Smoke leaks from the stove

[ihab.assi]

Hi,
Each time I open the stove's door to add more wood to the fire, a smoke leaks from the stove into the house.

I was checking the chimney pipes and the air flow and there seems to be no problems there, I even installed an "H" cap to prevent downdraft and make sure the damper is open, but still, the stove leaks smoke each time I open the door.

Is there any chance that maybe the stove baffle effects the draft anyhow?

I'll be glad to hear some ideas please.

Thanks,
Ihab

 

[begreen]

Sounds like weak draft. There can be several reasons for this. Some are: too short chimney or too many turns in the flue path, mild outside temperatures, and/or negative pressure in the room where the stove is located. If the stove has a blower running it should be turned off before opening the door.

 

[Attaboy]

Before opening the door you should fully open your air control for 30 seconds leave it open then open your door very slowly, chances are that will solve your problem if all else is normal.

 

[jatoxico]

Not knowing what type of stove but another thing to check is that the baffles are seated correctly. Also some stoves use blankets over the baffle plate which can sometimes get pushed in a way that obstructs smoke path.

 

[ihab.assi]

Sounds like weak draft. There can be several reasons for this. Some are: too short chimney or too many turns in the flue path, mild outside temperatures, and/or negative pressure in the room where the stove is located. If the stove has a blower running it should be turned off before opening the door.

Hi,
Thanks you for the answer.
1. The chimney is 1.5m higher than the house and it was mounted to the side of the house and about 0.8m from the wall. although from the west and the east sides of the house the neighbors houses are higher than my house and the chimney, theoretically they are not supposed to block the chimney because it was mounted in the path between all the houses.
2. I have 2 corners (90 degrees) and a 1.5m horizontal pipe between them.
3. The smoke leaks in all temperatures.
4. I don't know about the negative pressure and frankly I'm not sure I know how measure it. I do know that the house is not insulated and there is a couple of places that inserts some wind into the house.
5. The stove has no blower.

Any ideas what I can check?

Thanks,
Ihab

 

[ihab.assi]

Before opening the door you should fully open your air control for 30 seconds leave it open then open your door very slowly, chances are that will solve your problem if all else is normal.

Hi, Thanks you for the answer.

The air control is open most of the time and I always open the door very slowly, didn't help

Thanks,
Ihab

 

[ihab.assi]

Not knowing what type of stove but another thing to check is that the baffles are seated correctly. Also some stoves use blankets over the baffle plate which can sometimes get pushed in a way that obstructs smoke path.

Hi, Thanks you for the reply.

The baffle seems to be in the correct place and no blankets there, but you gave me an idea and I sen't the stove manufacture an email asking for instructions and installation guide, just to be sure.

Thanks,
Ihab

 

[kennyp2339]

(2) 90 deg bends can be causing your loss of draft, perhaps changing out (1) 90deg bend on the inside of the home to (2) 45deg will reducing the smoke tumbling and provide the needed draft correction.

 

[ihab.assi]

(2) 90 deg bends can be causing your loss of draft, perhaps changing out (1) 90deg bend on the inside of the home to (2) 45deg will reducing the smoke tumbling and provide the needed draft correction.

Hi, Even if the 90deg bend look like this photo? for me it looks like a small 45deg.

 

[Coyoterun]

Hi,
[snip]

2. I have 2 corners (90 degrees) and a 1.5m horizontal pipe between them.

[snip]

Any ideas what I can check?

Thanks,
Ihab

1.5 meters is almost 5 feet. That's gonna slow the draft a lot. How much rise does that pipe have? It should be at least 4 cm/m, and if there's any way to change part of it to a 45 degree pipe that would help.

 

[ihab.assi]

1.5 meters is almost 5 feet. That's gonna slow the draft a lot. How much rise does that pipe have? It should be at least 4 cm/m, and if there's any way to change part of it to a 45 degree pipe that would help.

Hi Coyoterun,

I can't understand what you meant. inside the house this is a 1m pipe rise, then the 90deg elbow/corner (I'm not sure how it's called) then the horizontal pipe 1m (it's 1m not 1.5 as I thought before), balanced, then the 90deg outside the house and another 8m rise.

do you suggest to replace the outside elbow to 2 45deg ones? do you think this would be enough or should I try any more solutions a well?

