Hey guys,
I recently bought a house, ~25 years old, wood stove is original.
It's in the basement with 2 floors above it (enclosed staircase to dining room, not split entry) and an exterior (lined) brick chimney that goes pretty high above the house.
The basement is not entirely finished but it is drywalled/insulated. I don't believe the previous owners used the wood stove much if at all. Prior to closing I had the stove WETT inspected/cleaned.
I have a good amount of experience with wood stoves but I've never had issues like this.
When trying to light a fire I am getting ridiculous amounts of backdraft sometimes, to the point that just lighting some newspaper smokes out the entire basement.
The damper on the stove is wide open, doesn't appear to be any sort of flu on the chimney.
I have tried leaving the door open for a while, opening the windows, starting off lighting small amounts of paper etc. to no avail.
I understand this is likely to the house being newer/air tight and the fact that it's in the basement.
The bottom of the stove has this fan that I thought (from my previous stoves) was only to blow air across the stove and push it out into the room, but I think it might actually be to help the draft go up? I set it manually and was able to light a fire with no issues.
Also I'm not sure what the "Auto" setting is detecting?
Thanks in advance.
I recently bought a house, ~25 years old, wood stove is original.
It's in the basement with 2 floors above it (enclosed staircase to dining room, not split entry) and an exterior (lined) brick chimney that goes pretty high above the house.
The basement is not entirely finished but it is drywalled/insulated. I don't believe the previous owners used the wood stove much if at all. Prior to closing I had the stove WETT inspected/cleaned.
I have a good amount of experience with wood stoves but I've never had issues like this.
When trying to light a fire I am getting ridiculous amounts of backdraft sometimes, to the point that just lighting some newspaper smokes out the entire basement.
The damper on the stove is wide open, doesn't appear to be any sort of flu on the chimney.
I have tried leaving the door open for a while, opening the windows, starting off lighting small amounts of paper etc. to no avail.
I understand this is likely to the house being newer/air tight and the fact that it's in the basement.
The bottom of the stove has this fan that I thought (from my previous stoves) was only to blow air across the stove and push it out into the room, but I think it might actually be to help the draft go up? I set it manually and was able to light a fire with no issues.
Also I'm not sure what the "Auto" setting is detecting?
Thanks in advance.