Draft Issues

This has been hashed around several different times. Most of the posts I've seen are that they work to a point.....but the best solution is to build/buy a draft hood to get rid of any smoke. Mine is in a pole barn so I really don't care that I produce allot of smoke when I don't wait for coals to refill, but if I had it in my house, I would look for a stove/oven fan that someone has taken out of a house and they are dumping it.

If there is any chance that it is a wind induced back draft this works well.
http://www.vacustack.com/ ( not sure how well this would work with a barometric damper )
When I load my Tarm I keep my top door only open an inch or two while I get the next pieces of wood. If I leave door wide open I get smoke into room.
Do you have a window or door near stove you could try opening a bit while loading? Many new homes are so tight they don't allow for a good draft.

First let's eliminate the obvious blockage possibilities. Clean chimney; no large ash accumulation in the flue connecting pipe, top and bottom chambers; and clean heat tubes in the back of the boiler. If all of those are ok, then are you trying to reload on top a currently-smoking fire? The only time smoke ever comes out of my EB (also in the basement) is if I open the door with a partial load going. Loading either an empty boiler or on top of a coal bed produces little or no smoke. The loading process, of course, needs to happen quickly and efficiently - here's what works well for me. 1) crack the loading door and take a peek; 2) if no smoke is rolling around inside, open the door and begin feeding; 3) finish loading as quickly as possible, shut the door and don't open again until the next feeding. But, if your problems are only when starting a cold boiler, using lots of small, dry kindling will help get a good initial fire going. First let that fire get cooking, and then load quickly on top of that.

There was a guy here last spring that had a problem with smoke backing up into his building. turned out to be a plugged up chimney cap. You might check yours and/or remove it. they will definitely restrict your draft to some extent.

If you've really investigated all other potential issues.....

For $120 this seems like a good item to try:

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...m_ven=Aggregates&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Heaters, Stoves + Fireplaces>Heater, Stove + Fireplace Accessories&cm_ite=18002?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=18002

I would only run it when you are about to open the door and load fuel otherwise it will cut down your system efficiency.

Hard at Werk said:

Chimney and pipes are clean, cleaned the boiler pipes two days ago, have a chimney cap. I have a basement window that I crack when I feed it. The problem is ,there is no see through window so I have to open the door to see what's cookin at which point smoke makes it's escape. Sometimes alot of smoke, sometimes barely any, but when I'm loading, even on a hot bed of coals, the wood starts smoking instantly. So the 15 secs it takes me to load the boiler that's a lot of smoke. My question is will an in line draft inducer eliminate all smoke or more like 50/50 ?

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-I have a Econoburn 100 in my basement that has been a fantastic addition to my house. The only issue I have is the smoke when loading. In an effort to reduce this I installed a Volko AD-1 draft inducer in flue fan (cost $155 bucks online -google volko AD-1 draft inducer) in my flue . This fan eliminated about 50% of my smoke issues and works fairly well , but I still have to load quickly and control my door opening technique to keep smoke release to a minimum. Additionally the fan helps with fire starting and cleaning. (it draws the fine ash dust remnants out the flue when I am cleaning out the burn chambers.) I wired the fan to a manual toggle switch on my boiler control panel and in addition a button switch that is activated off when the draft door lever is closed as a idiot type switch so the fan will always be off when the boiler is in active mode. As an alternative solution, I know Dale at Econoburn sells smoke hoods that you would install a draw fan in to exhaust the smoke outdoors like the exhaust hood in a kitchen. Good luck Bruce

Hard at Werk said:

I think the hood is too much work and the inducer is the easiest solution. I just hope it doesn't interfere with normal operation of the boiler. I am going to order one today. Thanks to all that chimed in.

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I have been down this road with my eko 60. Draft inducer $150.00= fail

I installed a power attic fan in my roof then ducted it down thru the celing to a old oven vent hood. = no smoke in my building

Save yourself time and money and do it right the first time.

Rob