Help noob with draft problem!

[Danno77]

Gotta use one once you are over 4ft. Think it's like 75 bucks from a big box store, can't remember. Just make some measurements and get it to at least 15 ft for now from the stove top. If you have the cash more chimney is better (up to a point, as was said before)
Edit: darn it, didn't see replies on the next page. Hope his estimation of price is closer than mine.

 

[begreen]

36" . It will need a roof brace too.

I was curious about the space. Is it always heated so that you are starting the fire when it is say 60F? Or is this space unheated and the fire being started at a cold temp, like freezing or below?

For some guidance on how to start and run the stove, here's a nice video. Choose the bottom one titled: Efficient Wood Stove Operation.

http://www.woodheat.org/wood-heat-videos.html

You'll note that once the fire is going well, the air is not reduced all the way, but just to the point where the flames get lazy and kind of waft over the wood. That will encourage stronger secondary combustion. At that point the fire will start to pick up speed again and may need the air reduced, slightly once again. But not to the point of snuffing out the fire. You should see the flue temp decline and the stove top temp increase. With good wood the stove top should run about 550-650F and the flue temp about 3-400F once you are in a steady secondary burn.

how much is a dang roof brace and ur sure i have to have one? this turning out to be a lot more than i thought. the room never dropped below the fifty's it's usually in the sixty's

Yes for sure. When you have the stove going at 600F with the prairie winds blowing at 60mph, you will be darn glad it's there.

I was just curious about the room temps to see if they offered a clue. Nothing special there.

 

[oldspark]

What brand of pipe do you have? Those brackets vary on price from brand to brand.

 

[smitty81]

What brand of pipe do you have? Those brackets vary on price from brand to brand.

can I ask a stupid question why does the pipe have to be 15 foot minimum. the part thats outside the house is menards stainless steel insulated pipe.called supervent

 

[oldspark]

Not a stupid question at all, the higher the chimney the stronger the draft and the EPA stoves work best with a good draft.

 

[begreen]

The flue is the engine of the stove. It provides the draft that pulls air into the fire. A good flue is as important as the stove. Good flue + good wood + good stove = good heat and a happy camper.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And for sure if you run that stove with the draft full open, most of the heat just goes right up the chimney. Looking at your cap, for sure I'd check to make sure that is not clogged but before you do anything else, check the whole chimney to see if it needs cleaning. A partially plugged chimney can indeed cause the problem you are having.

 

[smitty81]

I would be surprised if anything is clogged the pipes are less than a year old. I have also been burning that creasote powder in there so I don't get creosote buildup. all they had was a 36 inch piece of pipe so that's what I got. the roof support they had there had been robbed so I didn't get that but it looks fairly simple. with that section of pipe i should be right at 15 foot. thanks for all your help guys I will let you know how this works out when the cold comes!

 

[begreen]

Be sure to add the brace. There's a lot of leverage with a tall stick hanging above the roof. You want that to be real stable in a big storm.

 

[smitty81]

Be sure to add the brace. There's a lot of leverage with a tall stick hanging above the roof. You want that to be real stable in a big storm.

I'll grab one when fall gets a bit closer (give menards time to restock or order it online)

Question, this brace is like an arm on each side of the pipe. Do I mount the arms on the upper part of the roof or down below by the rain gutters?

 

[Danno77]

I guess I'm probably not the one who should advise you on this, because I don't have any firsthand experience. I have, however, seen hundreds of those braces installed and every one has had those braces up higher on the roof. Just my 2 cents...

 

[begreen]

Above the pipe.

 

[greythorn3]

i did mine just like the diagram, works great!

 

[Danno77]

Was at Menards yesterday. They cost 32.50 there.

 

[smitty81]

UPDATE

I bought a 4' section of pipe and braced it.

HOWEVER, I think it made my problem worse.

I think that may have given me to much draft. I have AT LEAST 16' of chimney pipe now for sure.

Now, the low air control setting is like what high used to be. I am having a hell of a time getting the stove lit and once I am lit, I am burning right through wood on the lowest setting for the air control. (temp dosnt even seem to get as high)

Also, I don't really think it helped the secondaries to stay lit at all. It's almost like there is to much draft because they want to go out it seems.

SO...................$150.00 later, I am no where.

I am having thoughts of just cutting my loses and going back to the way it was.

So frustrating.

 

[rdust]

I can't imagine you have too much draft at 16', that is the length the stove was designed around. Have you performed the dollar bill test on the door gasket? I had a gasket that passed the dollar bill test that I felt was still bad, I shut the lights off at night with a nice firing going and looked around the door for fire/light showing through. I found one of the corners wasn't sealing great, that didn't show up on the dollar bill test.

