Too much dust and soot

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Luv2BWarm

Luv2BWarm

Member
Jan 10, 2012
32
New Hampshire
We have a new Lopi Republic 1750 stove in our basement. Unfortunately, we purchased the home in August, installed the stove in September and purchased wood in October (awful!). Told by 3 different suppliers that their wood was "dry". yeah, right. We are desperately trying to burn what we have, but have to take multiple steps (store in the cold side of the basement, move to the warm side to "dry out", move in front of the stove to dry further). We have a screen door on the entrance from the upstairs to the basement, plus a fan in the upper corner to pull the warm air upstairs. The stove also has a blower. House had 2 grates in the floor already (kitchen and hallway). It's a small ranch. I am constantly wiping up sooty dust in the upstairs (off my kitchen counters!!!). I assume its from the wet wood, but am not positive. Will this stop happening when we are able to get wood and dry it over the summer? Does this type of stove always create so much dust? (I used to have a Hearthstone in my former home - great stove - no dust!!) I'm at the end of my rope.
 
Greetings. It sounds like you have more than one issue happening here. Wet wood, which is going to need to dry out and the soot, which indicates there may be another more serious problem, perhaps exacerbated by the wet wood. The soot means smoke is entering the house. That shouldn't be happening. Under the best case scenario this could be because the stove paint never got hot enough to break in, but I doubt that. If you are able to get the stove hot (at least 500F on the stove top) then my concern is lack of draft due to creosote clogging.

It is not untypical for a flue system to plug up in a few weeks if the wood is really poor. If you are getting smoke spilling out of the stove door when reloading, the chimney should be checked. You may be able to do a quick visual check by inspecting the flue cap with binoculars. If it looks plugged full of black gunk, then get the chimney swept asap. Don't delay. If it is still not plugged, the problem could be the installation itself. Basement installs can be tricky, especially if the stove has competition from other devices (bath fans, furnace, dryer) for the air supply. Can you describe the flue setup?

Depending on your location, you may be able to get a cord of drier wood from a better supplier to carry you through to spring. Or you may be able to locate a good quality compressed wood product like BioBricks to get you through the worst of winter. Where in new england are you?
 
I have a Lopi Republic 1250. I get some fine ash that esacpes from the stove when I reload. This is a very small amount. A light dusting of it ends up on the top of the stove, with smaller amounts on a table and piano nearby. After a few days there will be enough dust on all surfaces in the room that if I (or more likely my wife) wipes with a damp sloth she will be able to see some dust on the cloth. I guess the downstairs dust in the winter is perhaps slightly worse than typical summer (no wood stove) dust in our not very dusty house. So, I 'd say it is possible to run a stove like this with minimal dust.

I get some dirt from the wood I bring inside, but that is mostly saw chips, bits of bark, etc., not anything dusty. unless your firrewood was unusually dirty I don't really think the unburned wood is a source of much dust. That leaves the stove.

I'd make sure to turn off fans and blower before you open the stove door to reload. Close the door leading upstairs if you have a door. I lay out the wood for the next load on the floor so that I can reload quickly, but I try to place the wood carefully in the stove to avoid kicking up ash. When you remove ash place it very carefully in the bottom of the ash bucket - down dump it in there. You'll get a lot less ash moving around the room if you wait until the stove is cold to remove ash, although that isn't always possible in the winter.

You have several fans running. Do you run the fans when you're not burning? Maybe the fans are moving dust that isn't associated with the stove.
 
Thanks to you both. I'm a bit concerned about creosote as well due to the damp wood. We don't get smoke as a rule when we load the stove, but when first restarting the fire it can happen. My guy was going to let the stove go cold and remove the stovepipe to clean it out, but I haven't let him yet. Our installation was done by the place where we bought the stove (very reputable), but the chimney was already there (checked and ok'd before we burned). The stove pipe goes up to the top of the basement wall before exiting into the block chimney (on outside of the house). We've had the stove up to 600 degrees, so it definitely burns. We live just outside of Concord, NH.
 
Luv2BWarm said:
".....plus a fan in the upper corner to pull the warm air upstairs.."
Click to expand...

