Quote from Woodheat.org

But how am I supposed to make my own charcoal if I can't shut down the air completly :lol:

wkpoor said:

Just like not adding a creosote collecting pipe damper before you know you need it.

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I guess since I started this one I can steer it around a bit. Not sure I understand why adding a damper increases creosote. I have cleaned and or inspected my chimney 3 xs this winter and the damper changed nothing in respect to buildup in the chimney. Nor did it change the pipe temps measured in the exact same place before and after plate install. Only thing I see it did was slow the exhaust gas velocity making it easier to regulate the fire especially on windy days.

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its not relative to every chimney, remember creosote is for all intensive purposes, unburned fuel. every wood fire is an incomplete burn. hence the reason for the nickname"smoke dragon" "smoke" is literally wood that didnt get incinerated in the primary fire. modern "reburn" type stoves such as cat units and "non-cats" burn a much larger percentage of this smoke but not all of it is burned up and escapes up the flue. as this fuel exits up the flue itcan coat the inner wall of he flue "tube" and especially any protrusions which are inside of the flue tube. key dampers are such a protrusion and generally create not only an extra surface t adhere to but when not completely open , the "leeward" side of the damper creates an eddy which can allow more fuel to collect.

another thing to rememeber is that as the fuel leaves the stove its cooling. the cooler the fuel gets the more it tends to stick, also note the stack itself is cooler as well the further away from the fire you get and with this you get a slight slowing of the flow of air/ stack gasses, the solids arent carried with as much velocity and tend to fall out of the rising colomn and migrate to the outer edges where they cling to the sides of the flue wall where airflow is the slowest due to friction with the walls of the flue. in extreme cases of flue cooling the moisture in the exhaust (oh yeah its there) condenses on the flue walls and as itbuilds up since its liquid it drips back down collecting bits of unburned fuel, afer it drips down a bit it "re-evaporates" which is a cooling function rises and condenses again. this constant up and down causes the buildup of what we all call "wet creosote, the stuff of flue fires. this type creosote is more concentrated which makes it more volitile. so adding a key damper which would not only help trap heat in the stove by nature would deny it to the upper parts of the flue and in a marginal flue setup could cause an increase in creosote formation.

BeGreen said:

A 41ft chimney is quite unusual. The strong draft created by this tall chimney is going to present problems for most any stove.

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mine is over 40 and I like it that way. Its better to have too much than too little

tfdchief said:

I agree with all of this. I just hate it when I have to be the brunt of the government trying to fix "stupid" :-S Oh, and BB, I lied. I did modify my stove. I put in a pipe damper and even though I have a short stack, I have to use it occasionally,

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Nannystate politics. They know better.

Stove guy,

I agree with what your saying, but want to add that if your keeping the heat in your stove better your burning more efficiently with a EPA stove. I always say its all about the heat. If you dont maintain heat in the stove the stove doesnt work correctly. So if your able to maintain the heat in the correct range your burning more efficiently thus your gonna have less smoke that would cause creosote. I dont think any wood stove system is going to be perfect. So we are not actually trying to get shiny clean flues although its good to strive for that direction its not reality. I think in the past with the smoke dragons in extreme cases like using green wood smoldering it then the creosote eventually builds up to cause flues fires. But take todays high tech stoves that you have to use dry wood, they dont seem to work with green wood so that eliminates one of the extreme factors. Then take that the stove has to be at a certain temp for secondary burn to happen. So what your left with with these two facts is with a high tech stove that you have to burn dry wood , the chances of a flue fire is greatly diminished. As yes you will get some creosote but what little you get is not a factor. But I guess your always gonna have a few guys trying to get green wood smoldering in there new high tech stove, there is no fixes for people like that. Wkpoor isnt going to use his damper to kill his secondaries in the top, he is smarter than that he is using it too fine tune his stove.