Tested the natural draft on my stove today

[michpelletburner]

Well we had some wicked winds here in michigan yesterday and last night, and wouldn't you know it the power went out. I got home to find the stove still smoldering, and best of all no smoke smell in the house. I guess the five feet of vertical rise and oak is doing its job! Fired up the gen and got back running without a hitch, power came back on around 2 this afternoon

 

[mipellet1]

ya that wind was wicked i had thoughts of mine yesterday when i was gone then remembered i shut down because it was in the 50 here in the thumb.

 

[ZBrooks]

I should test mine out. I have about 1.5' of vertical rise without the 5' piece I have yet to install.

 

[SidecarFlip]

No issue down here by Dundee, I recorded a couple 55 mph gusts and the power went out at least 3 times but our Generac 17KW standby jumps into action in 30 seconds, the stove never misses a lick..... I gave up fiddling with portable genny's a long time ago. Michigan weather is too unpredictable and gasoline is junk if it sits. I don't take any risks anymore.

On natural draft, I have about 20 feet vertical in 4" coming of a 3-4 Tee and cleanout so I have excellent natural draft, almost as good as a regular woodstove. No smoke in this house....ever.

 

[TCZON]

We had an issue with the east wind hitting directly on our vent. Normally not an issue, it it cause a pressure switch fault, and the back draft filled the house with smoke by the time we realized it (happened around 11:30pm when we were all sleeping). I did a full clean out at 1am, but until the wind direction changed, we had issues. Thank goodness the oil tank still had fuel. We fired it back up in the morning after wind direction changed a bit more, and no more pressure switch or back draft problems.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Typically, I'm sitting on between 1000 and 1400 gallons of propane all the time (I heat my shop with it via PEX in floor heat but the central furnace is propane too so if I have a failure in the stove, it's still warm in the house, the t'stat for the furnace is set at 65 and never changes.

 

[Bob E]

Those strong gusts of wind made my flame dance around a little. Similar to pulling the manual damper on my stove in and out, but luckily the stove and the power kept on keeping on.
The last time I shut the stove down instead of going through the shut down cycle I unplugged it to see what it would do. The flame got real lazy and slowly petered out, but best of all, no smoke in the house. I have an OAK and about 4.5 foot of vertical vent pipe.