Issue with stove blowing cold air

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esears

New Member
Jan 10, 2015
5
Northern Virginia
Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help diagnose a problem that I've had over the past week or so. I use a Lopi Revere insert in a masonry chimney. There is a stainless steel 6" liner going up to the top of the stack, which is approximately 22' from the base, so plenty of draft from what I can tell.

About a week ago I pulled the stove out a bit to put some Roxul on the inside of the fireplace cavity and it is pressed quite tightly against the stove. I also pushed some up onto the shelf surrounding the liner (which isn't lined) until I can fabricate a proper block plate. At the same time I also ran a Sooteater up the liner since I know the wood I've been burning isn't the best (about 6-8 months seasoned).

The stove does great and I have no issue in getting it to temperature and it can cruise along at 400-500 for quite a while. The issue I've been having however is that the blower (Lopi blower) seems to be pushing cold air out into the room. There is a noticeable difference from when we first put the stove in.

I did notice that the chimney cap is no longer squarely put onto chimney. It is dislodged either from a pretty bad wind storm we had last week or possibly from the angle of the sooteater when I cleaned out the stack. Looking at the cap from our second floor skylight, it looks like the installers just used a black adhesive in lieu of actually screwing it to the top of the chimney. With that being said, I have them coming back out on Tuesday to re-attach it since the installation is less than a month old.

Any ideas on where the noticeably cold air is coming from with regards to the blower? I can still heat the house up to 70 or so, but not the 75+ that it was getting to a week ago.

Thanks!
 
If stove still gets the same operating temperature it used to have its probably the much lower temperature outside. To be honest 400 is not high enough. At least not when it 30 or lower outside.
 
Is there an ash dump in the bottom of that fireplace?
 
Not in the stove. Is there an ash dump built into the floor or the back of the fireplace that the stove is installed in?
 
If it is fiberglass insulation it won't stop airflow. The blower is sucking air through the ash dump instead of from the room. And you probably knocked whatever was covering it off when you moved the stove.
 
If it is fiberglass insulation it won't stop airflow. The blower is sucking air through the ash dump instead of from the room. And you probably knocked whatever was covering it off when you moved the stove.

Thank you, I will check it out tomorrow after I can give the stove a chance to cool down. The ash dump was covered with I'm guessing a small cast iron or iron door, I'm taking that a piece of stainless steel would be sufficient to block any additional airflow coming up from the bottom?
 
That may not be the problem but cold air getting into the shroud made me just know that ash dump was there when I read your post.
 
Tomorrow's heatwave in the thirties here in NOVA will be a good time to check it. And for me to put the chains on the tractor for the ice Monday.
 
If you have the stove encased in roxul against it, how do you expect the heat to transfer from the stove?
Lack of block off plate is a real issue, and will help a lot when you get it installed.
Make sure the roxul isn't blocking hot air flow for the blower.
Personally, I'd ditch the roxul against the stove.
 
i am with hogwildz on this one i bet somehow the roxul around the stove is blocking airflow,either to or from the blower.just a guess,but i think thats where i would start as well.
 
Thanks everyone, I pulled he insert out this morning and pulled a layer of the roxul out so that there is about a 3-4" air gap between the sides of the stove and the remaining insulation/brickwork. Hopefully this addresses the issue. Thanks!
 
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