Thanks,
Ihab

 

[Coyoterun]

A perfectly level horizontal pipe section is not good for draft. A little bit of slope on the pipe can help a lot. In your case that horizontal pipe is through the wall so I don't suppose there's much you can change about it. And 1 meter is better than 1.5.

But I would check to see if that pipe is level or if the outside end is a little higher than the inside end.

 

[ihab.assi]

A perfectly level horizontal pipe section is not good for draft. A little bit of slope on the pipe can help a lot. In your case that horizontal pipe is through the wall so I don't suppose there's much you can change about it. And 1 meter is better than 1.5.

But I would check to see if that pipe is level or if the outside end is a little higher than the inside end.

I do remember that I can make it about 1cm up from the outside. I'm not sure how much degrees this might be but I'll try it and see how much it will help.

Thanks,
Ihab

 

[Attaboy]

Is it possible to modify your installation to have a flue setup something similar to this, being less restrictive it could help reduce the backpuffing of smoke back in to your home. Keeping the flue and chimney above 400°F will also help.

 

[ihab.assi]

Is it possible to modify your installation to have a flue setup something similar to this, being less restrictive it could help reduce the backpuffing of smoke back in to your home. Keeping the flue and chimney above 400°F will also help.

View attachment 193654

That will be impossible, this installation makes the stove too far away for the wall, it will take to much place, and will be uncomfortable to us.

Thanks for the idea.
Ihab

 

[Attaboy]

Can you supply a few photos of your installation.

 

[velvetfoot]

Is there any chance that maybe the stove baffle effects the draft anyhow?

Yes, if the baffle isn't positioned properly, usually towards the back so the smoke can go out the front.
Also, I once had a stove that had a baffle as well as an insulating blanket on top, that also had to be positioned so as not to block the smoke path.

 

[ihab.assi]

Of course, attached is 2 photos. one of the inside and one of the outside.

 

[Attaboy]

Help us here:

1- Make and size of stove.
2- Is that a insulated stainless chimney ?
3- Brand,model and diameter of chimney.
4- Why is the chimney so far away from the exterior wall ?
5- That long length of exterior flue pipe connecting to the chimney could be cooling down extremely fast and causing a cool chimney to have insufficient draw.

 

[ihab.assi]

Help us here:

1- Make and size of stove.
2- Is that a insulated stainless chimney ?
3- Brand,model and diameter of chimney.
4- Why is the chimney so far away from the exterior wall ?
5- That long length of exterior flue pipe connecting to the chimney could be cooling down extremely fast and causing a cool chimney from having sufficient draw.

1. Syrios stove, it's a steel stove: https://www.syrios.eu/products/menalon/
2. It's not an insulated stainless chimney.
3. None brand 6" chimney
4. There is a bulge (not sure if it's the word, but this is what google translate gave me , on top of the house so we mounted it away from the wall to prevent another corners on the top.
5. There was no other solution and the chimney had to be that long, is there any way to improve the draw anyway?

 

[velvetfoot]

baffle is where it should be?

 

[ihab.assi]

baffle is where it should be?

Didn't get an answer from the manufacture of the stove but looks like it's in it's place, I'll be surprised if it isn't.

 

[Coyoterun]

[snip]

5. There was no other solution and the chimney had to be that long, is there any way to improve the draw anyway?

Others may have more ideas, but if you can't change the course of the chimney pipe, then replace it with the most insulated pipe you can find. The insulation will help keep the flue gasses hotter longer and increase the draw.

 

[velvetfoot]

Didn't get an answer from the manufacture of the stove but looks like it's in it's place, I'll be surprised if it isn't.

This damper is open?

 

[ihab.assi]

Help us here:

1- Make and size of stove.
2- Is that a insulated stainless chimney ?
3- Brand,model and diameter of chimney.
4- Why is the chimney so far away from the exterior wall ?
5- That long length of exterior flue pipe connecting to the chimney could be cooling down extremely fast and causing a cool chimney to have insufficient draw.

I even noticed that when there is not enough wind outside the smoke is going down and I can smell it around the house.