Has anyone tried draft induction on a Fisher smoke dragon?

[Scout_1969]

Looking to increase efficiency of my smoke dragon and was thing about draft induction.

It seems that as the fire dies down, if somehow the dampers could open a little like a spring on the stove pipe thermometer. Or maybe something to draw/push air.

I ran across this http://www.draftinducers.com/ad1.htm and was wandering about putting it on a thermostat.

Has anone tried this or know if it would work?

 

[awoodman]

I know I have put fans that blow across stoves on thermostats that attach to the stove metal. Real simple ones like these...They make different temp settings you would need one to close the circuit when the temp. drops though.

 

[ControlFreak]

It seems that as the fire dies down, if somehow the dampers could open a little...

Once your fire has burned down to coals, you have gone through the vast majority of the heat available in the wood, so increasing the draft at this point will do very little to generate additional heat. You're too late by that time.

If you're looking to increase efficiency, the way to do that is to improve the stage of the fire when you have yellow flames. That is done through some method of secondary combustion, either with a catalyst or with secondary burn tubes of some kind. What goes along with that is to elevate the interior temperature of the fire by insulating it with fire brick.

There are some people here who have had some success by retrofitting their smoke dragon with their own version of burn tubes. It might be best to just find a decent used modern stove. Kind of depends upon your money vs time situation and your skillset when it comes to machining.

Keep in mind that because this secondary combustion requires much higher temperatures to operate, these stoves are much more sensitive to the effects of moisture in the wood. Your smoke dragon will not have too much trouble gobbling up tons of poorly seasoned wood since it provides the fire with the abundant combustion air needed to boil off the moisture. But the newer stoves, since they operate with much less combustion air (and longer burn times), will have difficulty reaching the internal temps needed to enable the secondary with too much moisture there. So you have to be sure that you have properly seasoned wood, or you'll be very frustrated with any retrofit secondary system.

 

[Scout_1969]

Thanks for the replies.

AW- I'll research these.

I am thinking I would need something that would be normally closed... while wood is burning to desired temperature no fan on (blowing into or directed to air inlet), when it cools a bit the fan comes on to induce draft.

It's to bad they don't make a spring of sorts to do this. Funny thing is I thought of this idea after I put never-seize on my inlet threads.. wow they turn way easier.

BTW- Nice boat. I like the wood grain pattern, reminds me of some guns I've seen.

CF- I've seen some here that have installed secondary air (Pen?) but my skillset would require getting someone to fabricate and install this. You're right I would probably be better off ($$$$) buying a modern stove.

I'm trying to educate myself on this entire process and of course getting the most from my wood and stove. I going to research more on the 'burn cycle'.

 

[PJF1313]

Thanks for the replies.

AW- I'll research these.

I am thinking I would need something that would be normally closed... while wood is burning to desired temperature no fan on (blowing into or directed to air inlet), when it cools a bit the fan comes on to induce draft.

It's to bad they don't make a spring of sorts to do this. Funny thing is I thought of this idea after I put never-seize on my inlet threads.. wow they turn way easier.

BTW- Nice boat. I like the wood grain pattern, reminds me of some guns I've seen.

CF- I've seen some here that have installed secondary air (Pen?) but my skillset would require getting someone to fabricate and install this. You're right I would probably be better off ($$$$) buying a modern stove.

I'm trying to educate myself on this entire process and of course getting the most from my wood and stove. I going to research more on the 'burn cycle'.

If ya think never-seize is great, just wail until you try some graphite powder - and no silver hands to boot!!



EDIT - make sure that you clean the never-seize off before doing the graphite - talk about a heck of a gummy mess! (Don't ask how I know :sick: )