Maximum temperature of wood stove bodies... Does 230C seem quite low?

[carbs for arbs]

Hi

 

First up a confession - I have asked this on other forums...  But I'd be interested in some more opinions on the matter and there seems to be a lot of knowledgeable folk 'round here   

 

 

I'm curious as to what temperature the body of your stoves get to (anyone use a thermometer on the stove itself?).  And/Or - if you've read the manual that came with it - what the manufacturer species as the maximum?  The reason I ask is because we've narrowed our search down to the Woodwarm Fireview.  I was reading through the manual online and it says the maximum stove body temp is 230C.  That seems quite low to me.  A quick glance at some of the stove thermometers out there and I see they show an optimum burn range.  One has this at 150-300C, another at 200-350C.  The Woodwarm made thermometer shows up to 300C as optimum!

 

For the record, the manual I was reading refers to the whole range of Fireviews, which has models up to 20kW.  So the 230C max. applies to them all. And the manual goes on to say "...avoid continuous running at the maximum..."

 

Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether a maximum 230C body temperature is low and whether that will affect performance?  I appreciate a lot goes into the design of wood stoves and there's a lot more to them than the statistics.  And I've also read many glowing reports on Woodwarm; often mentioned in the same breath as Clearview.  Nevertheless, this surprised me.

 

Ta

 

[Unframed Dave]

I've used an infra red thermometer on mine. The fire itself reads 330 ish. The top corners of the burner read about 220. I was quite surprised, I bought a magnetic bimetallic spring thermometer from lidl which sits top left and it was pretty well spot on in agreement with the technology. 

[Rough Hewn]

Your fire is not 300oC.
It’s 600-800.
At least.
[emoji106]

[Rough Hewn]

[Unframed Dave]

I'll try it again, but just for the purposes of discussion I'm not directing it specifically at a flame. 

[Dan Maynard]

@openspaceman is your combustion guru but I would say the stove thermometers are for the flue, not the body of the stove. As Rough Hewn says your fire temperature is 1000+, then there are insulating bricks at the sides because that would distort the steel if in direct contact so the body temperature must be lower.

230 sounds quite reasonable for body temperature to me.

[Unframed Dave]

The thermometer is for the flue, bit of design flaw though as my flue is stainless. Not magnetic. The burner body is cast iron, so that's where it sits.

 

 

[Woodworks]

I thought stove thermometers were for putting on the flue just above the stove so an indication of flue temp

[carbs for arbs]

43 minutes ago, Dan Maynard said:

230 sounds quite reasonable for body temperature to me.

That's good to hear.  I note other stoves like Clearview have a maximum of 350C.  Even the small 4kW Woodwarm (the Foxfire) states a maximum of 350C.  I guess there's a lot more to it than just stats, and I've learnt also how a lot more heat radiates from the glass; of which the Fireview has a nice large panel (someone also pointed out that its no accident that the new EcoDesign stoves have large windows).  But even so, 230C just seemed low comparatively.  And like I said above, even the thermometers show optimum burn as up to 300C.  

 

Speaking of thermometers, both are available.  The Clearview thermometer is for the stove itself and is to be placed just above the door.  The Woodwarm thermometer has dual readings; one for the stove and the other for the flue.  And I've seen others that are designed/calibrated for the stove body...  

 

Many thanks for all the great replies.

 

 

[Unframed Dave]

11 hours ago, Rough Hewn said:

Your fire is not 300oC.
It’s 600-800.
At least.

You are quite right. I was pointing the thermometer at the glass door. This reads currently 300 ish. Open the door and the temp is beyond the range of the thermometer. It tops out at 380.