Dutchwest 2479 Burning problems

[Engineer2]

Hi All,
I'm kind of new to wood burning but I'm learning...
I have a Dutchwest 2479 - non-cat stove that is giving me burn problems. It is backpuffing and burning very fast.
First of all I just had the flue and the stove cleaned as it was backpuffing and the sweep found some blockage at the very top of a 3 story 6" SS flue. This resolved the backpuffing and lazy burn for a few days, but now it is doing something similar.
My initial burns start quickly and I am able to close the damper and turn down the air in short order. Once the firehas a nice layer of coals I add 4 -5 pieces of wood, I let it burn with the damper open for 5-15 min. At this point it is fully engulfed in flames. I close the damper and leave the air completely open. After 5-10 I close the air about 1/2. in short time the flames can be seen and are pretty active, then a group of flames rise like a cloud and sort of explode (mild infact). But this situation was leading to the stove backpuffing before I had the flue cleaned. Now I'm thinking it is going to backpuff smoke again. It seems like it is just on the edge of doing so.
Also, the 4-5 pieces of wood burned into red coals in 1 hr 45 min, I'm thinking this is way too fast but if I turn the air down any more the amount of flames that explode just gets larger. This makes me pretty nervous. I'm thinking of calling the sweep back but I'm looking for some opinons.
There seems to be quite a bit of experience here, I'm hoping someone has suggestions.
Thanks

I have attached a couple of screen shots for you to see the kind of flames I am talking about.

 

[sullystull]

Have you tried doing a search on this forum for Dutchwest or Everburn? There is tons of info regarding this stove/technology.

 

[sullystull]

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/4188/

Try this one to start with--hopefully it won't be too overwhelming. Best of luck--I used to have the same stove.

 

[Troutchaser]

Are you monitoring temps?
I've searched the site for this very problem and can read for hours w/o coming across the same problems.
But, I, a fellow downdrafter just posted on this earlier today. Maybe we can figure it out together.

Just saw the posted thread. Will read.

 

[Engineer2]

sullystull, Thanks for your replys! I'm taking a look at this.....I saw some others also but I did not see many references to the mini explosions and the backpuffing. This is driving me nuts! The stove is just under 4 years old and never did this before. I'm actually thinking of replacing it because I just do not trust it. We use it quite a lot throughout the cold northeast winter.
Now I'm constantly watching it to make sure the backpuffing situation is not happening.
Thanks, I'll keep on it.

 

[sullystull]

sullystull, Thanks for your replys! I'm taking a look at this.....I saw some others also but I did not see many references to the mini explosions and the backpuffing. This is driving me nuts! The stove is just under 4 years old and never did this before. I'm actually thinking of replacing it because I just do not trust it. We use it quite a lot throughout the cold northeast winter.
Now I'm constantly watching it to make sure the backpuffing situation is not happening.
Thanks, I'll keep on it.

I don't know about the backpuffing issues but as far as the mini-explosions...I had the same thing happening to my 2479 when I was on the brink of actually "everburning". Meaning, the temps weren't quite high enough to fully engage the everburn. I would assume, as the mini-explosion occurs, there is a rumble from the stove too. The rumble probably comes and goes with the explosion. As suggested, if you aren't monitoring your temps, you should be. Folks that currently run that set-up can give you an idea of the temps needed to fully engage the everburn. Just my two cents.

 

[elmoleaf]

Get a stove top thermometer and install on stove top per your owner's manual. Let us know how hot you're burning.

Low burn temps and too little air may've caused flue blockage again. Three stories is a pretty tall chimney and gives plenty of time for cooling and creosote formation if exhaust isn't that hot to begin with or if draft is poor.

If you're getting mini-explosions causing smoke to come out of the stove, that's from an accumulation of wood gasses igniting. You probably have too little air for sustained burn.

1 hr 45 min is probably not an unreasonable burn time, given the small size splits in your photo.

