Anybody use a barometric stack damper ?

[Poodleheadmikey]

The kind which has a swinging door with an adjustable weight? So you can set the proper chimney draft and let the barometric damper maintain the draft at the setpoint?

I'd like to have maybe 0.5" or 0.6" as the maximum. Maybe a little less if the secondary air burn works out well.

Does anyone here monitor and control breeching draft for themselves?

And if so; what do you do?

PHM
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[Highbeam]

That is a terrible idea. What happens in a chimney fire? That baro swings wide open and turns your chimney into a blast furnace. Also, that baro intorduces cold air into the flue to condense creo. The proper way to reduce draft is with a key damper and even those are only supposed to be used after being determined as required by testing and finsing an overdarft situation.

 

[Poodleheadmikey]

There you go!

Now that is Exactly why I asked you. <g>

A chimney fire situation had not occured to me.

So I should set up a draft monitoring gauge and manually adjust an internal flue pipe damper to maintain minimum over-fire and breeching draft?

PHM
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That is a terrible idea. What happens in a chimney fire? That baro swings wide open and turns your chimney into a blast furnace. Also, that baro intorduces cold air into the flue to condense creo. The proper way to reduce draft is with a key damper and even those are only supposed to be used after being determined as required by testing and finsing an overdarft situation.

 

[grommal]

That is a terrible idea. What happens in a chimney fire? That baro swings wide open and turns your chimney into a blast furnace. Also, that baro intorduces cold air into the flue to condense creo. The proper way to reduce draft is with a key damper and even those are only supposed to be used after being determined as required by testing and finsing an overdarft situation.

+1

Dangerous in a chimney fire, cools the flue, and tosses extra house air, that you've already paid to heat, up the chimney.

 

[pen]

I love measuring stuff but I have never thought about constantly measuring draft.

What type of manometer are you planning on using to do this?

pen

 

[Poodleheadmikey]

Well; I have Bacharach draft gauges here already as I routinely set up oil, coal, and gas burning furnaces and boilers.

But for my permanent installation I was thinking more of a tube fixed into the stack with a longish metal tube leading off to a simple water column / clear plastic u-tube arrangement mounted on the cellar wall.

PHM
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I love measuring stuff but I have never thought about constantly measuring draft.

What type of manometer are you planning on using to do this?

pen

 

[laynes69]

I don't think a u tube will read draft correctly. I had a barometric damper which I ran for a couple of years on our EPA woodfurnace, which I eventually removed. I ended up reducing the intake air and it solved my problems. A EPA stove or furnace needs a good draft, and even though the baro would seem closed it will still leak air spoiling draft. Our flue temps dropped over 200 degrees after the baro. For a stove I would use a key damper, but only after it's verified there's too much draft. We tried a key damper and it didnt work well for us, but our fire is determined from a wall thermostat unlike a stove which is manual. One other issue I found with a baro is the removal of heated air from the home.

 

[Poodleheadmikey]

What is it that makes you think that a u-tube will not read draft properly?

I do have a Dwyer manometer sitting here. With some food coloring I could use that for water column measurement.

PHM
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I don't think a u tube will read draft correctly. I had a barometric damper which I ran for a couple of years on our EPA woodfurnace, which I eventually removed. I ended up reducing the intake air and it solved my problems. A EPA stove or furnace needs a good draft, and even though the baro would seem closed it will still leak air spoiling draft. Our flue temps dropped over 200 degrees after the baro. For a stove I would use a key damper, but only after it's verified there's too much draft. We tried a key damper and it didnt work well for us, but our fire is determined from a wall thermostat unlike a stove which is manual. One other issue I found with a baro is the removal of heated air from the home.

 

[laynes69]

I thought you were going to make a u-tube, if so its hard to get an accurate reading. Using an inclined manometer which will measure tenths is the way to go which sounds like what you have. I have a Dwyer manometer, and its mounted behind the furnace on the wall. I just don't keep it hooked up because its plastic. I put a 4" copper end on it for the flue. After running a baro and seeing 85* at the top of our chimney I eliminated it. There wasn't alot of buildup of creosote because the unit is clean burning, its the concern for condensation in the chimney. I just didn't want to risk it, and I don't know what the liquid would do to my liner over time. Its very easy for glaze to build in the flue above the baro if not careful.