econoburn smoke

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airlina

Burning Hunk
Feb 15, 2009
150
western new york
Just installed and fired up my econoburn 100 this week. So far the only problem that I have run into is lots of smoke coming out the door during loading and startup. Outside air temp was high 40's F during these burns so i realize this is not the ideal conditions for a good draft . Boiler is located in my basement and chimney routing is 8 " black pipe to a interior masonary chimney (30 ') . My question is has anyone installed a volko draft inducer (or similarproduct) to eliminate smoke out the door when loading. I am planning to have the draft inducer switch on when the door is opened then off for normal door closed burning. Just want to be sure these things work before spending the buckaroos on the inducer. thanks Bruce
 
I cannot offer you advice on the draft inducer but I have just changed the way that I operate my Econoburn 150 because of similar issues. I put in my crushed newspaper base, kindling, then load the wood to the max level. I shut the top door (leaving the flue open), open the bottom chamber door and light from there with a propane torch. I wait for my flue temp gauge (probe type) to hit 400 deg f and then shut the bottom door, shut the flue and kick on the unit. I don't open the top door again until it's time to build another fire. Now if you need to reload while the fire is still going then your are still going to get smoke out the top door so you'll need to continue to look at the draft inducer if needed. But maybe this will help on the initial burn. np
 
Draft inducers seem to be more of a luxury than anything. I have one installed for this year but got by pretty well last year without it.

50% of the reason I picked up my inducer was for the ULTRA cold days in the winter. I have an external chimney with a chase but when temps dip below zero I have one heck of a time getting draft. Yeah, the other 50% was to make loading "half loads" a smoke free effort. There are nights when I want to throw a few more pieces on before bed. The inducer will come in handy for these loads. Otherwise, when loading over only coals typically smoke is never an issue even without an inducer...
 
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