. Badger that link is so helpful. I thought Id googled everything!

"setting you up for failure because steady-state burning is almost impossible to achieve"

This is absolutely spot on, I can't believe that didn't occur to me.

SG27

I rely on my thermometer. But I have no glass doors so unless I'm sitting next to the stove and judge the sound I have no idea how well it's burning.
Without it I would regularly go well into the 'too hot' zone. I don't know how bad it is to burn at that temperature though?