HIGH WINDS!

When we had the post-Christmas blizzard, the winds gave me plenty of grief. The stove just wouldn't take off - it was like pulling teeth to get the temp in the box up. When the winds picked up the flames died down. Very frustrating and made me paranoid about going to bed. I think adding about five feet to the chimney did help but I guess if it's windy enough I'll always have problems. C'est la vie.

I feel your pain. I live at 8500 ft. in the Rockies [an hour from Denver, to give you a perspective], and winds are common. High winds are not unusual. We can suffer weeks of winds 30 mph+ and I have recorded gusts to 90 mph. Right now, for example, January 5, it is probably blowing 60 mph and has been for a couple of weeks. The winds can keep us awake at night, or wake us back up in the night. Trying to do something outdoors, chore-wise, is a challenge as the windchill is extreme. Yes, it gets old.

Far as burning wood goes, I don't have an answer. We simply don't get the "wood economy" we could expect in calmer conditions. If you shut down the air intake(s) too much, it's bad. If you do nothing, the venturi effect from the wind blowing across the chimneys creates massive draft. I do my best. My best ain't good enough for controlling things as well as I'd like.

I do have one stove which needs a damper in the stovepipe just above the stovetop to help in winds [and it does]. My other stoves are a bit better, and I have not pipe damper in them. I don't have experience with your stove, so.....

We get 50+ MPH winds frequently in the winter. My old stove would get down drafts and overfire so bad I bought a wind directional cap that eliminated about 90% of that. On the new stove the cap that came with the liner was designed for high wind areas and it works. I have not found it necessary to buy an adapter for my 8" directional cap for my 6" liner.

SteveKG, I remember as kid near Echo Lake a big wind storm that downed several acres of trees one winter.

burleymike said:

SteveKG, I remember as kid near Echo Lake a big wind storm that downed several acres of trees one winter.

Click to expand...

You may have heard about the big one around the Steamboat Spgs. area a few yr. ago. I don't recall the numbers now, but they are stunning. Literally millions of trees blown down. I don't believe it was exactly at St. Spgs., but up in that NW area.

OAK (imo) gives you equal pressure on both ends of that stove
rn