Can not get enough up draft.

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mark402001

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Oct 31, 2015
9
East Texas
Hello all! We are totally new at the wood burning stoves / heaters. Last winter was our first to ever use one. It came with the house we moved into. The stove has the glass front door with an air control lever below that. Looking on the side of the stove I found a metal label that says (Listed Solid Fuel burning space heater, Model - Omni 750S. For use in residential and mobile home installations. Tested to: UL 1482. Then beside this in a silver slot is WHI - 000073). Then it has instructions on installation with and without heat shields. I do not know what kind of stove this is. I am assuming it is an Omni or a Laser 750 because on the air control below the door it says Laser 750. It has brick lining in the floor. The air vents going into it are right up front under the glass. Most of the openings go straight up then one on each end pointing towards the wood and fire. In the top of the stove is a metal plate with openings on the front and each end but closed on the backside, if that makes any since.

Anyway the reason I am posting is last winter we had to keep the door partially open to have any kind of fire or heat. I removed the air control box under the door and found it full of ash. I cleaned it out but that did not help. I kept the vent fully open with no luck. When I would open the door to put in more wood the house would fill up with smoke. Smoke would roll out of it. The stove pipe (single wall) going up to the celling appears to be about 6 inch pipe with a damper in it about 6 inches from the stove. I kept the damper open when trying to put in more wood as well with no luck. I think it is not getting enough up draft to suck out the smoke. Is it just this is a bad stove or do I need to do something else. I checked the pipe and it was clean. I even got on the roof and removed the rain cap to make sure there were no obstructions in there as well. The pipe is totally straight with no bends or twists.

Once I get a good fire going I can close the door but the flames soon go out. I thought maybe it was the wood. So I lit a fire again the other day thinking that maybe the wood was not as dry as should have been. I used some that was left over from last yr so I know it was good and dry. At lest 18 months. I looked on line for a stove like mine but was unable to find one, in hopes of finding an owners manual and trouble shooting the issues. I contacted the previous owner and he said he bought the stove second hand and had the same issues as I am having now. Anyway if anyone is familiar with these issues or knows for sure what kind of stove this is I would greatly appreciate your input. Thanks in advance for any info.
 
Welcome. This still could be the wood or it could be negative pressure in the house. Have you tried a fire with construction scraps (2x4 cutoffs)? If you open a nearby window about an inch does that help the fire burn better?

Can you post a picture of the stove front and also a good shot of the stove label? And where in the house is the stove, basement, first floor?
 
IMG_0061.JPG IMG_0067.JPG IMG_0062.JPG

No I have not burnt any scraps in it, just the seasoned oak. With the door cracked open a little it gets plenty hot. We are located in East Texas so no basement here. We are in an old pier and beam house with an add on that is on a slab about a foot lower than the original house. The stove is sitting in the add on room which is plenty drafty. I have taken 3 photos. The one of the label is not that great because it is hard to get to and the flash creates a reflection.
 
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The first thing I'll say that oak seasoned "at least 18 months", is oak seasoned at least 6 months too little. Texas oak may be very different, but around here, I wouldn't try burn oak until at least 2 years after it's been split and stacked.

How tall is your chimney?

Next, what is the outside temperature? It's hard to get a good draft until temps are below 50.

TE
 
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Not sure how tall the double wall pipe is. I know it is a little lower than the roof ridge. There are no obstructions around it and it is fully exposed to the north wind. Right now the temps have been in the upper 50's low60's at night and early mornings. I am trying to get ahead of the problem before winter. Last winter we got down into the upper 20's 30's and still had the same problem. The wood lights and burns good with the stove door cracked a little.
 
Was the problem last winter damp wood? If yes I would try the stove with construction scraps when the outdoor temps get below 50F. Leave the door open 1/2" until they get burning vigorously.
 
begreen said:
Was the problem last winter damp wood? If yes I would try the stove with construction scraps when the outdoor temps get below 50F. Leave the door open 1/2" until they get burning vigorously.
Click to expand...
No the wood was kept dry. Always moved it indoors a few days before use. Outside it was kept covered.
 
Have you cleaned down your chimney to ensure no obstructions in there? Another thing I had happen is check your flue damper mine failed and was free spinning on shaft so make sure it's operating correctly
 
By damp I meant at the core of the wood log or split, not on the surface. That's why I'd try a fire with construction scraps when temps outside drop a bit lower.

Also, a short chimney is going to pull poorly and have weak draft. This can be particularly true if the chimney is below the ridge of the house and on the windward side.
 
The slope of the roof is east and west and stove pipe is on north end of house. So how high above the ridge do I need to get it since it is a little bit below the ridge?
 
