Smoke coming out of air intake?

[JMF1]

It's a little chilly here in Upstate NY so I thought I'd fire up the stove. I threw in a couple small pcs of dry poplar and maple, some newspaper to get it going and went to pour a cup of coffee. When I walked back in there's smoke pouring out of the air inlets on my Avalon. I'm thinking it's a combination of the poplar being kind of "smokey" wood to begin with and the lack of the temperature difference to aid in creating a decent draft. Any thoughts?

 

[Lucky Phil]

My Country stove did that when my chimney was cold. I'd stick a propane torch up the flue to heat it up enough to get the draft going.

 

[ControlFreak]

Yup, that's down-draft. Your chimney is colder than the surrounding air, so your house becomes a better chimney than the chimney is. Phil's right, that a propane torch will help with this. I've smoked up my house more times than I can count because of this.

 

[Flatbedford]

Been there, done that. Warmer weather fires can be tricky.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

Or your cap is clogged - birds?

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Grandpa always use to let some burning newspaper get the chimney warmed up.....So thats what I have always done.

I bet that torch will certainly do the trick :cheese:

 

[grommal]

Another thing that works well if there's a breeze is to open an upwind door or window. The wind blows the air in, and it has to go out somewhere! Only takes a minute or two to get some heat going up the chimney and establish a real draft. With my current setup, it's way more effective than even a torch, since its hard to blast the torch heat directly into the flue with the Oslo.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

smokey stove is the first sign you chimney might need cleaning

 

[stovelark]

Everyone is hitting the points, it could and most likely is the wx out is much warmer, so draft is lower, the chimney is cold. Preheating the chimney is the answer, easy to do with torch or perhaps gelled alcohol. Its smokeless, pure heat, heats flues right up and establishes a quick easy fire with kindling. Its also time to check that chimney, it could need cleaning. Is the cap screen clogged also? Something to look at. Good luck.

Stovelark
Enviro 1700 Kodiak FS
Enviro EF3 pellet
Can you tell I liKe ENVIRO??

 

[Skier76]

I've had this problem before. However, it was due to the stove being downstairs and a window or two upstairs being open. Now when I light a fire, everything gets shut; and the window near the stove gets opened.

 

[Mad Tom]

Mine will do that if I have the range hood on. Its a beast, but it relieves the house of the smell of my wifes cooking.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Agree with all the above....the only times this has happened to me is when its not too cold out (shoulder season) and I didn't property heat up the chimney. Just use one piece of newspaper near the top of the stove exit and it works fine.

 

[NH_Wood]

Didn't light the stove yesterday, but could smell a 'smokey' smell coming from the stove. Assumed it was due to the colder house and chimney, relative to a pretty warm day (got to ~ 80deg outside). I think I had a reverse draft, and from the comments above, sounds like that is the likely cause. You probably had the same deal. Cheers!

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

http://woodheatstoves.com/images/Draft troubleshooting chimneys.pdf

all about draft issues

 

[firefighterjake]

Another thing that works well if there's a breeze is to open an upwind door or window. The wind blows the air in, and it has to go out somewhere! Only takes a minute or two to get some heat going up the chimney and establish a real draft. With my current setup, it's way more effective than even a torch, since its hard to blast the torch heat directly into the flue with the Oslo.

+1 . . . had this happen a couple of times . . . Fall/Spring . . . temps inside are cooler than outside . . . opening a nearby window helped almost immediately.