What type of stove top temps or flue temps are you seeing and how long is a full load lasting?

 

[smitty81]

I can't imagine you have too much draft at 16', that is the length the stove was designed around. Have you performed the dollar bill test on the door gasket? I had a gasket that passed the dollar bill test that I felt was still bad, I shut the lights off at night with a nice firing going and looked around the door for fire/light showing through. I found one of the corners wasn't sealing great, that didn't show up on the dollar bill test.

What type of stove top temps or flue temps are you seeing and how long is a full load lasting?

no tests.........

I would hope the gasket is fine, the stove is 1 year old.

I personally think the stove is sealed up myself. Damn this wood is burning a lot faster though.

Last year with the shorter flue, I could go 4-6 hours or so on this same wood.

I just fires it up tonight to see if my work had changed anything.

About 2 hours on the lowest air control setting and 4 good size quarters of a piece of wood are gone.

I can usually get her to go just above 500 (flue temp)

This time, it hovered right around 450 with the air all the way down.

 

[smitty81]

Thought maby it would be easier for some of you to see what exactly i am doing so i posted a video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYhkUtJsiMA

 

[Todd]

Looks to be normal to me. Maybe you need to cut back the air a little sooner at about 400 instead of 500. I'd keep playing with it and try cutting back at different times, if your air is at it's lowest setting and the flames don't seem to slow down then I'd question the draft or something else but your video looks like a pretty normal operation to me. Another thing is these shoulder season burns can screw with your mind, colder weather makes for better burns.

 

[smitty81]

any other takes?

 

[begreen]

Agreed that the air is not being closed soon enough. And it looks like the fresh wood was added on top of a hot fire. That is sure to push the stove to higher temps dues to the rapid outgassing of the fresh charge of wood. Try waiting for the fire to die down a bit before adding more wood.

But other than that the stove appears to be working well and the burn with the air control all the way closed looks pretty normal for a fresh load of wood. The video shows good secondary combustion once the air control is closed. For longer burns try loading the stove with larger splits.

BTW, what type of wood are you burning?

 

[smitty81]

Agreed that the air is not being closed soon enough. And it looks like the fresh wood was added on top of a hot fire. That is sure to push the stove to higher temps dues to the rapid outgassing of the fresh charge of wood. Try waiting for the fire to die down a bit before adding more wood.

But other than that the stove appears to be working well and the burn with the air control all the way closed looks pretty normal for a fresh load of wood. The video shows good secondary combustion once the air control is closed. For longer burns try loading the stove with larger splits.

BTW, what type of wood are you burning?

Ok, I'm a noob. Can you please enlighten me on what some of this stuff will do for me?

Such as closing down the air sooner.........What will that acomplish or do for me?

Also, why would I want to wait untill it dies down fruther to add new wood?

I wouldnt normally add more wood to what I already had going but I wanted to get the secondaries going to show you guys how they were working.

How long do the secondaries normally burn? They lasted about 1 hour in that video, maby a shade longer.


As for the wood, I'm gonna guess its cotton wood............We have a ton of them in nebraska but I'm not for certain as I didnt cut it.

I know that hard wood burns hotter and longer, I just havnt located any in my area yet.

 

[begreen]

I was wondering if the wood was poplar. Cottonwood burns about the same. You're not doing to bad at all. With a little refinement, you will be burning just fine. You are getting about the best that can be expected from that wood. To extend burn times, perhaps split it a bit larger.

Closing down the air a bit sooner, will force it into secondary combustion sooner which will help the stove burn cleaner and put out more heat. Cottonwood is going to burn up quickly, so once the stove is hot, waiting until the coal bed had died down a bit will help extend your burns too.

 

[smitty81]

You are saying if I close it down sooner, the stove will put out more heat.

Question: Is the stove top temp a ying yang with the flue temp. (not sure how to word it)

If the flue temp is lower, does that mean that the stove top temp will go higher and also just the opposite, If my flue temp is high, all the heat is going out and the sove top wont be as hot?


If I took a temp gun and took the temp of the stove top, I could expect the flue temp to drop and the stove top temp to rise as I shut down the air control?

Am I understanding this right?

 

[Todd]

There's a fine line there with stove top temps and pipe temps but basically when you turn your stove down to a lower burn the pipe temps will go down and your secondaries will light off and heat up the stove top creating a more efficient burn. Trial and error with different settings may take some time and different woods and weather all play into it.