Try an extra 4ft of cheap pipe on top of chimney and see what happens.if it works properly problem solved
 
Not necessarily. It depend on how close the roof is to the pipe.

10-3-2 rule.JPG
 
Just shooting from the hip here, but it says it is OK for mobile home installations. This suggests that it has, or can be fitted with an external air intake. These usually consist of a round hole in the back of the stove that can be fitted with a flexible pipe that goes outside thru a wall, or else a hole is cut in the floor directly under the stove and air is drawn in from there. If both of those are closed off you might not be getting enough air.
 
I will have to take some measurements when the rain stops. I will also take a look at the bottom of the heater tomorrow. There is no cutout on the back side. Thanks for all the suggestions I will start working on them tomorrow. I will keep y'all updated.
 
mark402001 said:
Hello all! We are totally new at the wood burning stoves / heaters. Last winter was our first to ever use one. It came with the house we moved into. The stove has the glass front door with an air control lever below that. Looking on the side of the stove I found a metal label that says (Listed Solid Fuel burning space heater, Model - Omni 750S. For use in residential and mobile home installations. Tested to: UL 1482. Then beside this in a silver slot is WHI - 000073). Then it has instructions on installation with and without heat shields. I do not know what kind of stove this is. I am assuming it is an Omni or a Laser 750 because on the air control below the door it says Laser 750. It has brick lining in the floor. The air vents going into it are right up front under the glass. Most of the openings go straight up then one on each end pointing towards the wood and fire. In the top of the stove is a metal plate with openings on the front and each end but closed on the backside, if that makes any since.

Anyway the reason I am posting is last winter we had to keep the door partially open to have any kind of fire or heat. I removed the air control box under the door and found it full of ash. I cleaned it out but that did not help. I kept the vent fully open with no luck. When I would open the door to put in more wood the house would fill up with smoke. Smoke would roll out of it. The stove pipe (single wall) going up to the celling appears to be about 6 inch pipe with a damper in it about 6 inches from the stove. I kept the damper open when trying to put in more wood as well with no luck. I think it is not getting enough up draft to suck out the smoke. Is it just this is a bad stove or do I need to do something else. I checked the pipe and it was clean. I even got on the roof and removed the rain cap to make sure there were no obstructions in there as well. The pipe is totally straight with no bends or twists.

Once I get a good fire going I can close the door but the flames soon go out. I thought maybe it was the wood. So I lit a fire again the other day thinking that maybe the wood was not as dry as should have been. I used some that was left over from last yr so I know it was good and dry. At lest 18 months. I looked on line for a stove like mine but was unable to find one, in hopes of finding an owners manual and trouble shooting the issues. I contacted the previous owner and he said he bought the stove second hand and had the same issues as I am having now. Anyway if anyone is familiar with these issues or knows for sure what kind of stove this is I would greatly appreciate your input. Thanks in advance for any info.
Click to expand...
Is your dampener open?
 
My first thought is the damper as well. I just pulled some single wall pipe from a customers home where the damper wasn't locked to the damper key anymore. Regardless of where the damper key was turned the damper itself would settle into the mostly closed position
 
A couple of people have mentioned the possibility of a broken damper. If you can look straight down the chimney with a bright flashlight that should be easy to check.
 
I also vote damper issue. I have a cheap damper on my shop stove and it occasionally flops itself closed and starts back drafting and belching smoke into the shop. The damper key doesn't lock into the damper too well.

Remove the damper and try lighting another fire.
 
This doesn't sound like a damper issue to me. If this is a mobile home approved stove, and there's no visible connection port for outside combustion air, it gets its air through an intake hole in the floor, under the pedestal. No intake hole, no air. This would explain why your fire burns when the door is cracked and it has access to room air. If this was a damper issue, opening the stove door would result in a roomful of smoke.
 
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thechimneysweep said:
This doesn't sound like a damper issue to me. If this is a mobile home approved stove, and there's no visible connection port for outside combustion air, it gets its air through an intake hole in the floor, under the pedestal. No intake hole, no air. This would explain why your fire burns when the door is cracked and it has access to room air. If this was a damper issue, opening the stove door would result in a roomful of smoke.
Click to expand...
He stated in his post that when he would open the stove to add wood, smoke would roll out...
 
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Tom's suggestion should be testable. Is there any sort of removable plate on the pedestal? If so, remove it and if that exposes a hole into the pedestal leave the cover off. If not can a couple wedges be slipped under the front edge of the pedestal to lift it up about 1/4"? See if one of these approaches improves the burn.

The damper is also something that is easy to check. It might be good to remove the connector pipe anyhow to see if there is a bunch of crud blocking the smokepath at the flue connection. The lower pipe section looks like it's due for replacement.
 
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