draft issues ?

[obsessed penguin]

My stove is a Napoleon 1900. I need to keep my flue and damper mostly fully open when I burn to make it climb to the right temperature. Smoke comes out of the door when beginning even when the kindling is very seasoned.
When I do my overnight burn and turn everything down low, I do have hot coals but the window is stained. The pipes and chimney are cleaned out 3 times a year. The cap and chimney are so high (25 feet) that I have to clean from the bottom up. There is definitley a clearing up there for the smoke to get out but I cant see the actual condition of the cap. What's up ?

 

[DAKSY]

1. Have you actually checked the moisture content of your "very seasoned" wood?
2. Is there a liner in your chimney or are you dumping into the flue tiles?
3. What size are the flue tiles?
4. Is the pipe going inot the thimble pitched correctly? It looks to be going down as
it enters the thimble...
5. Does the cap have a spark screen & have you actually looked at it?

 

[Nick Mystic]

As DAKSY mentions, you need to check your screen and your wood moisture. Can you get a clear view of your cap with a pair of binoculars from the ground? If you are cleaning from the bottom up you most likely aren't getting your cap as clean as you would if you pulled it off and hit it with a wire brush. That's where I was start my investigation.

 

[branchburner]

I need to keep my flue and damper mostly fully open when I burn to make it climb to the right temperature. Smoke comes out of the door when beginning even when the kindling is very seasoned. When I do my overnight burn and turn everything down low, I do have hot coals but the window is stained. The pipes and chimney are cleaned out 3 times a year.

A few more questions relating to each sentence above:
Do you partly or fully close the pipe damper on overnight burns. and if so, why?
Do you mean smoke leaks out the door when closed, or only when opened to load?
Do you turn everything down low in gradual steps, or very quickly?
How much creosote is there when pipes and chimney are cleaned?

The dirty window means you are not getting complete combustion, which could be draft related (closed damper, over-sized flue), but also wet wood or insufficient primary air before shutting down.

If you are feeding into a cold exterior chimney w/ a big clay flue, without an insulated liner, that would explain smoke spillage and poor combustion.

 

[begreen]

Why is there a damper on this flue pipe? Has it been necessary in the past?

The most common problem is with wood is not fully seasoned. This may be compounded by the short vertical connector going into a 90 turn to the chimney.

But based on the kindling issue this sounds like a cap screen issue. I'd get up and check the flue cap screen. It could be clogging. If so, the stove is going to draft very poorly.

PS: Nice hearth!

 

[blueguy]

Are you baffles pushed all the way to the rear of the stove? They should be seated all the way back, on *top* of the centre burn tube with about a 1" to 1.5" space in front of them directly above the door. When I was burning my 1450, the only time I have smoke spill back into the house when everything was heated up was when the baffles had moved forward....

 

[obsessed penguin]

The wood is 18 % and 2 years seasoned.the pipe is insulated, the damper was installed by the installer and we partly close it overnight per the installer's recommendation, the stove pipe isn't on a downward slope,most of the creosote is in the stove pipe and not the chimney, the smoke leaks out the door when open. Is a baffle the upper bricks ?

 

[slayer7]

My .02...I think messing with the pipe damper is killing your draft and causing problems with your temperatures and burn cycle. Most people with modern stoves don't even use a pipe damper because the stove can be controlled just fine with only the air control on the unit. Pipe dampers are usually only used when the stove consistently can't be controlled with the air adjustments and there needs to be another mechanism to damp down a runaway fire (over 700-800). I would leave the damper fully open, let the stove come up to temperature (500+) and slowly keep cutting just the air back until the secondaries are cruising along nicely. You should have decent draft with a 25+ foot liner unless, like others have mentioned, your cap is clogged.

 

[begreen]

If the baffle bricks are correctly in place (toward the back of the stove) then the issue is likely the cap screen as mentioned earlier. I agree that there probably is no need with a draft damper. The effective height of the chimney, after the two 90 deg turns, is reduced to about 19 ft. In milder weather draft is going to be much weaker.

 

[branchburner]

the damper was installed by the installer and we partly close it overnight per the installer's recommendation

The only reason I could see for doing that would be to reduce an excessive draft that was resulting in high flue temps and short burn times... but if you think your draft is insufficient for getting a clean overnight burn, then why don't you try leaving it full open? I agree w/ comments of slayer7 above.

 

[Sprinter]

As has been said:

1. With the 90 degree bends, your flue height is not that tall and should not require a key damper at all. Keep it open unless you some day experience an excess draft which seems unlikely. I really can't understand why the installer recommended it's use unless there is some unusual reason.

2. You really need to look at the cap and see if it is clogged with fluffy creosote. If it is, that is an indication of poor combustion, and insufficient draft would be one possible cause. It's really common but it means you need to burn hotter. My installer told me to expect it and my cap did clog up the first month until I learned better burning habits and it hasn't happened since even once.

Another common cause of a clogged cap would include turning the air down too much, too soon. You need to keep the flue temps up and the secondaries burning. I'd suggest a flue thermometer if you don't have one.

 

[blueguy]

Is a baffle the upper bricks ?

The baffle is the two boards that run across the top of the firebox that force all of the smoke past the burn tubes to be burnt, and then up through the 1.5" gap in the front out through the flue...

 

[obsessed penguin]

I am burning the best fires that I have in years ! No smoke, starts quickly burns hot. Years ago my installer told me that it would be ok to use heavy smooth bricks in the stove because he was temp out of the light weight pumice. Decided to actually read my manual the other day and decided to replace the whole top 2 layers with pumice.. When I removed top there was lots ash that came crashing down. I had a few extra bricks so I replaced some of the walls too. I started a fire and holy crap ! It was amazing. I used the exact same wood that I've been using. The door was wide open and no smoke. Until now I have never heard of this . thanks for all the input !
Please give me some feedback