Just installed our woodstove...Curious on why I would be getting alot of smoke into the room , flu is open, seems when I open the door to place wood inside..smoke seems to bellow out..anyone have this problem before?
too much smoke
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Need more info. How long have you been burning? Masonry or double/triple wall chimney? If it's a masonry chimney they need to be hot to draw properly in most cases. How far above the peak of your house is the flue?
we have a triple wall chimney.....burning for about 5 hours.....stack is equal height of peak of house..10 ft from peak
Sounds like a draft issue but to determine you should probably go through a few steps. Next time you open it to put in some splits open a window or door nearby first, if you get no blowback your house is to tight (reverse pressure). Has your chimney been cleaned before the season, are you burning greener than preferred wood and are you letting the stove roar for a good 20 min or more once a day. Letting your smoke stack get up over 700 for 15 - 20 min every day helps keep it clean, when I ran my wood stove for 12 years I never had to clean my chimney. You will have to go through the process of elimination, draft, creosote block, then stove issues? Also if you have an outside chimney draft can be tough sometimes especially with wind turbulence that can come over the top of nearby trees or buildings and dump right down into your flue. I put a flue cap on this year because I switched to a boiler with low stack temps and draft and wind really became an issue (plus I am tired of pulling a wood duck out of my cleanout every spring-usually alive). good luck hope this helps.
I just installed today so everything is new except the wood burner is used....do you think a higher stack on the roof would help this issue?
I would add a three foot section. Also try to open your door slowly to allow the draft to pick up some before opening completley. How many elbows are between the stove and chimney?
I have a 2 foot section I will add on tomorrow....i have no elbows, straight shot form the stove thu the roof.
There are lots of possible causes. Knowing the stove and where it's installed (basement or first floor), details about the flue construction including size, offsets, elbows, etc. would really help. Also knowing the climate region might be useful. If you can post some pictures of the flue and stove that would be great.
mjp1 said:
A straight shot with a steel chimney should draw like crazy. Definitley add that pipe and go from there. What's the weather like? Windy?
stoveguy2esw
Minister of Fire
mjp1 said:
if you are"equal" to the peak and 10 ft away , you are 2 ft short of where you need to be , add enough that you have at leats 3 ft exposed, and a minimum of 2 ft above the peak , thats the perfect setup. if you still ave a smoke during reload issue , you have negative pressure issues, might have to crack a window about 5 minutes before reload to alleviate or add an OAK to break the seal on the house
I am going to add the 2 feet tomorrow.....weather condition is calm, not much wind this evening...live in mid michigan..Im really hoping that adding to the stack will take care of the issue. I have the wood burner in a sun room mostly windows and doorwall..I dont think the room is too air tight. I will post tomorrow and let you know if adding the 2 feet helped. You all have been very helpful with your responses..Thanks and I wll post my results!
oconnor
Minister of Fire
In the end, you need a hot flue to draft - if you are running cool, the you will get smoke spillage. I had lots of trouble when I first installed, mostly because I wasn't adding enough kindling to get the system hot enough.
Here is alink to a post on how I solved my spillage issues so far as quick hot fires go - https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/31393/ - the technique I describe gets my insert up to 750*f in 15 mins, and I get way less spillage as a result of the extra draft from the hot flue on reload.
Another way to avoid smoke on reload is to make sure you are burning the fire down to coals before you reload - coals don't smoke as much, so you will get less in your face if you take advantage of the fire cycle.
Here is alink to a post on how I solved my spillage issues so far as quick hot fires go - https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/31393/ - the technique I describe gets my insert up to 750*f in 15 mins, and I get way less spillage as a result of the extra draft from the hot flue on reload.
Another way to avoid smoke on reload is to make sure you are burning the fire down to coals before you reload - coals don't smoke as much, so you will get less in your face if you take advantage of the fire cycle.
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
One more thing worth doing is to open the draft full for a minute or more before opening the door...and then open the door very slowly at first. Many times this will get the draft working good and the smoke will go up instead of out the door. Remember that smoke, like water, will take the path of least resistance.
Backwoods Savage said:
Good advice. Before I reload my Endeavor, I open the bypass damper and then open the primary air all the way. After a few seconds I crack the door just a bit to get the smoke going up the bypass damper rather than along the baffle. Other than the occasional little puff when the coal bed is cooler, I've had no issues with smoke using this method.
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