Lopi Leyden - Red Hot

[hothead]

I have a Lopi Leyden stove that runs very hot soon after packing the box 3/4 full of wood. The rear combustion area of the stove starts to glow red at approximately 650 degrees (measured at the top of stove just in front of the stove pipe) and continues to grow in size until virtually the entire rear combustion cover (not including the flue collar) glows red. I have approximately 6 feet of Simpson DVL double wall stove pipe, and 30 feet of Simpson Dura-Tech insulated stainless steel chimney. Draft has never been an issue. In order to address my over-heating issue I disassembled the stove and replaced the following items: front door gaskets, glass and glass gaskets, rear damper gasket, griddle gasket, ash pan gasket, combustion box and all associated internal gaskets (my combustion chamber was crumbling). I essentially rebuilt the entire stove. I also checked the stove for any additional leaks with the use of an incense stick and determined that the stove’s panel seams were not leaking. The stove is apparently as tight as it was ever designed to be. Having said that, my stove STILL runs hot when loaded up and there is no way to dial it down. With the air inlet pushed all the way in (minimum air feed), the stove will crank along at 725 degrees with the back combustion area glowing red and will stay there for hours. There are active flames (low level, but active), and just runs its course until the fuel supply is exhausted. I have thought above installing a damper but would hate to create a creosote problem. My main concern is one of trust. I have stayed up many nights to verify that the stove does not go completely nuclear on me. It never has, but I just don’t like seeing the stove glowing red. It’s hard to believe that Lopi designed the stove to run this hot…I am sure there are other Leyden owners who have experienced this same issue and would like to know what they have done to address it.

Lopi Leyden
Stihl 026

 

[Big Al]

I'm sure others more qualified than I will chime in, but for the cost of a damper ( about $10) I'd put one in and see what happens. You'll know right away if the damper clears the issue so you'll not cause a creosote problem in that short time. Stick around for a good cross section of answers...LOTS of very knowlegdable folks on this site.

Al

 

[begreen]

Could just be very dry wood and perhaps too small splits? What are you burning?

If this was a one time occurrence, it might have been a chimney fire. But it could be that the stove is running normal and just needs to be slowed down a bit with larger splits.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/51987/
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/45792/
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/31039/

 

[summit]

That seems a little agressive to me: we had some that were firing pretty hard in the afterburn chamber, accompanied by a jet engine sound coming from the 2ndry burn chamber... But in these cases, the folks did not have the ashpean closed all the way, and the fire in the firebox was not shutting down, either... maybe a pipe damper would be in order, or perhaps partially sealing off part of the fixed air inlet for the 2ndry combustion pkg. The floor model we used to run in the shop would get a red glow, but it was back inside the opening for the 2ndry burn chamber, not the entire refractory back.

 

[hothead]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. My ash pan door is definitely closed and sealed tight. I burn good size logs of nicely seasoned pin oak, red oak, ash and birch. If I keep a low to moderate wood load, I can keep it under control. But once I load up a bunch of logs on top of the coal bed, it's just a matter of time before this animal builds a real head of steam and starts glowing red. If I just could dial it back a little bit more it would be just fine. Have you ever partially blocked the fixed air port into the combustion chamber? Is it possible that there is some seam that I can't see that could be leaking air? I wish I could pressurize the entire stove and see where the air escapes. There has got to be an explanation...Another concern I have is if I am damaging the combustion box with the extended over-heating.

 

[BrotherBart]

36 feet of chimney is all the reason in the world that sucker needs to run away on you. Put a pipe damper on that beast and to get a saddle on it. Wait until the chimney is warmed up to close the damper and you won't get creosote accumulation.

 

[Todd]

Damper may work or you might want to look into modifying your EPA fixed air intake so it closes down more. Your chimney is twice as tall as the ones they use to test their stoves, so yours will pull much harder.

 

[BrotherBart]

Damper may work or you might want to look into modifying your EPA fixed air intake so it closes down more. Your chimney is twice as tall as the ones they use to test their stoves, so yours will pull much harder.

