Automatic of manual draft control?

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DeanBrown3D

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 16, 2006
193
Princeton, NJ
For a wood furnace, how do I decide whether to use an automatic barometric draft control, or a manual cast iron control? The issue I am getting now is that with the automatic control, the air that gets in to the chimney is cooling the flue temperature down too much.

Thanks!

Dean
 
Mine does the same thing. I think that that how it is designed. I called about the creosote in the stove pipe they said brush it out. Over all the best is to call the manufacturer and ask them.
 
Manual dampers are pretty cheap and easy to install. Why not buy one and see how it works?

Maybe it's beause I like fooling around with that kind of thing, but I always enjoy playing around with the damper. You learn a lot about draft and how your particular furnace operates by experimenting. You're down there throwing wood in the thing anyway, might as well exert a little more control over the burn while you're at it. It will pay off.

Having said that, I don't think your barometric damper is going to give you more creosote accumulation than you'd get with a manual damper (or no damper at all). If there's smoke going up the chimney, I think it will remain hot enough to keep most of the creosote in gas form until it gets into the atmosphere. Draft has a lot to do with chimney temps, and without adequate draft, your basement is going to fill with smoke. Put another way, if you're not getting a lot of smoke in your house, then your draft is good and your chimney is probably hot.

But as I said in the other thread, no matter what you eventually wind up doing, check out the chimney after burning for a few weeks just so you know for sure what's going on.
 
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