Flue damper, what's it for?

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FR9Ford

Member
Jan 4, 2018
132
Farmersville, Ohio
I've seen several videos and pictures where people close the air supply and close a valve in their flue. For what purpose is this? Is this something i should consider trying to install in my insert? Or is that even possible?
 
I have a lot of problems. Not sure if excessive draft is one though. Does it make a big difference with temperature of the stove?
 
I have a lot of problems. Not sure if excessive draft is one though. Does it make a big difference with temperature of the stove?
Why not tell us your problems
 
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Ive posted a few of them with very little replies. But here we go, buckle up. This is also my first stove. My house is 2300 sq ft, and most of it is open space. The bedrooms are down an L shaped hallway woth
 
The kitchen in the middle of the home. I cant get my house past 62 degrees with a buck 94nc. Ive tried fans pushing air towards the stove from the hallway, and my house actually dropped to 53 degrees. I can barley get my stove top past 350 degrees, and kf i do, it lasts 20 minutes. Im burning ash woth 20% or less moisture
 
Sorry, i keept hitting the post reply button with my thumb. My burn times suck, i can get 2 hours out of 3 pieces, or 3 hours out of 9 logs stuffed in it. And heat output is abismal.
 
Hi FR9Ford, it sounds like your wood is probably too wet, and therefore your insert can't get up to temperature and burn the way it should. Can you tell us about how long your wood has been drying and whether you have tested the moisture content of your wood?
 
In my post above i stated that it is 20%, give or take a % piece by piece. Its about 14 months old, stacked off the ground like the internet says to do. I bought a moisture meter off amazon.
 
To your original question, the only purpose I'm aware of for an adjustable damper is if you have a problem with excessive draft, causing the fire to burn too hot with little control over it with the air control. It doesn't sound like this is your problem, but that's what they are for.

Good that you know your wood's moisture content. That helps eliminate one potential issue, assuming the measurements are done on the inside face of a fresh split.
 
It sounds confusing, but the point is that since wood is going to dry from the outside - in, it's best to make sure the measurement is done on a fresh split so that you know what the current moisture is on the inside where it counts. You don't need to do it on every split, as long as they are all seasoned the same and you are confident that the whole batch is going to be about the same.

The reason for the room temperature thing is that the meters can be affected by the woods temperature.
 
They've been inside since 4am yesterday. But that means im still getting no where on living in a cold home with a stove eating wood faster than i can drink beer.
 
If your going through wood that fast you have to have too much air flow through the stove which also would cause the heat to go up the flue. When in the middle of a burn is there a roaring fire going in the stove?
 
Yeah, after it burns for about 15 minutes, i close it about 1/32" from fully closed, or all the way. I have all brand new anderson windows and doors too. And the fire is mostly just a few lazy flames with some secondary here and there.
 
They've been inside since 4am yesterday. But that means im still getting no where on living in a cold home with a stove eating wood faster than i can drink beer.
Simple. Drink the beer faster. Okay, bad joke. Meanwhile, don't get discouraged. There may be a few different issues that may take a while to figure out.
 
Haha oh boy. I guess I'm just getting frustrated. Ive fought this stove for 6 weeks now. I paid $7,000 for this and its really irritating to fight it. It seems no matter what i do, my house stays cold, or gets colder because of something i try. So i have no idea what im doing wrong
 
I have no idea how you can have a little lazy flames and go through a full stove in 3 hours.........
 
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Here's what my house looks like
 

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I have no idea how you can have a little lazy flames and go through a full stove in 3 hours.........
By the time its burned 3/4 of the logs the house drops temp, the stove drops below 200*. Sometimes itll just go out at that point.