Q&A Automatic air damper for woodstove

Question:

We need an automatic air damper for a wood burning stove to install in an 8" stove pipe. It can be a bimetal strip operated device that closes on temperature rise so that it will be unnecessary to watch the incoming air damper so closely. Please advise



Answer:

There is no such device. There are the following solutions:
1. Barometric Damper--this is the swing type damper you see on oil burners- and they do a very good job of evening out the draft. When the draft is too high- they open and spoil the excess draft by letting some room air into the chimney.
2. Thermostatic damper for stove air inlet - I think a few companies make (or used to make) a device which can retrofit over an existing manual damper and make it thermostatic. I tried these once and didn't like it. Best off with #1 above...make sure the barometric you buy is designed for Coal and Wood (Field controls makes one)