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Glowing stove pipe

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Red Lake, Ontario
I’ve been playing around with my new g stove in my ice fishing tent. Can it get too hot? I noticed the other day that the top by chimney and first section of pipe were glowing. Any pointers on regulating the heat? Fire to the back or front? Damper on the chimney closed does slow the burn rate but how do I use that in conjunction with damper on the door?
 
People have told me that the chimney should never glow red, but mine does often, lol. They say the fire is too hot then. Some folks put a thermometer thing on the first section of the stove pipe, apparently there is an optimal temp. I don't often damp my little stove down, because I want it to be hot in my tent, not hovering above zero. Also, are you by any chance burning tamarack? Cause it burns real hot. The science of tent stove use is much like an esoteric journey into the heart of darkness. Apparently if you don't have a baffle, you are not part of the select few who can squeeze ten minutes more of burning time out of a glorified tin can. I just keep piling it in until I'm sweating.
 
I have read, from many sources, that the pipe should not glow red. Because I am a worrier by nature, I worry about a tent fire, and never let my pipes glow red. I am by no means an expert, but I think the door damper and the pipe damper can be used together to produce the desired amount of heat. The door damper controls the rate of burn, while the pipe damper helps to contain the heat within the stove. I am sort of winging this as I write. I would just play around with the dampers to achieve the desired effect. I like it hot when I’m lounging with a glass of wine. Dampers are open. I damp both down when I retire for the night. This means I don’t have to get up so soon to add more wood, and I don’t have to worry so much about a tent fire.

Those thermometer things are inexpensive, and can be placed right on the stove, or they can magnetically placed on the pipe. They show the temperature, and have a red zone that means, “Yikes. Better damp down.”
 
I have never used a stove tenting like you do but it should work the same as any wood stove. An airtight stove with no air leaks should not even need a pipe damper. The fire can be controlled with how much air you let in through the door damper. Close that up too much and it will smoke out any hole. The pipe damper could help if the stove still gets too much air with the door damper closed. One thing to remember is that red coals do not need much air to really put out the btu's so when at that stage of burn your pipe damper damper will add to your control.
 
I don't know about the G-stoves, but most tent stoves are far from airtight. With work, they can be made more leak proof, but essentially they are inefficient stoves that mostly put out heat when there is a good fire in them.
 
Here was my set up in Canadian made Atuk tent, pyramid style
mFgLLic.jpg


This is in my snowtrekker
kMT4beN.jpg


I'm thinking about buying another Hippy Killer, they can hold a lot of wood.
https://www.greatwestmetal.ca/produ...soBr_f0CwSEuGRTkyYWFDL1bTJ6t40Inmyc82BGiIPa2A
 
I think one issue is a red glowing pipe could become more brittle and could crack and will also burn through more quickly. The other issue is you are losing heat out up the stove pipe, less of an issue in a pyramid with more pipe inside the tent but in an Snowtrekker you'll be heating the outside world instead of your tent. Probably more chance of sparks coming out the top of the pipe if the flames are shooting up the pipe.
The game of balancing air intake and pipe damper is great to keep you busy of an evening. We use a pipe thermometer and its a good way of learning the optimum timing for adding more wood.
 
This is s very timely thread as I am renting a hot tent next week. It is already set up on a plywood deck , a 10 x 12 wall tent with a rather largish round stove. Pictures and report to follow.
 
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