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iceisasolid

iceisasolid

New Member
Jan 3, 2011
110
North Central Idaho
I have using Englander NC 30 and noticed that after 2 weeks of burning when I open the stove door that I start getting smoke in the home. I di not get this after a fresh cleaning and it takes about 2 weeks for this to occur. I do not think that it is the wood. It is well seasoned, lights up fast, and burns pretty well. Avg temps are 500-550. I get about 8 hours of burn (fire to usable coals) if I place the intake almost all the way in. I have about 6.5" of teloscoping dbl wall stove pipe and 16 ft of Metal Best Class A chimney with 15 degree offsets. I am burning a combination of tamarack/red fir/pine. I have noticed that if I have more air coming through the main intake, then I get a little more time in between cleanings. I burn 2-3 full loads per day. The stove is in the basement. Any advice or comments on how to overcome this. Every 2 weeks on the roof is a little irritating.

IN my guest house, I have an old Hearthstone H II with 6 ft of single wall pipe and 14 ft of metal best class a chimney. It does not get cleaned more than once every 2 months and is burned at least 2 times per day by my brother.

Any advice or comments on how to overcome this. Every 2 weeks on the roof is a little irritating.

Thank you,

Ray
 
I have to ask, why is the stove being opened during its burn cycle? In other words, if you are getting an 8 hour burn (fire to coals) is there a need to open the stove in between? There could be a number of reasons why this is happening. The most common reason is poor draft caused by low flu temps. If, in fact, your stove burns for 8 hours you still have enough coals to start the next cycle but the chimney has cooled down. This causes a slower draft. Cool chimney= poor draft!! If the chimney isnt drafting well then then the smoke has nowhere to go exept into the home.
 
Are you saying that you need to clean the flue every two weeks, or do you clean the stove? How dirty is the flue after two weeks?
 
Sounds like cold flue, semi-seasoned wood, or both is clogging the cap or upper pipe. Is the chimney exterior? It's hard to compare with the other stove, it could be the flue temps are hotter or a straight up, interior flue? What does the the cap and top of the chimney look like when cleaning?
 
just wondering, you don't have a blower do you? i have a little trouble with my 20+ chimney on start up but once going its fine even if i open to load more. however, if i forget to turn off the blower which comes across the top of the stove, it pulls the smoke out and i'm reminded real fast.

cass
 
Thank you for the replies.
top it o
After I clean the chimney, I can open the stove door anytime during a burn cycle and there will be no smoke coming into the home. If the draft is good, a person should be able to open the door at anytime, recall some stoves come with a fireplace screen. If like last night, when the stove is open then smoke comes pouring out the door. I open it if I top it off prior to bed.

The stove is interior through the center of the home. I need to clean the chimney every 2 weeks or I get smoke when I open the door. After I clean the chimney, I can open the stove door anytime during a burn cycle and there will be no smoke coming into the home. There is no blower. The cap usually has thick powdery creosote about an inch throughout everything. There is probably about 1/3+ of a normal bucket of creosote in the stove after I am done . I will be cleaning the chimney pipe today and will report but I doubt that it will be different than prior. If the flue is cold, how can I fix that? The home is located in a draw and there are competing down drafts from trees and the hillside.

The wood is from a log truck load that I bucked and split in July and stored in the open sided covered wood crib.

No blower on the stove.
 
Sounds like you have something obstuctin the flue somewhere. I'm not real familiar with that model ofbut stove but does it have a catalytic converter or secondary tubes? If so the cat could be clogging up or possibly the top baffle may have a large buildup of soot and ash that's constricting the flow of gas up the pipe. Or your soot, as the the pipe heats and cools, could be falling down the pipe and collecting at the baffle in the stove. This happens occasionally to my old Alaska stove in my workshop. This could lead to some big problems so make sure you check that area of the.stove where the pipe goes in for a restriction...either way as BeGreen mentioned you sound like your pipe isn't getting to temp or you have been burning less-than-desirable wood. Let us know what you find out......
 
iceisasolid said:
The wood is from a log truck load that I bucked and split in July and stored in the open sided covered wood crib.
Click to expand...

