john's article does make sense,and the arguement he makes has merit, in order to accomodate the vast variances in chimney dynamics stove manufacturers could practically have to "customize" each stove for the flue it was to be vented into as well as do so based on geography as well. or limit where a model might be sold or the type of flue it were to be installed in. facing the fact that not all houses are built the same, chimneys also differ both in their own performance as well as due to variences integral to the structure they are a part of, even prevailing wind direction and average strength can play a part. in allowing for a "high stack" and it inherantly more powerful draw the stove could be unusable in a "short stack" application, and inducing draft has its own drawbacks just as restricting does.
one of the most sought after "selling points" is "GPH"(grams per hour in particulate matter) ratings. cleaner burning stoves are generally more desired by stove buyers than stoves which while they may meet standards have a higher GPH rating. granted, burn times, BTU outputs, and features like ash drawers, mobile home compatability, and close clearances to combustibles are among the biggest "selling points"
I suppose in a perfect world, the EPA would partner with manufacturers, environmentalists, and actually welcome folks with inherant knowlege in the subject , folks like John, who truly is a very smart dude IMHO though i have disagreed with him on occasion in the past im smart enough to recognize smart when i read it. maybe work toward some flexability in the design of stoves to allow the variety of chimneys that we all know exist out there to be optimized at the installer level for the type and length of flue to be used. manufacturers are bound by the standards we must build to, they aint that flexable when you look at it from the manufacturers point of view. and any modifications built into the stove must pass teh same standard battery that the "stock" setup must pass, there isnt any flexability built into the test standards.
Doing what i do for a living i end up "walking point" so to speak on real world issues concerning difficulties with my stoves (as my counterparts in the industry do with theirs) i spend a ton of my own time educating myself so i can better help the folks who call my help line (including reading everything i can find that John has published online, like i said, he's a smart dude). in my experience with our units the ratio of "i cant slow it down" versus "my stove wont draw" is heavily slanted towards the latter. this is twofold, one , many folks do not educate themselves on the "total package" stove and flue, the structure etc... they see a chimney and expect that it will do what a chimney is supposed to do when you hook up a stove to it regardless of its size length or other conditions. so when they cannot get it to pull hard enough they get the smoke spillage and slow starting or simply cant get it to burn as it should. OTOH those who have overdraft conditions possibly dont even know they have it as the stove burns the wood down to ash (quickly) , smoke spillage isnt an issue so they keep stuffing wood in and wonder why their neighbor's woodpile aint shrinking as fast as theirs does, many end up going through a few stoves before finaly finding out its the chimney. needless to say, a clean burning stove even if its running a bit fast doesnt raise the consternation of a user nearly to the level of the opposite problem, so, i get the "no draw" call far more than the 'overdraw' one.
folks , it really simple when you look at it, a stove in essence is a box which holds the fire. the chimney is the engine which makes it run. the more "horsepower" the engine has the faster it can go. this "horsepower" is generated by 4 things; flue height/length, air temperature differential in flue compared to outside ambient temperature, amount of air allowed into the stove by design, and the amount of restriction to air allowed into the structure itself.
