Stove Newb needs help with his New Englander 30-NC

[ninermac]

Got the new stove setup. Had been in a house for for 4 years with a wood stove hearth and chimney already setup... Got it in and piping setup.

I've only done a little testing, but it seems I have a draft issue. Here's my piping setup:

Almost a full length 6" pipe section coming straight up, 90 degree turn, female to male converter, 6" to 8" converter, 8" runs for about 8" then into the brick with pipe ending right where the edge of the clay(I believe it is anyway) lining starts.

First test with some kindling... Air vent all the way open, fire starts burning, and slowly dies as the stove fills with smoke. I opened the clean out to see smoke coming out there (just a little) a little coming out the chimney, but mostly just staying in the stove. Essentially, it seems the air vent, open or closed makes 0 difference. It smokes itself out.

So, I decided to try a little kindling with the ash cover removed. It works great, again the air vent makes 0 difference whether open or closed. The fact it works in this config seems to make me think it's not my chimney causing the issue.

Now I took my shop vac and blew air up the stove's a$$. lol... I could feel air coming out the front vent on the top that hits the window, which is the window wash I assume?

So it seems that the stove air vent system is just not working properly, or perhaps I have no idea what I'm doing... I hope it's me.

I've wondered if I should just go full bore and "really" start a fire in this thing to see if it's a heat thing that will start the draft going possibly, but I'm hesitant to do so and smoke the house up.

Thanks in advance for any help...

 

[GVA]

I can hear BB typing on the keyboard from here...Expect to hear from him soon :cheese:

 

[Hogwildz]

Whats the dimensions of the clay liner you have that pipe running into?

 

[BrotherBart]

Are you leaving the door cracked open a little while the kindling is burning? You can't just light the kindling and close the door. You are going to need to get the kindling going good to warm up that chimney before adding a couple of small splits on top of the kindling. Let them get to burning for a few minutes and then close the door. When you are warming up the chimney with the kindling you will know when it "takes off", that is reaches a temp where it starts drawing, because the kindling fire will brighten and the smoke will be sucked up over the front of the baffle.

And go shopping for a chimney liner. You need to line that chimney to get the best draft for the stove.

 

[Corie]

Yes, the door will need to be cracked for at least a little while and depending on your draft it may even be longer than that. I have VERY marginal draft on my chimney and I had to leave the door cracked for a little while on the 30NC before I could shut it and the fire would maintain intensity.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

another possibility , if this is a brick chimney , and has a clean out door, ensure that the door seals , preferrably with a gasket. if not the effect is the unit will burn readily when the front door is cracked open , then smother when the door is shut. the reason is that with the door open , there is no restriction on the draft and the chimney will easily pull through the stove, but when the door is shut the flue will revert to pulling through the ash door as it is less restricted than the stove is. this is a common problem with reburn units in masonary chimneys with ash doors.

 

[GVA]

You guys are good

 

[BrotherBart]

another possibility , if this is a brick chimney , and has a clean out door, ensure that the door seals , preferrably with a gasket. if not the effect is the unit will burn readily when the front door is cracked open , then smother when the door is shut. the reason is that with the door open , there is no restriction on the draft and the chimney will easily pull through the stove, but when the door is shut the flue will revert to pulling through the ash door as it is less restricted than the stove is. this is a common problem with reburn units in masonary chimneys with ash doors.

Yeah I had that problem with the basement stove that has an ash clean-out door until I put a liner in the chimney. Even after the liner I siliconed that blasted door shut. With the European hornets still in there. May they roast in piece.

 

[Corie]

Its funny how small an amount of relatively cold air it takes to spoil a strong drafting chimney.

 

[ninermac]

This is a brick chimney with a clay liner. Hole in the brick is 8 inches in diameter, why I did the upconvert from the 6 on the stove to 8. From what I can see of the lining(clay tile?), looks to be good. The clean out door is certainly not sealed in any way. Perhaps that is the problem... I will pursue sealing that off. Any recomendatinos in what material? Do I need to be concerned about the heat with whatever product I use to seal that door with?

On another note... I do have an air intake pipe, currently stuffed with inulation. I didn't want to even think about hooking that up until I had the stove working properly without it. Would it be good to hook that up at some point?

Thanks for all the help...

 

[stoveguy2esw]

This is a brick chimney with a clay liner. Hole in the brick is 8 inches in diameter, why I did the upconvert from the 6 on the stove to 8. From what I can see of the lining(clay tile?), looks to be good. The clean out door is certainly not sealed in any way. Perhaps that is the problem... I will pursue sealing that off. Any recomendatinos in what material? Do I need to be concerned about the heat with whatever product I use to seal that door with?

On another note... I do have an air intake pipe, currently stuffed with inulation. I didn't want to even think about hooking that up until I had the stove working properly without it. Would it be good to hook that up at some point?

Thanks for all the help...

the ash door is quite a bit lower than the flue opening im sure , if so , a simple gasket would work , even the stuff you shut into window sills would be ok im sure. i'd think about hooking up the intake pipe , direct connected to the unit you shouldnt see any cold air intrusion if its sealed. and if negative pressure is the problem , that could just be the ticket