Along with what the other posters said, you've got the fan going the wrong way. Don't try to 'pull' warm air up - 'push' cold air down by just sitting a small desk style fan near the top of the stairway - blowing down into the lower level - hot air rises and will flow to the upper level. Trust me, this works - well documented here on hearth.com. :)
 
Before opening the stove door on a reload, check to be sure all fans (bath and kitchen), dryer and furnace are not running. Then open the stove door slowly. There should be no smoke spillage out of the stove. If there is, and the chimney + cap are clean, it could be that an insulated stainless liner will need to be added to the chimney to increase draft. In order to tell it would be very helpful to know the inner dimension of the clay flue tiling in the chimney.

Also, one thing to check that may affect draft - the chimney clean-out door. This needs to have an airtight seal. If it is loose it will spoil draft. You can test this by duct taping it closed or running a bead of silicone around the door, let it air dry for about 5 minutes, then close the door to create a silicone gasket seal.
 
We have the same stove, and nearly the same wood situation. We bought the Cottage in September, installed the stove in October and bought the wood around the same time. I run an air purifier that I need to clean weekly, but we're also "under construction" in the Cottage and have a forever shedding dog, so it probably isn't all stove dust (ok, I *know* it isn't).

If I open the door too fast (ok, really if DH opens the door too fast, because I noticed this and don't do it anymore) it will cause a small "poof" of dust (light ash) to come out. We are burning our wood mixed with Ecobricks and haven't really had problems with stove temps-unless we toss in a bigger split, the stove doesn't seem to like those (we've since resplit them into smaller ones that it has no problems with).

One thing I've noticed, the door latch likes to loosen up, we retighten at least monthly, if not bimonthly. Is yours really easy to turn? It might account for some smoke leaks.

We've only had smoke leak in when we have a cold flue/reverse draft situation that is quickly taken care of. It was alarming the first time I saw smoke (what appeared to be) seeping from the top/sides (I know now it was coming from the air inlet on the bottom and just moving up along the sides).

Also, if I have the air purifier running and the dog "re-aims" it for me, towards the stove, it will blow (light) ash out when the door is open. So will running the blower. You might try shutting off the fans when loading. We also shut off the blower (if it's even on) and purifier when cleaning out the stove to keep it from blowing the ash off the shovel. We heat with our stove and run at least once a day if not 24/7, and have cleaned out maybe 5-7 times since October. I wouldn't say it creates a lot of ash.

Are you getting white or light ash on things, or actual black soot?

I haven't noticed much dust in the place, much less any soot, with the stove. I clean my hearth pad each time I bring in more wood/bricks with a dust buster and dust off the stove every few days. We brought the air purifier from our other home that is heated with two gas stoves and don't find it gets dirtier than there-and I actually think there's less general dust at the Cottage than that house (the Cottage is about 100 sq ft smaller).
 
Also, is the wood stove the only source of heat, or is there a furnace that is run sometimes?
 
Many good suggestions - thanks so much. I'm definitely an amateur at this burning stuff. I will have the Mr. check the seal on the chimney clean out. As for draft, our chimney sweep told us we had very good draft (or seemed to) when he inspected before we burned. With regard to the dust, it is light black (if that's possible) in color. But we've never cleaned up the basement from escaping ash - it's a mess down there. I think that's one of my first orders of business. And we definitely make a cloud when cleaning the ash out of the stove - another big mistake I need to impress upon my other half to be aware of. When we arrive home in the evening there is very little hot ash left in the stove, so we basically have to clean it out and start over every night. (And although we were told we should have "up to" a 10 hour burn time, I get up half way thru the night each night to reload the stove - another topic altogether!)
 
As for the furnace, yes it does run (early morning, early evening). It's in another part of the basement (the woodstove is in a closed off half of the basement.
 
For safety sake, I'd have the furnace checked to be sure it is not the source of the soot. If it is running improperly, the flue pipe is leaking or if the heat exchanger is shot, this could be the source of soot. The later condition is dangerous.
 
