Got a smoke problem too

[SolarAndWood]

Once the fire gets hot and the cats engaged you cant see anything coming out if the chimney, only on start ups and reloads do I see smoke and that goes away once the cats engaged.
Ill head up to the roof and take a look tomorrow and see whats what. still snow on the roof today.

I never see anything coming out the cap. However, if I am burning stuff that isn't bone dry and not burning hot, 2.5+, the cap will gunk up especially if there is a cold wind. If you need to burn stuff that isn't ideal, I find that if you run it hot for the first third of the burn cycle, you can usually avoid it. I am not talking about wet wood, I am talking not quite there yet wood.

 

[weatherguy]

Once the fire gets hot and the cats engaged you cant see anything coming out if the chimney, only on start ups and reloads do I see smoke and that goes away once the cats engaged.
Ill head up to the roof and take a look tomorrow and see whats what. still snow on the roof today.

I never see anything coming out the cap. However, if I am burning stuff that isn't bone dry and not burning hot, 2.5+, the cap will gunk up especially if there is a cold wind. If you need to burn stuff that isn't ideal, I find that if you run it hot for the first third of the burn cycle, you can usually avoid it. I am not talking about wet wood, I am talking not quite there yet wood.

You dont see anything coming out even when you build a fire from a cold start?
Next time I load up when its still hot Im going to take a look to see if any smoke is coming out of the chimney. Sometimes, especially at this time of the year, I reload and its below the engage cat level on the temp gauge, so I have to bring it up to temp to engage cat. In the middle of the winter I reload when its still putting out good heat.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I only cold start once a year. I get a little smoke on reload but 5-10 minutes isn't clogging your cap, it is the next 12 hours that is the problem. There are a number of us that have experienced what you are experiencing with less than perfect wood. You can get away with it, but you have to run it hot for at least the third of the burn to be in the clear.

 

[weatherguy]

I only cold start once a year. I get a little smoke on reload but 5-10 minutes isn't clogging your cap, it is the next 12 hours that is the problem. There are a number of us that have experienced what you are experiencing with less than perfect wood. You can get away with it, but you have to run it hot for at least the third of the burn to be in the clear.

My wood is 3-4 year seasoned oak 10-12% measured on a MM. I get zero smoke after the 5-10 minutes after reload. Now last year my wood was less than perfect so Im not sure if its buildup from last year as I didnt clean the liner,a chimney sweep went up there and cleaned. I was busy at work and didnt have a cleaning brush and rods so I figured it was easier to have it swept one year plus Im not fond of going on the roof even though, as far as roofs go its not too bad.
I had access to 10 cords of seasoned wood and I bought 4 cords of oak plus I bought 3 cords of green last year which has been seasoning for next year. I May pick up 2 more cords of the seasoned oak so Ill have 4 cords of seasoned wood for 2011-12. Im in the process of building racks so I can load them up this year with wood for 2012-13.
Ill play it by ear next year since Ill only be burning dry wood and Ill knwo if it was my first year burning that was the problem.

 

[weatherguy]

My god, I forgot how well my stove can run with an unclogged chimney cap. I froze for the four days I didnt have the stove running, temps were in the 40's days and 30 or so at night. Its too late, Im now addicted to wood heat :lol: