Secondaries with a little smoke

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BradleyW

BradleyW

Burning Hunk
Jan 4, 2014
165
Northfield, MA
I've been getting used to my new Jotul F55. This morning I got the stove going before leaving for work. I had the stove top at about 600 degrees and beautiful secondaries with the air about 75-80% shut down and everything holding steady so I went out the door. As I drove away I noticed there was a little smoke coming out of my chimney. Not very much at all, maybe not even enough for the average person who was driving by to notice any smoke, but a little smoke nonetheless. Is this something that I should worry about? I know that ideally I would be able to shut the air down all the way, have great stove top temps, and no smoke. Unfortunately some of my wood is less than ideal and I just have to deal. Any thoughts or input would be helpful.
 
Is it possible it was steam, not smoke? I can't shut my Oslo down all the way without snuffing the fire out so I usually go to sleep with it around 1/4 open.
 
BradleyW said:
Unfortunately some of my wood is less than ideal and I just have to deal.
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I guess you already know the answer. It probably is what it is. And some smoke during the early stages of the burn is almost unavoidable before the remaining moisture has been boiled off. Keep an eye on your chimney and consider a mid-season cleaning.
 
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BradleyW said:
I don't believe it was steam.
With your Oslo are you seeing secondaries and smoke out the chimney at the same time when you are 1/4 open?
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When the secondaries are going I don't have any smoke but I have to admit I'm not always outside checking the pipe for smoke either. Nobody is burning perfectly clean ALL the time, even with a new EPA stove. After all, we're burning firewood and it's not an exact science with so many variables. Don't let a little smoke worry you, and if you are really concerned climb up and check the pipe after a few weeks of burning. That should give you a good indication of whether your burning techniques are working.
 
Was it white or did it have a yellowish tinge to it? At that temp and iffy wood it could have been either. Give the chimney a check after a couple months.
 
Grisu said:
And some
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Sconnie Burner said:
Was it white or did it have a yellowish tinge to it? At that temp and iffy wood it could have been either. Give the chimney a check after a couple months.
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It was white smoke. I'll definitely check the chimney in a while. I was just surprised that I would see smoke at all when it seemed like the stove was burning so well.
 
my understand is that if it's steam, it dissipates quick after leaving the chimney.....smoke tends to hang on a bit
 
Could be smoke . . . could be steam.

My own take . . . no worries. Typically I get no to little smoke when burning . . . except for when I first reload . . . but even I occasionally have a fire that for whatever reason just won't burn as good as I would like . . . I used to worry about it when I saw smoke coming from my chimney, now I realize it's not big a deal since it's not the norm.

Just be sure to regularly inspect your chimney.
 
Modern stoves were/are designed to minimize smoke by burning/reburning the gas coming off the wood in the form of smoke. As mentioned above it is inevitable that at times, for a myriad of reasons, some of this slips by and rolls out the stack in the form of smoke that is visible. After all - it is a fire and fire makes smoke. The stove by design will limit this and proper use will exaggerate this limitation but it will happen with all stoves to some degree.

Worry little beyond the norm and check you flue/chimney on a nice day mid season or so for extra piece of mind.
 
Beer Belly said:
my understand is that if it's steam, it dissipates quick after leaving the chimney.....smoke tends to hang on a bit
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I've never really thought of the possibility that it could be steam. I guess in the early burning stages, even with dry wood you have some moisture leaving the wood, and once it hits the cold outside air it condenses.
 
my understand is that if it's steam, it dissipates quick after leaving the chimney.....smoke tends to hang on a bit

I don't understand. Do you mean that the smoke will plume up and be nice and formed, and that steam will kind of blow all over the place? Even downward?
 
cheechblu said:
my understand is that if it's steam, it dissipates quick after leaving the chimney.....smoke tends to hang on a bit

I don't understand. Do you mean that the smoke will plume up and be nice and formed, and that steam will kind of blow all over the place? Even downward?
Click to expand...
from what I've read, steam will quickly disappear into the air after leaving the Chimney.
 
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cheechblu said:
I don't understand. Do you mean that the smoke will plume up and be nice and formed, and that steam will kind of blow all over the place? Even downward?
Click to expand...

many variables - outside temp., weight of air(humidity),wind, wood, temp of stove, MC, etc. Steam is steam - boil a pot of water outside on a cold day and if it looks like that... it's steam.
 
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BobUrban said:
many variables - outside temp., weight of air(humidity),wind, wood, temp of stove, MC, etc. Steam is steam - boil a pot of water outside on a cold day and if it looks like that... it's steam.
Click to expand...

That's why I asked. You know that's a lot easier than standing outside boiling a pot of water.
 
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