Using a damper to keep the heat in.

Adding a damper kinda defeats the purpose of reducing particulate emmisions and (yes) will add more creosote. The NC13 has a small firebox and in cold weather will have to be fed more regularly.

I am also burning much more wood at this time because the temps haven`t risen above freezing for the past 5 days. Think you will find this is true of most wood-burners when the temperature gets bitterly cold.

Lots of threads on the forum to coach you in how to get the most efficient burn time and maximum heat out of your stove. Do some more research and keep on experimenting to see if you can`t find some efficiencies?

BeGreen said:

I'm thinking of putting one back on our stove. It drafts just right when temps are above freezing. But when it gets colder, the wood appears to be burning up faster. Even with the air control closed I get a great ball of secondary burning with a fresh load of wood. My thought is that this is caused by the greater differential between interior and exterior temps + steady winds.

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BG: are you saying that a damper will not cause a creosote problem? I thought the idea of the epa stoves and inserts was to get away from damping down too much thus creating more creosote and greater particulate emmisions.?

Are you sure that you just ain`t burning more wood to keep it warmer because of the aging body? I know that`s true in my case :lol:

I'm thinking that so long as the damper is only used once the primary air is down as far as possible, then you are meeting the EPA intent, if not the letter. The stoves need a certain negative pressure to draw air thru the primary/secondaries correctly, so if you used a key damper first, you are going to decrease the negative pressure that the draft would be providing, and affect the combustion patterns in the firebox.

If you are using the key damper after you adjust the primary downward, and use it to avoid the overdraft, I think you are OK. This is essentially going to have the same effect as lengthening/shortening a flue - still within spec, but one drafts better than the other.


BUT, I also think that MOST FOLKS (I wouldn't include BeGreen in this group based on his reasoning above) who want a key damper just want a stove that works the way that the Fisher they used to have did, and aren't adding it because of an overdraft condition, IMHO.

I use mine on windy days and I also like having it there to help shut down in case of an overfire or more serious emergency.

Briefly put, I believe a top damper can be very beneficial. My approach to getting the most heat into the room can be found near the end of this thread: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/13710/P15/ For stove and damper theory from an expert, I recommend: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/why_stoves_overfire_from_too_much_draft/ Mr. Gulland is not a big fan of flue dampers because they are subject to operator error - specifically leaving them shut when opening the stove door results in spilling smoke into the room. Yeah, I admit, I’ve done that a few times, but that is a self-limiting behavior. Overall for me the flue damper was a simple and very helpful addition to my insert setup. I was not concerned with over-firing in the sense of a “runaway” fire, but rather just disappointed that I was burning too much wood too fast and losing too much heat up the flue.