How do I use a woodstove thermometer?

I don't have a choice -

Because it's a soapstone stove, it naturally loses heat very slowly -

When we wake up in the morning, we still have lots of hot coals -
So, it's on a slow, low burn all night -

Maybe we should be re-stoking it all night to keep it hot?

I cannot believe that the temp on the surface of your stove , which is on top of a stone, gives you a hotter temp reading than the temp at the single wall stovepipe.

At any rate, you can put the dern thermometer any where you want...it makes no differrence: on top of the stove is as good as 1 ft up the stove pipe which is just as good as eye level on the stove pipe. Yes, you are going to get a slightly different temp reading at these possible thermometer locations. The temp that is important is the temp of the flue gases as they leave the chimney outside. So, where ever you decide to put the thermometer, you are going to have to do some experimentation to correlate the temp of the thermometer with the temp of the flue gases as they leave the chimney.

So, lets say that you place the thermometer at eye level on the stovepipe and the reading is 350ºF. You find at this temp that your chimney cap is filling with creosote and/or icicles are hanging from your chimney. You make a mental note to yourself that a 350ºF thermometer reading is not hot enought. Burn the fire hotter, maybe to obtian a 450ºF reading. You notice that the icicles are melting or the chimney cap is not collecting creososte. Make a mental note to yourself that this is a good temp to burn the stove at.

Do you understand where I'm coming from? There are so many variables that affect the temperature and the cooling of flue gases that any one temp is not suitable for everyone (ie, one size does not fit all!). Eventually you'll gain enough experience to know your optimum temp for your situation...location of the thermometer makes little difference.

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This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....

Yes, thank you -

I must be burning it hotter than I was, because I'm going through wood like crazy

I guess that's a good thing!

We burn slow overnight as well. First thing early AM we stoke it up and get a very hot burn going and maintain that for awhile.
We also are vigilant about cleaning the flue and haven't noticed much buildup.

I think one of the keys is to use well seasoned wood. Burning green wood is a recipe for creosote.

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"They laughed, because he was different"

"He laughed, because they were all the same"

How often do you clean your flue??

[sounds like I'm getting fresh with you - LOL]

Our stove was a total new install this fall. It's been burning 24/7 since early November with the exception of one time that I had to take the flue apart to install a in flue damper. We have had over draft problems so we put the flue damper in. This was a couple of weeks ago. When I took the flue apart I inspected it for buildup and was pleased to see very little. We ran a brush through it and didn't get much out of it.

I think burning it hot each morning makes a big difference.

Going forward, I think cleaning the flue once during the burn season and once in the spring or summer when it's not used will be sufficient.

I sure don't know how I'd be able to use this stove if I didn't damp it down at night. It would burn down to coals in a few hours and I'd not get the consistent heat performance I need and that the stove can deliver.

Perhaps I'm all wrong, but a low burn doesn't seem to be an issue here.

Do you like your Hearthstone stove? Which model did you get?

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"They laughed, because he was different"

"He laughed, because they were all the same"

Yes, we love it -
We got the Heritage model

Very nice.

We agonized over the plain cast iron Bennington and the various soapstone models. We really liked the look of the soapstone but decided a flat black cast iron would fit the look of the room better.
We also liked the size of the stove and your's is just about that size too.

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"They laughed, because he was different"

"He laughed, because they were all the same"

What we really like about the size is that it can hold a 21 inch log -
less cutting - less splitting -
And the side door is very convenient -

We have our thermometer about 2' above the stove on the single wall pipe. We have a hearthstone soapstone. It is nice but too small. We can only put in about 15" wood. We plan on trading it on a larger stove for next year.

I wouldn't know what it reads at night. I'm sleeping.

Seriously though, I load the stove up full and burn it wide open until it is VERY hot. Then I damp it down to about 1/3rd air, in two stages if I'm feeling motivated, one stage if I want to get into bed.

In the morning (8hrs later) I have a few coals left, just enough to pile on some kindling and start a new fire. BTW I save the best wood for the overnight burn. (Oak, oak and more oak) Everything else gets burnt during the day.

Pete

We use some big chunks of oak at night also