Smoke and flames come out of my insert :( help please

I couple questions, I assume the fire was coming out the door when open? If so, how close was your wood stacked to the door? Also, when you had the insert installed was the chimney swept at that time, or a liner installed to match the flue size of stove?

Some other questions. Do you know how seasoned your wood is that your burning? And any chance you are using a stove top thermometer to monitor stove temp?

Sounds like a draft issue of sorts. Are you from Canada or California? The temp outside could be causing problems if its too warm out.

I am sure others will chime in with better answers, but a suggestion would be to have the chimney swept, check your rain cap on top of chimney for creosote build up, and grab a thermo for your stove top or flue to monitor the temp. If you are letting the fire die down after each burn then you will be getting creosote build up.

The snow would only effect it if it was plugging the chimney. But I would venture to guess that the chimney is more then 2 inches above your roof line. Was asking about locale because a major difference in outside temps between the two. On another note, high winds could also cause problems depending on your chimney set up. But as Pen mentioned, for sure check your rain cap for clogging. If you do need to sweep your chimney and you want to do it yourself, what I use is a 6" brush (my flue is 6"), 30' of braided thin metal cable (height of chimney), and a tow hook. Put the brush at one end of cable and the hook at the other. I then climb up the roof, take the cap off, drop the hook down the chimney, stick the brush in and replace cap. Then I just go down to the clean out and grab the hook and pull the brush through. Cost a little under $20 for everything, and beats having to buy all the rods.

If it worked fine for a month something must have changed drastically.
Chimney cap is a great place to start as is the whole flue.

Are you doing anything diff like not opening the air for a min before you open the door?
Do you have a by-pass lever?
What make and model is the stove?

Is there a baffle that could have gotten knocked out of place? Happens, especially in a small box.

If you have a way to look up the flue you should be able to see if there is a buildup. Looking up is usually easier than looking down from the top, especially since looking up you have the bright sky above, while looking down it is all dark. I use a mirror to look at my flue every once in a while to make sure it looks OK. I can't really see if there is a slight buildup, but I would see any thick accumulations (at least I think I would - haven't seen any yet).

Hay Liz, welcome to the forums, GF

Add your stove to your signature, and your location. That'd help a lot !

Pics of the bend in the chimney would help. Plus any other pics of the set up (we're pic whores, lol !! )

If you installed a month ago, and are now having a problem, I'd wonder about the firewood, to be honest.

Would like to see an update to this issue - I agree that something drastic must have happened for it to be working then all of a sudden flames start coming out.
Bird or squirrel may have tried to make a home ? The century is too simple a stove for something to have come loose and block anything so its gotta to be something blocking the flu or just very poor draft / down draft from a windy day.

first off; good to hear you guys found the culprit, since the stove was just installed and within a few weeks it had blockage, this ordeal should help you two to keep in consideration a few things regarding;

1. how your particular newly installed stove functions / operates, each one is unique by itself and each install will differ than others based upon climate, altitude and some factors listed below.
2. you should look at your wood supply to make sure it's dry enough to burn. Rounds will retain moisture much longer than a split.
3. realize now just how often you should consider chimney cleaning.
4. how important a stove thermometer can be as knowing the burn cycle can help reduce creosote build up.
5. shorter chimney's won't draft as well as a taller chimney.
6. newer or tightly insulated homes can be a factor in weak draft as well.

each one of these play off of each other and it's usually a combination of a few to get the ol' creosote built up.
Since you guys had the stove installed recently, I thought it might have been a critter or nest or something weird like that.

many warm embers to you two.