flue temperature sensor placement question

[donmac]

I have been considering adding a flue temperature sensor to my PE Summit insert. I cannot bring myself to drilling a hole in my stainless armor flex liner above the flue collar connector at the stove's exhaust opening.
My question is if I use an Auber thermometer with the washer sensor and place it (wedge it) between the liner and flue collar above a liner/flue collar attachment point, will it be effective? If no, other ideas? Picture attached shows connection area before insulation and block off plate installed.
Thanks

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

I have been considering adding a flue temperature sensor to my PE Summit insert. I cannot bring myself to drilling a hole in my stainless armor flex liner above the flue collar connector at the stove's exhaust opening.
My question is if I use an Auber thermometer with the washer sensor and place it (wedge it) between the liner and flue collar above a liner/flue collar attachment point, will it be effective? If no, other ideas? Picture attached shows connection area before insulation and block off plate installed.
Thanks

I do exactly that - washer style just shoved between the collar and the liner adapter. I don’t know how that measurement would differ from drilling a hole with a probe, but my setup gives a good consistent reading that I can base my actions on. You adjust to the data that you have and this works well for me.

Edit: That pic shows it attached to a screw on the outside. I got a better reading shoving it on the other side of the collar.

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[donmac]

You make a good point, I thought about mounting sensor behind the screw connecting the flue connector to the liner but that would place the sensor outside of the connector and the readings may not be as accurate as being directly against liner. Thanks for your input.

 

[EbS-P]

I’m with you on not wanting to drill a hole in my pre-insulated liner. I tried shoving the washer between the stove outlet and appliance connector but I thought the temps were significantly less than the stove top so I went back to the stovetop. It was on a cold start so that might have something todo with it. Placing between the liner and connector seems like a good place. I would like to see a temp comparison between the different locations and installed in the flue but not enough to put more time and money into it. I imagine different stoves would show different results and thus why the probe 18” above the stove is the universal way to install it.

Evan

 

[bholler]

I have been considering adding a flue temperature sensor to my PE Summit insert. I cannot bring myself to drilling a hole in my stainless armor flex liner above the flue collar connector at the stove's exhaust opening.
My question is if I use an Auber thermometer with the washer sensor and place it (wedge it) between the liner and flue collar above a liner/flue collar attachment point, will it be effective? If no, other ideas? Picture attached shows connection area before insulation and block off plate installed.
Thanks

I would just attach the probe with a screw. But honestly it looks like your chimney was not cleaned enough. And you need a block off plate.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

I would like to see a temp comparison between the different locations and installed in the flue but not enough to put more time and money into it.

I measure both the flue / collar and the stove top. My primary hi temp alarm is on the collar and that also controls my fan (on / off). My stovetop alarm is my backup hi temp alarm.

If I could choose just one to measure I would do the flue / collar. Originally I put it on the collar because the stove top was too sensitive to the fan. When the fan was off it would pretty much match an IR gun. When the fan was on it would drop more than 100F from where the IR would read. I tried a few ways to fix that. Finally landed on shoving the washer under a small piece of copper pipe that was shoved between the stovetop and the convective jacket. Now my stovetop readings are pretty close to the IR regardless of the fan.

On startup the collar gets hot much sooner and is a better indicator of how the fire is going at the moment. When it’s in cruise mode the stovetop runs much hotter and I think that’s to be desired - release the heat from the stovetop not up the chimney. Earlier today I measured 450F at the collar and 575F on the stovetop. If the stove stalls out from cutting the air too aggressively you’ll see that first in the flue temp even if the stovetop is still in a good hot range.




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[EbS-P]

I’m gonna give it a shot between the stove and the connector again. Thanks for the info.

I measure both the flue / collar and the stove top. My primary hi temp alarm is on the collar and that also controls my fan (on / off). My stovetop alarm is my backup hi temp alarm.

If I could choose just one to measure I would do the flue / collar. Originally I put it on the collar because the stove top was too sensitive to the fan. When the fan was off it would pretty much match an IR gun. When the fan was on it would drop more than 100F from where the IR would read. I tried a few ways to fix that. Finally landed on shoving the washer under a small piece of copper pipe that was shoved between the stovetop and the convective jacket. Now my stovetop readings are pretty close to the IR regardless of the fan.

On startup the collar gets hot much sooner and is a better indicator of how the fire is going at the moment. When it’s in cruise mode the stovetop runs much hotter and I think that’s to be desired - release the heat from the stovetop not up the chimney. Earlier today I measured 450F at the collar and 575F on the stovetop. If the stove stalls out from cutting the air too aggressively you’ll see that first in the flue temp even if the stovetop is still in a good hot range.




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[SpaceBus]

Great thread, I've been considering an Auber unit for a while.

 

[donmac]

I am going to mount the sensor on the flue collar using one of the screws attaching the collar to the liner. I don't have much room to go higher as I packed the area above flue collar with insulation before installing the block off plate. The picture shown is before I did that work. I have an IR gun but the insert surround does not allow access to get a good reading in that area. Thanks to all for input.