Woodstock Fireview chimney smoke - White smoke vs. Clear

[MyFyrByrd]

One of my friends recently purchased a Quadrafire stove (Cumberland Gap). I went over his place to check it out and was amazed at the clear gases emitting from his chimney. You would NEVER tell that he was heating with wood! NO SMOKE , NO WOOD ODOR!
So , I go home to see if I could get the same results with my Woodstock Fireview.....

Using the same type of wood (no difference in moisture content) , I begin to operate the stove exactly like the manufacturer and everyone that owns a Fireview on this site does. I can only get the stove to put out zero (non-visible) smoke when I open the draft to the #3-1/2 or #4 (wide open) and in by-pass mode (cat not engaged) with a roaring fire. If I set the damper intake to a lower setting , let's say #2-1/2 or #2 , white smoke appears from the chimney. This happens even when the cat is engaged and glowing bright orange!
Is this normal or do most of you that have a Fireview get the clear non-visible emissions from the chimney?

 

[BrowningBAR]

One of my friends recently purchased a Quadrafire stove (Cumberland Gap). I went over his place to check it out and was amazed at the clear gases emitting from his chimney. You would NEVER tell that he was heating with wood! NO SMOKE , NO WOOD ODOR!
So , I go home to see if I could get the same results with my Woodstock Fireview.....

Using the same type of wood (no difference in moisture content) , I begin to operate the stove exactly like the manufacturer and everyone that owns a Fireview on this site does. I can only get the stove to put out zero (non-visible) smoke when I open the draft to the #3-1/2 or #4 (wide open) and in by-pass mode (cat not engaged) with a roaring fire. If I set the damper intake to a lower setting , let's say #2-1/2 or #2 , white smoke appears from the chimney. This happens even when the cat is engaged and glowing bright orange!
Is this normal or do most of you that have a Fireview get the clear non-visible emissions from the chimney?

That white smoke just might be steam.

 

[wendell]

If it is somewhat translucent and dissipates quickly it is steam. If it is more gray and hangs around it is smoke. I only get smoke for a few minutes after the cat is engaged and it is firing up.

 

[Todd]

When the outside temps dip down to a certain range I get the white steam for about the first 1-2 hours of the burn, then nothing but barely visible heat waves. I read somewhere that is a sign of high efficiency where only water vaper is visible. I get the same out of my forced air gas furnace exhaust.

 

[MyFyrByrd]

My friend claims that he never sees the white smoke from the chimney. Just normal smoke the few minutes after start up and reloading. This raised my question about the white smoke vs clear type smoke. is it an indication of better efficiencey to get clear nonvisible emissions or the white (steam vapors) looking smoke?

 

['bert]

did you compare stove temps?

 

[Todd]

My friend claims that he never sees the white smoke from the chimney. Just normal smoke the few minutes after start up and reloading. This raised my question about the white smoke vs clear type smoke. is it an indication of better efficiencey to get clear nonvisible emissions or the white (steam vapors) looking smoke?

Good question and I don't know the answer for sure but I know your stove is more efficient so I'll guess white steam is a sign of the higher efficiency?

 

[blades]

cat converter,just like your car, primary output-water vapor

 

[Slow1]

I have an external SS chimney running all the way up the west side of my house - thus shaded much of the time and cold...

When operating well, my old stove was "nothing but heat waves" from the pipe. Clear as can be - and I could see heat waves at times which I thought was pretty neat. I might have seen steam (white smoke that dissipated quickly) a couple times on VERY cold day.

With the Fireview I see steam on a fairly regular basis for the first couple hours of a burn if the temps outside are in the 20's or lower. I also have frequent ice hanging off the bottom of the cap that falls off on reload (usually but not always).

I attribute the difference to the efficiency of the stoves as well as the flue temps. With the old stove the flue would be around 450-500°F on the surface of the single wall about 8" before the last bend entering the class A that goes through the wall. Measuring about the same place now with the FV I'm running at about 150-250°F which is a pretty major difference. Then the combustion difference - downdraft vs cat I'm sure is changing the nature of what is in that exhaust - I'm sure I'm sending more water/steam and less other gases up there. Another factor here is the velocity/volume of gases. With the FV I'm sure that I'm sending far less air through the stove and thus up the stack - this means that what goes out the cap is headed out at a lower rate and thus the 'lazy' appearance of the steam wafting out of there and having time to condense on the cap to drip and make ice.

Bottom line? I don't think the steam is a problem and likely is a side effect of a more efficient system. For my part I am a little bit concerned that my chimney may be getting too cold and I worry that it could condense and ice up inside the pipe - don't know if that could be happening but I suspect it has since I have heard a suspicious noise a couple times on morning startup...

 

[Highbeam]

He is pumping the same amount of water up his stack as yours but his is hotter and so it doesn't condense into visible steam. This is just like your car on a cold day vs. a hot day. Don't think of it as efficiency but as lower flue temps in your cat stove allowing the visible steam to form.

 

[MyFyrByrd]

All of these are excellent answers to my concern. I feel alot better about my choice of stove.