 

[ecocavalier02]

oh boy here we go again. i feel your pain bro. i mean physically i feel it. haha. i know what that thing can put you through. check out the thread i posted a while back as well. It might help but i dont know as you can see in my profile picture i gave up on mine. dont want to put it down and say u wont get it to work, but i know there was no getting it to work for me. I TRIED EVERYTHING FOR ALMOST 3 YEARS.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/43934/

 

[Engineer2]

Ok, I do have some temp information. I use a Rutland magnetic, that I place on the center of the top of the stove. I'm not sure if this the best place, but I kind of use this as a reference of how hot the unit is. I'm just not sure how accurate the numbers actually are. The smoke pipe I use is double wall so I do not place one there.
As for temp, for the pictures above, it was indicating between 350 + 400. I always try to get it above the 250 mark thinking that anything below is creating creosote. It occasionally can go up to 450 - 475 range, but when it was running good the temp was usually 350-400. The temp outside was around 25 degrees

I realize that my flue is pretty long. Last year it was worse (although I did not have these firing problems) because it was the original clay liner. It was so long that creosote built up and caused a chimney fire. This cracked some tiles up top. Sweep then installed a 6" SS liner the entire length. I had it cleaned about 3 weeks ago, and from the bottom floor the draft seemed pretty strong.

I read that some have had trouble with the stove from the start, but this thing used to perform better. It is only lately that I have been having issues.
I let it go out today, I think I'm going to try and completely clean it out tonight before I try and start it again. When I had the flue cleaned a few weeks ago they took the stove apart and (the shoe also) and cleaned it, but I suppose it can't hurt to do it again.
Thanks for all of the replies and help!

 

[ecocavalier02]

Makebsure u take off the flue collar And vaccum out the dow draft tubes. Maybe those are clogged up

 

[schortie]

If your stove was recently cleaned out, I think that your problem is that you aren't getting the stove hot enough and you are not burning long enough to heat up your tall chimney. It's either that or your wood isn't as dry as it could be. Let the stove top get to at least 450-500 before you close the damper. If you're starting with a cold stove, I'd let it burn at that temp for a while before trying to close the damper. If this doesn't work, get some truly seasoned wood and see if that doesn't help. We also burn a VC downdraft stove and our backpuffing is usually a result of one of the things I mentioned.

 

[Chip Brown]

couple of questions

1. Is the chimney an exterior or interior chimney
2. When your sweep lined the chimney did he insulate it
3. you mention that your chimney is 3 stories tall, how much taller than your home and do you have tree's or other structures with 10 feet of the chimney that are higher.

thanks

 

[rkymtnoffgrid]

I believe your problems may be related to poor door seals or flue coller seal. Try tighting up the front, side and ash door seals then remove and re-tighten the flue collar seal. Doing this on my stove stopped all the backpuffing.

 

[Engineer2]

Hi Guys,
Chip,
I have an internal flue, actually has 3 flues inclosed in a brick wall that extends from the 1st floor to the third floor, but only one is used for the wood stove. The one for the wood stove is the longest and goes from 1st to 3rd floor.
It comes through the roof and extends about 5ft above the roof surface on the low side and about 4ft on the higest side. The flue top is just above the top of our ridge cap. There are no trees or structures near this. The sweep did not line it because it is internal. I talked with him and we may insulate it with something that he will pour between the original and the new SS liner. He is actually due to take a look at it today.

rkymtnoffgrid,
Thanks for the suggestions, I actually did all of these including the flue collar seal which was loose but I'm not sure was actually leaking, When I fired the stove after I cleaned and made these adjustments it did hold a flame better when I closed the damper but I still needed to have the air supply fully open. The fire was a bit more lively than before but I still think I have some kind of air flow problem. Just to test out the temp I bought a hand held infared thermometer. The top of the stove was reading almost 400 when i closed the damper. It climbed to 440. These reading are of the top center of the stove

Like I said, I'm expecting my sweep today, lets see if he finds any issue with the flue.

Thanks for the input....