Short Chimney

[karl]

I have a PE Summit Insert. The manual says it needs a minimum of a 15 foot chimney. Mine is 16 feet. It also has a gentle bend in it to get around the smoke shelf. The stove works great other than when it's really cold out, I get a build up of coals that's a bit tough to burn down. This year my wood isn't as dry as I would like and even though it's not really cold out I'm getting a build up of coals.

I am thinking about adding a 3 foot section of chimney to get a better draft to burn down the coals. Do you think this would help.

Does it have to be triple wall or can I get away with single wall? The three feet will stick above the chimney. I am good about cleaning the chimney. I do it twice a year.

 

[begreen]

Lots of coals will still happen with more flue. They need to be managed. Move them toward the front of the stove and open up the air control at least halfway. That will provide another hour or two of heat and will burn them down quicker. If you want to speed up the process, follow the above directions and put one split of softwood (like pine, poplar, fir) on top of the hot coals to accelerate their burndown.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Forget the singlewall. All that wind whipping around it could give you some insane creosote. Do it right because the lives of loved ones depend on it.

Matt

 

[karl]

Lots of coals will still happen with more flue. They need to be managed. Move them toward the front of the stove and open up the air control at least halfway. That will provide another hour or two of heat and will burn them down quicker. If you want to speed up the process, follow the above directions and put one split of softwood (like pine, poplar, fir) on top of the hot coals to accelerate their burndown.

I do all of that BeGreen. My thought is more draft will draw more air through the coals to help them burn down quicker.

What's 3 feet of triple wall cost? My flex pipe in there now is not insulated and I get half a coffee can of dry flakey creosote every time I clean it.

 

[begreen]

Open up the air all the way then.

For the flue, would it be possible to insulate the liner, maybe with a vermiculite or perlite pour? Half of a coffee can isn't too bad.

 

[LLigetfa]

I'm not familiar with the PE Summit Insert so BeGreen could very well be right. That said, three common reasons for excess coaling is too small a stove, too little air, and too wet wood. Too small a stove means your demand for heat doesn't afford you the time to burn down the coals. Too little air could be from choking the stove too much trying to conserve wood or could be from a weak draft. There is a possibility that insufficient draft means the zipper air is too weak. A pressure deficit in the house could also account for poor zipper air.

In my former home I had too much draft and so the zipper air would cause runaway fires. I partially blocked the zipper air inlet to limit runaways but then would get excess coaling. When I installed the same model stove in my current home it was with a much shorter chimney and resultantly less draft. This presented as a coaling problem so what I did was to enlarge the zipper air opening. This, once again increased the propensity of the fire running away so I ended up putting an adjustable control on the zipper. With the adjustable zipper air, I can close it and get slower burns or open it and burn down the coals.

Pay close attention to the zipper air on your stove and try to arrange the coals to take maximum advantage of it. As BG said, separate the coals from the ashes, rake the coals to the front and open up the air. A couple of small softwood splits placed on top of the coals act as a catalyst.

See if opening a window near the stove results in an in-rush of air and subsequently increases the zipper air. If it does, increasing the chimney draft could help as would decreasing the pressure deficit by providing more makeup air or installing an OAK if the PE Summit Insert has that option.

 

[karl]

This is my fourth year with the stove. I'm pretty familiar with it. I have an OAK too. I have the air open all the way when I'm burning down coals.

Even with bone dry wood, I have never been able to close the damper all the way and let the EBT do its thing completely. I usually leave it open about an inch from closed which seems to be what most people with Summits are doing.

 

[karl]

This is my fourth year with the stove. I'm pretty familiar with it. I have an OAK too. I have the air open all the way when I'm burning down coals. If I could get vermiculite cheaply, I would; but I'm guessing I would need 10-12 bags.

Even with bone dry wood, I have never been able to close the damper all the way and let the EBT do its thing completely. I usually leave it open about an inch from closed which seems to be what most people with Summits are doing.

I have just been thinking. One foot over minimum length with a bend makes my chimney marginal for the stove and I was wonder what an extra three feet would do.

 

[LLigetfa]

Insulating the liner should help with the draft. If you think adding 3 feet will help stick a section of singlewall on it for a test and if satisfied with the result, replace it with insulated. I would not use triple walled air cooled. You don't want flue cooling at the end of the run.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

This is my fourth year with the stove. I'm pretty familiar with it. I have an OAK too. I have the air open all the way when I'm burning down coals. If I could get vermiculite cheaply, I would; but I'm guessing I would need 10-12 bags.

Even with bone dry wood, I have never been able to close the damper all the way and let the EBT do its thing completely. I usually leave it open about an inch from closed which seems to be what most people with Summits are doing.

I have just been thinking. One foot over minimum length with a bend makes my chimney marginal for the stove and I was wonder what an extra three feet would do.

Karl, our chimney is too short regardless of the bend. When we first bought this stove we too had a problem with the coals. Suggestions we received were of no help at all, and bear in mind we've burned wood a long time but never had a problem like this. So I just went back to the older times and just a bit before the wood was burned down to coals I opened the draft full. That is all it took. Our coaling problem came to an end.