St criox owners please help

[RobertNH]

I would never point my IR thermometer at the end of the pull rod for the exchanger rake for starters.

As somewhat of an approximation I would put a thermocouple in the center of each (along with an air flow meter) air outlet and then you would discover that each tube gives a different reading for each device depending upon where in the line from the convection or combustion fan it is and how much crud is on the exchanger.

You also need to understand that the volume of air being pumped through each tube is different and that total heat produced is not a function of the temperature of a single spot on the stoves metal surface.

Find a book on heat transfer and bone up on differential equations.

If you cut the combustion air too low the stove could indeed go to overheat, it can also cause various parts to degrade such that they fail early and often. At the other end having too much combustion airflow can send a lot of heat up the flue.

You can measure what ever you want, but what you measure will not likely amount to the heat produced by the stove and further that temperature will slowly degrade as the stove cruds up.

If placed... What should it read?
I'll give ya a 20 point spread...
Smokey, I'm not trying to be a pain in the butt here, yet you have a good running stove right?
To give a baseline temp on what you're running, at any point of ease you wish.
What's it doing?

 

[RobertNH]

We have a good day coming today.
With the old stove, I had to vacuum it out everyday..
Weekly seems about right for this one, since I've only had to empty the ash pan a couple of times so far.

So, how often do you folks do a basic vacuum?
And, How often do you open up the covers and go in deep?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

The stove barely gets out of grunge mode with the weather conditions around here lately, maybe I'll shoot some readings just for giggles I judge by having a warm cave and pay zero attention to measuring at the stove (go see this thread https://www.hearth.com/talk/posts/1841227/ and read).

Besides I have very little in the way of fine control and in one area none at all.

There are no fuel feed trims except for firing rate 1 and no damper or air trim at all. My stove also operates at close to the maximum EVL for the vent that is on it.

But and here is the real thing I'm warmer at much lower temperatures than a lot of others and from a basement in a 2688 square foot house that has over 1800 square feet open to the stove, the remainder is a garage under that is taken care of by heat loss from the domestic hot water system. I run no fans other than the ones on the stove and my stove runs in hi/low on a t-stat with firing rate 3 of 5 set for high and depending on how cold it is outside 1 or 1+ for low.

I clean my stove once a week on Thursdays when the boss is gone so if I make a mistoke and dump a bit of smoke she doesn't have to use her inhaler. I have as a test burned 26 bags in grunge mode without opening the door.

Set the stove up according to the manual, keep it clean and it will keep you warm if you sized it correctly for your house.

.

 

[RobertNH]

The differences Smokey between my old Forrester and the New Gal in town are huge.
The Forrester I vac'ed daily and with some connections I made up, I went fairly deep.
Hell, I had to empty the vent pipe clean-out weekly..

This one I pull the cleaning rods daily and smile.
I'm also on a weekly schedule for basic clean-up.
Figure to go deep at the end of the season.
I have nothing in the vent clean-out..
I'm getting much happier now that I'm past the Factory defect!

I seem to be at the temps that we all talked about earlier in this thread and thank you all for the input.
Measuring the temp from the end of the pull rod came from the Factory Tech.
I believe he was also looking for a basic point to take a reading and compare.
6 to 8 inches away and straight on is how he suggested.
Dis-appointment was he couldn't tell me a range it should be in at any given setting.