Automatic of manual draft control?

[DeanBrown3D]

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

 

[johnsopi]

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.

 

[Eric Johnson]

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.