I think that's the issue, not the flue pipe. I know it's common in some areas to burn fresh split wood when it's pine or fir, but it still contains a lot of moisture. Pine will burn because of it's high oil content, but it doesn't put out the heat you need if not seasoned. The wood needs more drying time, especially the tamarack which should be split and stacked a year in advance. Older stoves can smolder away burning this way, but modern stoves want dry wood. Even a few more months can make a nice difference for softwood. If you can split now or the next couple months for your next season's burning, you will see a nice difference and a much cleaner flue.
 
iceisasolid said:
Thank you for the replies.
top it o
After I clean the chimney, I can open the stove door anytime during a burn cycle and there will be no smoke coming into the home. If the draft is good, a person should be able to open the door at anytime, recall some stoves come with a fireplace screen. If like last night, when the stove is open then smoke comes pouring out the door. I open it if I top it off prior to bed.

The stove is interior through the center of the home. I need to clean the chimney every 2 weeks or I get smoke when I open the door. After I clean the chimney, I can open the stove door anytime during a burn cycle and there will be no smoke coming into the home. There is no blower. The cap usually has thick powdery creosote about an inch throughout everything. There is probably about 1/3+ of a normal bucket of creosote in the stove after I am done . I will be cleaning the chimney pipe today and will report but I doubt that it will be different than prior. If the flue is cold, how can I fix that? The home is located in a draw and there are competing down drafts from trees and the hillside.

The wood is from a log truck load that I [b]bucked and split in July[/b] and stored in the open sided covered wood crib.

No blower on the stove.
Click to expand...

Bingo! Right there in red is the problem. You should already have next year's wood split and stacked! 6 months just is not long enough time to dry wood properly.
 
The chimney cap was very dirty with today's cleaning. Surprisingly, there was not much creosote in the chimney and stove pipe, but I had thick sticky creosote about 1.5 inches throughout the cap. Took it off, scrubbed it good (cut my hand a few times) and put it back. It did not take very long to have the stove temp to 650 after it was clean. I think that I will start storing a few days of wood in the house (again) while a burn to dry them out a little more. The trade off are the darn little moths and occasional flies/hornets/box elder bugs.

In regards to the wood, it was stored for 2+ years in 30 ' logs but only split this summer. The next shipment is coming in Feb- another full log truck load (about 14 cords) to warm my chain saw and splitter on.

Thanks for the input.

Cheers,

Ray
 
iceisasolid said:
The chimney cap was very dirty with today's cleaning. Surprisingly, there was not much creosote in the chimney and stove pipe, but I had thick sticky creosote about 1.5 inches throughout the cap. Took it off, scrubbed it good (cut my hand a few times) and put it back. It did not take very long to have the stove temp to 650 after it was clean. I think that I will start storing a few days of wood in the house (again) while a burn to dry them out a little more. The trade off are the darn little moths and occasional flies/hornets/box elder bugs.

In regards to the wood, it was stored for 2+ years in 30 ' logs but only split this summer. The next shipment is coming in Feb- another full log truck load (about 14 cords) to warm my chain saw and splitter on.

Thanks for the input.

Cheers,

Ray
Click to expand...
Ray, that wood could sit for 5 or 6 or years in logs and not be seasoned. The wood really only starts seasoning when it is bucked and split. And if that cap was caked with creosote I'm sure that helped restrict your flue pipe....keep an eye on things, get some good, seasoned wood and see of that helps out.
 
Scotty Overkill said:
iceisasolid said:
The chimney cap was very dirty with today’s cleaning. Surprisingly, there was not much creosote in the chimney and stove pipe, but I had thick sticky creosote about 1.5 inches throughout the cap.

...

In regards to the wood, it was stored for 2+ years in 30 ' logs but only split this summer. The next shipment is coming in Feb- another full log truck load (about 14 cords) to warm my chain saw and splitter on.

Thanks for the input.

Cheers,

Ray
Click to expand...
Ray, that wood could sit for 5 or 6 or years in logs and not be seasoned. The wood really only starts seasoning when it is bucked and split. And if that cap was caked with creosote I'm sure that helped restrict your flue pipe....keep an eye on things, get some good, seasoned wood and see of that helps out.
Click to expand...

+1

Wood will never season in anything approaching a reasonable time frame in log form. Remember even after the tree is cut the bark is still doing its job - holding water IN. the only way to start the seasoning is to buck and split and expose those wood fibers to air.


The creosote in the cap is exactly where you would expect it. The cap is the coldest part of the chimney system so that's where the suspended creosote particles in the smoke condense and stick.

See if you can get ahold of some kiln dried, pallet wood, biobricks etc to mix in for burning this year, and get going on that new load - split stack it in single rows, etc for next winter.

Good luck.
 
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