Luv2BWarm said:
Many good suggestions - thanks so much. I'm definitely an amateur at this burning stuff. I will have the Mr. check the seal on the chimney clean out. As for draft, our chimney sweep told us we had very good draft (or seemed to) when he inspected before we burned. With regard to the dust, it is light black (if that's possible) in color. But we've never cleaned up the basement from escaping ash - it's a mess down there. I think that's one of my first orders of business. And we definitely make a cloud when cleaning the ash out of the stove - another big mistake I need to impress upon my other half to be aware of. When we arrive home in the evening there is very little hot ash left in the stove, so we basically have to clean it out and start over every night. (And although we were told we should have "up to" a 10 hour burn time, I get up half way thru the night each night to reload the stove - another topic altogether!)
Click to expand...

When we first started burning I thought the 10 hours was a joke, but we've gotten one 12 hour burn as our best so far now. Also, learning what was meant by burn time helped in this regard (hot coals vs hot house).

One thing that was suggested to us, was not to completely clean the stove out. Pack the ashes down to create a dense bed on the bottom of the stove, until they come up about even with the little lip on the inside at the front. Then just pack down each reload, or take a bit out when needed.

When it isn't warm enough to leave the stove go cold during the day, we make sure to pack it well before we leave (for us, usually two medium splits on both sides north south-front back and about 4-6 eco bricks in the middle). We still have enough coals when we get home to relight-usually 10 or so hours later. Part of it is knowing how much to put in, how to put it in (arrangement) and when to damp down (and how much to damp down).

I also reload at night if it's cold, only because I like it to be warm when I get up in the AM (not because we wouldn't have coals). Lately I haven't been loading at night or in the AM, to conserve fuel and because it's just not that cold. That'll change this weekend though!
 
Shari said:
Luv2BWarm said:
".....plus a fan in the upper corner to pull the warm air upstairs.."
Click to expand...

Along with what the other posters said, you've got the fan going the wrong way. Don't try to 'pull' warm air up - 'push' cold air down by just sitting a small desk style fan near the top of the stairway - blowing down into the lower level - hot air rises and will flow to the upper level. Trust me, this works - well documented here on hearth.com. :)
Click to expand...

I learn something new every time I'm on this site!!

Amazing wealth of information here.
 
It's not uncommon for folks to swap wood they have for dry wood. Perhaps there is a member in the area?

I swapped with a buddy. He brought a traile full of 'dry' wood he bought locally, and swapped it for real dry firewood (1 year)) and was shocked htat the wood stove was no longer a mysterious beast.

Best of luck!,
Mike
 
More good info! I totally forgot about packing the ash - I used to do that with my Hearthstone. My furnace has been totally checked beginning of the season, but thanks for thinking of it. And what are Eco Bricks? (I said I was an amateur!)
 
There are some highly compressed wood products like BioBricks on the market that can be burned like wood. They are completely dry, burn cleanly and put out a good long amount of heat. Sometimes you will see them sold in small quantities at local grocery or hardware stores. But that is an expensive way to buy them. It's better to buy them by the ton from the dealer. They don't take up a lot of space and are very clean, so ok to store in the basement or garage. You'll want to avoid very similar looking products that are low-compressed brick or logs. These burn up much more quickly, produce a lot of ash and are a lower value.

I did a review on a few of the better products a few years back. There are some new ones on the market since, but they are not sold on the west coast so I haven't had a chance to burn them.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/BioBricks/
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Home_Fire_Prest_Logs/
 
That's the first place I looked online. I sent them an email to find out which stores in my area may have them in stock (says "at selected stores").
 
You might have better luck calling your local stores. Ours are out of stock :(
 
Luv2BWarm said:
That's the first place I looked online. I sent them an email to find out which stores in my area may have them in stock (says "at selected stores").
Click to expand...

How far away it their VT store?

Note that BioBricks list several NH stores:
http://www.biopellet.net/wheretobuy.html
 
If you get them please follow the instructions for burning and feel free to ask questions. These bricks pack a lot of heat. The trick is to either just use a few mixed with regular wood or pack them well so that they burn slowly and controllably.
 
Now that I've found this site, I will definitely ask questions. I'm hoping mixing a couple with regular wood will help my "damp wood" situation. Just need luck to find them.
 
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