left the ash door open, fell asleep....

oooopsss.... i was getting her hot again after a low day, had the face at 185*, every 5 minutes i would go check it and add some coal if the blues were up, added a good amount of pea on top, waited again....... fell asleep in the recliner 8 feet from the stove... woke up to a 110* room, and stove pipe, stove top and stove face were all over 850.. banking bar was glowing bright, coal was bright like the sun. burnt the hair on my arm as i shoveled in another layer which caught instantly.. shut down the primary opening and kept the load door open, she cooled down pretty quick.. didnt even have the chance to laser it and if i did im sure it would have said much more then 850*.... next morning woke up to a 250* degree stove, 80* basement and 75* upstairs... shook down just as well as it ever did. i was probably sleeping for about an hour..... never do that again but im very impressed with the Gibraltar. no warping, all the grates are still straight... even the retaining bars are good... very impressed..... ooops.

It happens...good thing you caught if fairly early!

if you have one of those magnet thermometers, or even just a magnet, on the side of the stove it falls off around the 950-1050 degree temperature. Been there a few times But I will say if you are nearby you will hear it fall, kind of a cheap alarm clock. Wood and soft coal get hot a lot quicker than anthracite.

You dont want it to cool down real fast either as rapid temp changes can crack cast iron too. Just close the stove up and let it go down slow. Im glad you woke up!

warminmn wrote: ↑

Mon. Apr. 08, 2019 11:49 am

if you have one of those magnet thermometers, or even just a magnet, on the side of the stove it falls off around the 950-1050 degree temperature. Been there a few times But I will say if you are nearby you will hear it fall, kind of a cheap alarm clock. Wood and soft coal get hot a lot quicker than anthracite.

You dont want it to cool down real fast either as rapid temp changes can crack cast iron too. Just close the stove up and let it go down slow. Im glad you woke up!

good to know! i think i had the pipe magnet fall one time. the stove isnt cast its double wall 1/4" sheet metal im pretty sure, maybe a little thicker.
so with it being able to handle such high temps, and in your case even higher, does that mean i could run in the 750-800* range?? normally dont let her go over 650*

Rather than replace thermometers, why not one of these ?
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-Timer/189539043

I use these Walmart Mainstay digital timers to remind me whenever I leave stove dampers open. They are small, light weight, and clip onto your shirt pocket or button flap. The clamp has two small points so it won't slip off fabric. And the beeper is nice and loud for those of us with older ears.

At less than a dollar apiece. it costs more to replace the battery, so I buy several so that when the battery eventually wears down (lasts for many months) I throw it out and use the next one.

Paul

ratherbeflying wrote: ↑

Mon. Apr. 08, 2019 12:15 pm

good to know! i think i had the pipe magnet fall one time. the stove isnt cast its double wall 1/4" sheet metal im pretty sure, maybe a little thicker.
so with it being able to handle such high temps, and in your case even higher, does that mean i could run in the 750-800* range?? normally dont let her go over 650*

No, you dont want to run it in the 750-800 range all the time but it will happen sometimes accidently or when loading. If you have to run a stove over 500 a lot (as a cruising temp, not just when loading) then the stove is possibly too small for the house. You lose a lot of efficiency with most stoves running them that hot. My stove is an old wood stove I converted and will take a beating. When I burned wood and was gone 12 hours and came home when -20 below I didnt screw around running it at only 400 I sure dont miss burning wood in the cold part of the year...

SB's recommendation is wise. But I think I'll always have a heavy magnet on my stoves just in case. If your stove gets hot enough to drop the magnet its getting close to turning red hot. I have a tin base under my stove so its pretty loud. Hopefully you'll never get your stove that hot.

warminmn wrote: ↑

Mon. Apr. 08, 2019 12:49 pm

No, you dont want to run it in the 750-800 range all the time but it will happen sometimes accidently or when loading. If you have to run a stove over 500 a lot (as a cruising temp, not just when loading) then the stove is possibly too small for the house. You lose a lot of efficiency with most stoves running them that hot. My stove is an old wood stove I converted and will take a beating. When I burned wood and was gone 12 hours and came home when -20 below I didnt screw around running it at only 400 I sure dont miss burning wood in the cold part of the year...

SB's recommendation is wise. But I think I'll always have a heavy magnet on my stoves just in case. If your stove gets hot enough to drop the magnet its getting close to turning red hot. I have a tin base under my stove so its pretty loud. Hopefully you'll never get your stove that hot.

I forgot to mention ,... those little Walmart timers also have a magnet on the back,.... just in case you'd rather hear the timer hitting the floor.

And it'll give another warning that the thermometers don't - the smell of burning plastic.

Paul

Yep, got the bases covered there!

It's not the same thing, but, being an old fart, I have to tell the story. We had about 10 of those big, three-inch round candles scattered around after Christmas one year. I thought it would be pretty neat to clump them all together on the mantle, and light them up. So I did. Then I fell asleep. Pretty soon the heat accumulated, and they all started to melt down into one big mass, wax flowing all over and every wick was flaring up really big and smoky. My wife came in just in the nick of time, interrupted my cozy nap, and we managed to blow them out. There was a big waxy sooty patch on the ceiling, and a little singed wallpaper, but that was it. We got out of it lucky.

I'll remember to stick a magnet to them next time.

rberq wrote: ↑

Mon. Apr. 08, 2019 4:07 pm

I'll remember to stick a magnet to them next time.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

warminmn wrote: ↑

Mon. Apr. 08, 2019 12:49 pm

No, you dont want to run it in the 750-800 range all the time but it will happen sometimes accidently or when loading. If you have to run a stove over 500 a lot (as a cruising temp, not just when loading) then the stove is possibly too small for the house. You lose a lot of efficiency with most stoves running them that hot. My stove is an old wood stove I converted and will take a beating. When I burned wood and was gone 12 hours and came home when -20 below I didnt screw around running it at only 400 I sure dont miss burning wood in the cold part of the year...

normally run between 200-450.. sometimes when its crazy cold outside shes up in the 500s.... when we had that cold snap of 3 days of -15* she was between 550-650, but the whole house was heated beautifully, downstairs was 85 upstairs was 72. so if it was colder out is it ok to kiss 700 for a few hours? or 750? or should i limit to 650?? with that being said for my area i would think the stove is perfectly sized...? i dont have a fan on it either, i would think i wouldnt have needed to run higher then 550 to do what 650 did if i had a fan...

Good one Rberq! Duct tape!

Im unsure ratherbeflying exactly how hot your stove can handle except I do think running 700 all day is too high. 600-650 maybe, but again Im unsure. Thats a lot of heat. If I have to run my large stove over 500 all day I just light my Chubby Jr and run them both lower.

ratherbeflying wrote: ↑

Mon. Apr. 08, 2019 5:17 pm

i would think i wouldnt have needed to run higher then 550 to do what 650 did if i had a fan...

I have used a pedestal fan for several years to distribute the heat more evenly. It blows above the stove, not on it. The noise was much less aggravating than a fan attached to the stove itself, but still disturbing. A few weeks ago I bought a 16-inch Rowenta pedestal fan, which really is extremely quiet on its slowest speed, and moves just as much air as my cheapo Lasko fans. The only drawback is, it's about three times the price of the Lasko, but worth it for the peace and quiet.
.

Silence is golden. Spend money on a quiet fan.

My parents had;
wind up "heat detectors?"?
These were wound up like an alarm clock. They had a glass "ampule"? That broke a desired temperature.
Is anyone familiar with these.