New puffing on old stove

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sandie

Feeling the Heat
Oct 29, 2009
279
West of Boston, MA
So I have burned in this stove for some years, it is a 1978 VC Resolute with glass in doors. LOVE it! At the end of last winter I was having some fires when it was low 60s and high 50s and each time about 45 minutes after getting the fire going, hot about 600 degrees I damped it down( on this wood stove it is either open or closed) had the rear "thermostat" at straight up position but it is closed until it starts to close down, and PUFF with a noise like a very small explosion in the stove. Smoke did come out the hinge side of the door before it did its "explosion" by a minute or so it just oozed out and then POOF with a lot of smoke and it did it a second time. I opened up the damper let it burn about 5 min and closed it and shortly afterward it POOFED again, opened up the damper and let it get really hot then again closed it and NO MORE POOFS. I have read other posts and they all talk about not damping down completely but this stove is either closed or open, no in between. Every once in a while, the damper crashes open so need to have that fixed but what in hell is going on. I used wood that was seasoned for last year so well seasoned now of course. I did not use small kindling, use firestarter and newspaper and then smaller quarters of good hard wood and some cedar. I will be kicked out of the woodstove use if this continues so help is needed. By the way, I thought it was because we needed the chimney sweep so he came today before this fire and it still did it exactly as it did previously so it was not a stopped up pipe.
 
Sorry it is a 1985 Resolute with glass door windows I guess. Not sure where I got 1978
 
Did you have your chimney cleaned this year before burning? It could have been a brief chimney fire or if it was windy it could puff like that from a quick downdraft. My neighbor's stove puffs sometimes like that too. It usually happens when the temp outside is warmer and the fire is small.
 
My BIL had a problem with his '80 doing the same thing in warmer outside conditions. He only had about 13' of chimney so it would not draft well enough unless it was cold out (IIRC, the manual wanted more than that.) How tall is your stack? If it's on the short side, you may be able to add 2-3' of chimney and get much better draft, but be aware that anything over 5' above the roof will need to be braced. If the stove is the same as my BIL's, closing the bypass forces the exhaust to exit the firebox low on the right side. This was an early attempt at a cleaner burn by keeping the smoke low, nearer the fire. Not sure how well that works but like all the old stoves, you have to burn hot to burn clean. I tried to talk him into getting the glass for the door, but I don't know if it would stay clean...
 
Puffing is a symptom of trying to damp down the stove and this is most apparent in shoulder seasons when the need for heat is low. An off the wall suggestion is that perhaps you have changed the heating load of the house by tightening it up?
 
I had the exact same VC Resolute and I had the same puffing problem. I think it said 1978 in the back of the firebox, although it was actually made in the early 80's. I remember puffs of smoke popping the griddle up.

My existing Progress also occasionally backpuffs. This year I added a temporary couple feet of single wall extension pipe to the existing 15 foot liner, and so far so good - even in 50-60 degree temps the backpuffing is pretty much gone. I have only burned 3-4 fires so far this year, but preliminary results are very encouraging. If I decide it works I may spend the extra $$ and replace it with a Class A extension.
 
Take it for what it's worth but it sounds like a flaw in the stoves design.

My theory is you shut the air completely down (no other choice?) on a roaring fire in warm weather. Draft is not great do to the warmer weather, the established fire suddenly starved for oxygen finds it hanging out around the chimney top, reverses the draft and poof.

I don't know your stove but it sounds like you should try to find a way to shut the air down slower if you must use it in warm weather. iMaybe use the door?
 
old resolute. Common problem after years of use, the bypass channels are probably full of fly ash and the stove simply can't breath. You have to remove the 3 inner panels to clean, I have rebuilt approx 100 of these stoves and it's a trick to get those panels in and out. Good luck with this adventure.
PS this was one of the best stoves VC ever made
 
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Maybe establish the load, cut the air back a bit in increments, then close the bypass. You still have to keep the fire going to burn clean, but maybe there would be a little less smoke in the top of the stove if you slow the burn rate down some before dropping the bypass. But it's always tough in low-draft conditions, when it's warmer outside.
 
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