You mean somebody would really do that? :red:

 

[SmokingAndPoking]

Damper may work or you might want to look into modifying your EPA fixed air intake so it closes down more. Your chimney is twice as tall as the ones they use to test their stoves, so yours will pull much harder.

This would be pretty tough to do on a Lopi, Harman or VC downdraft stove, since the air that feeds the shoe and the actually secondary combustion chamber is completely separate from the primary inlet and quite difficult to access. FYI, it is also an uncontrolled and considered to be "self regulating".

 

[fbelec]

definite pipe damper. the only thing you'll lose if it doesn't work is the cost of the damper, (under 20 dollars) and the section of smoke pipe you drilled the 2 holes in for the damper. and a little time

 

[summit]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. My ash pan door is definitely closed and sealed tight. I burn good size logs of nicely seasoned pin oak, red oak, ash and birch. If I keep a low to moderate wood load, I can keep it under control. But once I load up a bunch of logs on top of the coal bed, it's just a matter of time before this animal builds a real head of steam and starts glowing red. If I just could dial it back a little bit more it would be just fine. Have you ever partially blocked the fixed air port into the combustion chamber? Is it possible that there is some seam that I can't see that could be leaking air? I wish I could pressurize the entire stove and see where the air escapes. There has got to be an explanation...Another concern I have is if I am damaging the combustion box with the extended over-heating.

I've never blocked off part of the fixed air return on a leyden, but I have done it on some other stoves that have a overfireing problem in chimnys w/ too much draft. I think the least expensive (and least amount of hassle for you) solution would be to buy a $7 pipe damper and operate it correctly (like BB was advising earlier). If it doesn't work out, just leave it open.

 

[begreen]

This is double-wall pipe. Will it need a DVL damper section (Simpson 8679) or can a key damper be installed in DVL?

http://www.dynamitebuys.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=887

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

We have similar problems our woodstove, where it appears that the
natural draft will make it go "nuclear", and we only have 20ft of flue!!
Putting the DVL Damper section slowed it down quite a bit, lengthened our burns,
and seems to actually lead to cleaner burns (keeps the exhuast at the air tubes longer).

This need to damper is not an "always" thing, but it is sure nice to know that we can use it
when we need to......

 

[hothead]

Thanks for the responses. I will give the damper a try and see if that helps. It's probably a good idea to experiment now before the next heating season begins.

 

[oldspark]

Seems like you know what you are doing so this is a silly question, do you have a clean out that is not air tight, I think that could create more of a draft or would it be less?

 

[BrotherBart]

Seems like you know what you are doing so this is a silly question, do you have a clean out that is not air tight, I think that could create more of a draft or would it be less?

Less draft through the stove.

 

[Battenkiller]

Seems like you know what you are doing so this is a silly question, do you have a clean out that is not air tight, I think that could create more of a draft or would it be less?

Less draft through the stove.

+1

That's the basic principle behind a barometric damper.

 

[Highbeam]

Funny you are worried that it might go nuclear when I would consider the entire back of the stove glowing red to be pretty much as nuclear as a stove can get. Obviously overfired and out of control. A runaway. Whatever you call it, that stove is doing things that it is not supposed to do.

You need a damper or a way to restrict input air. Letting the stove glow is NOT the right thing to do.

 

[Troutchaser]

The only runaways I've had with my Leyden involved leaky gaskets. They weren't easy to find either. I ended up using one inch magazine paper to find the leaks in the doors. I've still got a slight one and it shows itself under certain burn conditions. The high flue temps. feed the draft which magnifies any leakage into the stove. Sometimes flaming didn't start until an hour into downdrafting, but then it would build and build until I had nuclear reaction. But, I've reached 750 stovetop and haven't seen anything glowing.

Fill the stove with smoke and close the bypass. Smoke will pour from any leak. I was surprised with all the leaks coming from the stove corners and top. Don't think I can do much about them.