I have an 18 month old Jotul GF 400 Sebago direct vent gas stove venting through a 45 and about 18 inches straight out the side of my house and into a Simpson Dura-Vent fourteen inch 'Snorkel". The problem is that on windy days the fire will not stay lit. The dealer I bought the stove from is no help, his employees were not able to solve the problem. I called Jotul in Maine and their tech said "Oh those snorkels, I'm sorry we even have them in the catalog". I called Simpson in California and they suggested a wind guard, a perforated aluminum plate which fits around the upper (exhaust) or lower (intake) end of the snorkel and is screwed to the side of the building. I installed it on the top-exhaust end at Simpsons suggestion but the fire still would not stay lit during a strong wind. I bought another wind guard from Simpson and installed it on the lower-intake end but still no improvement. The air intake and exhaust dampers on the stove itself are both wide open at the dealers suggestion but I can't tell if the problem is caused by the wind pulling a vacuum on the intake of the snorkel and starving the fire–it flickers lazily for some seconds before it goes out completely and then even the pilot goes out, or if the wind is blocking the exhaust end and the fire is in either case starving for oxygen. Still thinking the wind is causing the problem I bought a sheet of perforated aluminum from Home Depot and fabricated and installed four 'caps' on the tops and bottoms of the two wind guards to see if that would help but it did not and may even have made the problem worse although it is hard to tell (I called Simpson to see if they thought that might be a solution but all I could get from them was the flat statement–"no field modifications are authorized-period"). Next I am going to remove the 'caps' I fabricated one at a time to see if I can get some idea of what might be the best solution. When the wind is calm the stove works very well.
Thoughts anyone? Ronny
Thoughts anyone? Ronny