BackDraft?

[Josepe]

What would cause a backdraft?? Hooked up my wood burner a week ago.Has 8" pipe that runs 18ft. up the side of my house and 30" above my roof.It burned like the Devil til yesterday when it seemed like it wouldn't draw hardly at all.it would draw some better with the door wide open but still not the draw it had,and when I close the doors with the drafts wide open the fire dies down and just smolters.Just to be safe I inspected the pipe and even cleaned,which it shouldn't have even needed this soon.Then I notice when I went to build a new fire in it there was one heck of a draft in the stove? why or how would that draft come down 18 ft. of pipe??? Appreciate any help or suggestions. I'm stating Back Draft but may mean Down Draft.Don't know if there's a difference or not.

 

[beau5278]

Were the winds blowing harder or from an odd direction.I had a woodburner in an old farmhouse that,if the wind was blowing from the east,I had to crack a window near the stove until I got a good fire going,any other direction it was fine.It was an odd shaped roof and when the wind blew out of the east,the peak,that was about 15ft away from the chimney,must have caused a swirl that send it right back down the chimney.

 

[Todd]

What was your weather like? You can get pretty sluggish draft on warmer more humid days than crisp dry cold days.

 

[Josepe]

Thanks for the opinoins and help.Actually the weather was alot warmer and calmer,butI was also asked by a friend today if I heated the stove pipe before I rebuilt the fire,which I didn't,and after doing so it's burning great again now,whew,Warm.This is my first year of burning wood so I know I have plenty more to learn,but I did alot of research for months before installing the stove.I have a Fisher Grandma Bear,a Monster of a stove,though I know most aren't non cat stove enthusiusts,but to each their own I guess.Thanks again.

 

[LeonMSPT]

Most chimneys don't draft too well on warm days... above 45 degrees or so, fire's pretty but it doesn't do much.

Zero here tonight... Fireplace insert, and the wood boiler, are both going. Coal in the wood boiler. Thinking about just going exclusively coal. The WC90 is a traditional woodstove with a water jacket on it. I like the no smoke, no creosote, mucho heat, and long burns. Going to put a barometric damper on it, and buy some more coal. The wood will burn really good in the insert, and that doesn't make anywhere near the smoke, smell, and creosote and tar the wood boiler does. No smoke at all when it's in the groove.