Comparing stoves

[gijane]

Hi all,

Very new here and it looks like a great place to be. Does anyone know of a website (free and unbiased) to compare stoves (wood or wood/coal)? We just bought a house with an existing stove. I don't like it at all. I've never seen a set up like it. There is a "shelf" with fire brick above the fire box but below the flue. When hubby lights a fire he fills the house with smoke. I admit it, sometimes I do, too. I think it is because of this "shelf" we can't get a good draft going.

Bottom line...................get rid of this thing and get a different stove but I don't know where to start. Thanks all

There's nothing like a stove to take the chill outta ya bones

 

[begreen]

This be the place jane, welcome. If you can describe the setup, the stove and the chimney we should be able to get you working. Take some pictures and post them here. We'll ask 20 questions or so until we see what you are seeing. First question, is this an exterior chimney? #2 - Is this a freestanding stove or a fireplace insert

 

[Harley]

Hi, Jane:

Where's the smoke coming from? How is the stove connected to the chimney? Pictures would help a great deal. I don't quite yet see the link between the smoke shelf and how the smoke may be getting into the room, if the stove is connected to the chimney up through the damper, and you have a block-off plate.

 

[gijane]

WoW!! You guys are fast. I'll get some pics to ya. It is a free standing stove (Trailblazer????) and it is connected to an outdoor stainless steel chimney. Just over two feet up from the stove is an elbow which goes thru the wall and into the chimney. I've always had a stove with the pipes that go straight up thru the roof.

The stove is going now. If we open the door and the fire is not roaring, that is when we get the smoke. I know part of it is the draft. In order for the smoke to go up the flue, it has to go around the "shelf" thing. So to remedy this I scooted over one of the fire bricks to expose the flue to the fire box. I guess pictures would explain it alot better.

I'll get some pics on here tomorrow. Thanks!!

 

[johnquest]

I hear you about Websites that can compare all the various stoves. My site Wise Heat is new and growing. I'm adding stoves to it all the time and encourging visitors to comment on and review stoves. The comment box is attached to each stove so comments and reviews are always with any stove in the site. And reviews and comments also get a full page to help with searching. Visitors can even rate stoves if they want to.

 

[Rhone]

This shelf thing you're talking about at the top is most likely your secondary burn chamber. Does the shelf have a bunch of small holes all through it below!?

Almost every stove within the last decade has this shelf at the top, usually insulation is above it but I've seen firebrick also. A brand that doesn't is Vermont Castings. Almost everyone else, that "shelf" has a bunch of holes in it that shoot oxygen rich air into the hot gases leaving the logs the result of which when the "shelf" reaches 1100 degrees is it burns those gases an old stove won't. Once that starts that shelf increases your burn efficiency from 30-40% to 65-75% and drastically increases the amount of heat you get per split while drastically lowering the pollution. It causes the gases to come forward, over those tubes or sometimes just metal with holes in it, then it loops up the front, goes towards the back, then out. Also increases the amount of time the hot gases take to leave, increasing the amount of heat. Removing of it is not allowed, and would probably double your wood use.

So it's required for clean burning, and your unit was spec'd with that shelf in place. You can't remove or modify that, it's there for a reason. If you have draft problems, it's possible the shelf is out of alignment or there are other reasons and we can help but that shelf must stay and honestly I don't think it likely the problem. If the unit is a catalytic stove, and many trail blazer stoves are your cat may be clogged and that unit sounds like it's in the worst type of place for a cat stove (outside chimney). Usually, but not always catalytic stoves would not have that shelf. Others more familiar with trail blazers can chime in. I think chances are you're experiencing what's called "The evil chimney" http://www.woodheat.org/chimneys/evilchim.htm and there's not much one can do to fix the problem except put a new chimney that's inside the house, usually a stainless one. My Aunt had an outside chimney and used a hair dryer to blow up the chimney to get the draft moving the right way, not doing so she'd smoke herself out. There's no easy solution if it's an evil chimney, even a new stove will have the same problems. Besides a new chimney on the inside of your house, you can accept the evil chimney and do things like blow a hair dryer up it to get it warmed up and drafting before trying to light a fire.

 

[KeithO]

GI Jane

Your problem more than likely is not the stove, but a cold outside chimney. If you could, have a new chimney installed inside the homes heated envelope, going straight up. This will draft better at all times. A new stove may in fact be even more draft / chimney sensitive than an older stove. I think replacing the stove first is the wrong way around this process. One of the "workarounds" I have heard for a cold chimney is to ball up a sheet of newspaper and stuff it in the space above the baffle as close to the chimney as you can get then light that first. This quick heat will raise the temperature of the flue and start an upward draft going. Its posible that you may in fact have a downdraft through your cold chimney, which is the reason why smoke is blown out the room.

The next tip is not to cheat, but use lots of kindling. You might try the top down fire, with small splits on the bottom (1x1") followed by sticks or smaller splits on top. When you light that up, the loosely packed sticks will burn rapidly and get the draft going and the coals from the sticks burning will fall on the bigger sticks and splits to get them burning. Remember that draft is the engine of the fire and has everything to do with the chimney. No draft, no fresh air and the wood will just smoke. "Cheating" which means not enough kindling, will result in a cold fire thqat releases too little heat to keep the draft going, with the result that the fire will die down and finally smoke and smolder. Having good warm chimney is the best insurance against any of this happening.

I strongly suggest that you restore the baffle to its original condition, else the efficiency of the stove will suffer, you will let out a lot more unburnt smoke than before and you will burn more wood to keep warm that you would need to. You will also deposit creosote in the chimney faster than before with the danger of a chimney fire.

 

[Gooserider]

Before going for a complete chimney rebuild, it might be worth looking to see if the OP has a liner in her flue, and / or if it's insulated... an insulated liner isn't a complete cure for "Evil Chimney" but it will certainly help, and is likely to be far less expensive, and probably easier.

I think we need to get a better picture of the OP's setup (including photos!) before we start invoking the rebuild crew.

Gooserider