3 weeks in with a bad draft

[wildcatbb]

I posted this earlier in another thread and had a request to make a dedicated thread for others that may experience similar issues. Long story short, I had an old Clayton wood furnace for my building and installed the chimney straight up, through the roof and was above the 3' for 10' rule. I got the stove up and running, constant back spilling and insufficient heat....smoke was bad. Couldn't get the fire box temps up. I questioned everyone and researched what I could. Everyone that saw my setup thought for sure, "without a doubt" my chimney was plenty high above where it needed to be. I was a bit frazzled by this for 3 weeks straight. I came home one night and had enough. Only thing I could try that I hadn't done was add 3 more feet of chimney! Boooom! Old girl took right off and ran like crazy! Hot hot fire, no spillage and very little smoke outside considering what I was working with. This picture shows what can happen after 3 weeks with this problem on a brand new chimney. Crazy huh!

 

[wildcatbb]

It's quite amazing! My chimney was well within spec but I believe the surrounding woods on the north side and another roof line for my house to the southwest caused a weird air pattern. Anyone with a similar problem needs to try a little more length before giving up.....if I hadn't seen the difference first hand, I wouldn't had believed it.

 

[begreen]

We see quite a few posts every year that have just met or are near the minimum chimney height requirement but still their stove is performing poorly. Sometimes adding as little as 18-24" makes a large difference. Chimney location, local terrain, and stove location all play into this equation.

 

[mopar440_6]

Scary stuff. I've got a 32' insulated 6" lined exterior chimney hooked up to the 30NC and still seem to be having some issues. I'm leaning towards a wood issue but I fear I may have a draft problem. I picked up a 1/2 cord of dry locust yesterday so we'll see how it runs tonight. I don't have a constant issue with smoke spillage but will get a little bit rolling out on reloads and it does downdraft frequently when the stove is cold.

 

[begreen]

Is the stove in a basement?

 

[CaptSpiff]

...... This picture shows what can happen after 3 weeks with this problem (poor draft) on a brand new chimney. Crazy huh!

That picture is crazy. Looks like single wall flue pipe, so I'm assuming it's not the chimney section?

 

[mopar440_6]

Is the stove in a basement?

Of course. Opening the window 10' away from the stove doesn't seem to help either.

 

[wildcatbb]

Wood is key as well, but in my case that pipe made all the difference in the world. My nc30 is now hooked to it and runs like a champ, with good wood. She's definataly more fickle than the smoke dragon on wood! I've learned so much on here in the last couple months, it's amazing! Not rocket science by any means, but a couple little hick ups and things can get weird real fast! For wood burning problems, this sight has solutions for sure!

 

[begreen]

Of course. Opening the window 10' away from the stove doesn't seem to help either.

Yes, stove location will affect draft. You're fighting negative pressure. That can be a bear in some situations.

 

[begreen]

Wood is key as well, but in my case that pipe made all the difference in the world. My nc30 is now hooked to it and runs like a champ, with good wood. She's definataly more fickle than the smoke dragon on wood! I've learned so much on here in the last couple months, it's amazing! Not rocket science by any means, but a couple little hick ups and things can get weird real fast! For wood burning problems, this sight has solutions for sure!

Wood furnaces can be notorious creosote machines if they are forced to idle when heat demand is low. Add semi-seasoned wood and you can plug up a chimney quickly. Yes, modern stoves really like good wood, but actually dry wood helps all stoves burn cleaner, old or new.

 

[wildcatbb]

The window trick may have helped just a little, but didn't do much in my case. I tried that as well when I was in my troubleshooting stage!

 

[laynes69]

What your picture is showing was initially glaze, and with a hot fire it expanded. Begreen is right, many times problems can be from a furnace that's too large for the home. If that's the case, burn smaller hotter fires, or once things are cleaned, burn it hot for a couple of minutes a day. Unfortunately, whenever I thought I was doing good in our old furnace, I would find this in the flue. It doesn't take long for that to happen.

 

[bholler]

What your picture is showing was initially glaze, and with a hot fire it expanded.

You are right except that was not just a hot fire that was a chimney fire that is burnt creosote without a doubt.

 

[wildcatbb]

Yep......it was on fire. I'm almost positive of this. It was on my last fire before the pipe was added. The chimney was ticking and sounded horrible. It didn't get to the super glowing red hot stage but I'm pretty certain it was on fire. I hurried and shut the damper in the pipe and the stove down tight and it mellowed out. Subsequent 24-7 burns for the last 3 weeks or better with the extra 3 foot and an nc30 in place of the dragon and it's all good!

 

[bholler]

Yep......it was on fire. I'm almost positive of this. It was on my last fire before the pipe was added. The chimney was ticking and sounded horrible. It didn't get to the super glowing red hot stage but I'm pretty certain it was on fire. I hurried and shut the damper in the pipe and the stove down tight and it mellowed out. Subsequent 24-7 burns for the last 3 weeks or better with the extra 3 foot and an nc30 in place of the dragon and it's all good!

Good glad it is working better for you did you look over the whole chimney good after the fire? It honestly doesn't look like it was all that bad but you should still check it out

 

[wildcatbb]

Yep! Took it apart and cleaned it! It's all good and I was lucky!

 

[bholler]

good deal

 

[Calentarse]

I posted this earlier in another thread and had a request to make a dedicated thread for others that may experience similar issues. Long story short, I had an old Clayton wood furnace for my building and installed the chimney straight up, through the roof and was above the 3' for 10' rule. I got the stove up and running, constant back spilling and insufficient heat....smoke was bad. Couldn't get the fire box temps up. I questioned everyone and researched what I could. Everyone that saw my setup thought for sure, "without a doubt" my chimney was plenty high above where it needed to be. I was a bit frazzled by this for 3 weeks straight. I came home one night and had enough. Only thing I could try that I hadn't done was add 3 more feet of chimney! Boooom! Old girl took right off and ran like crazy! Hot hot fire, no spillage and very little smoke outside considering what I was working with. This picture shows what can happen after 3 weeks with this problem on a brand new chimney. Crazy huh!

View attachment 154403

Looking at that picture makes me ill. I'm a nervous wreck now, paranoid and reaching for my expansion ladder!

 

[Oldman47]

While we are on the draft subject, I have a chimney that is basically at outside air temperature because it is in my well insulated attic space. The insulation from the main house area and the roof ventilation arrangement means the attic runs close to outdoors temperatures in winter. The stove pipe only rises about 6 feet before entering that attic space. So far I have no stove actually installed because the house is under construction but am wondering if I have enough warm chimney run to be effective. The overall height of the chimney is about 14 feet from the future stove top but so much of it is in the attic space or exposed on the roof top that I am starting to wonder if I have been kidding myself. The install is in a rancher and is within a few feet of the roof peak at the exit. I have recently been over thinking it and wonder if I should consider installing a chase on my roof top to enclose the chimney and give it a better chance of warming well above outdoors temperatures in order to perform more like a tall indoors run of flue pipe.

 

[bholler]

I have recently been over thinking it and wonder if I should consider installing a chase on my roof top to enclose the chimney and give it a better chance of warming well above outdoors temperatures in order to perform more like a tall indoors run of flue pipe.

Many chimneys work perfectly fine completly out side they are insulated and warm up very quickly that is one major reason for insulation. I would not worry about it

 

[firefighterjake]

Many chimneys work perfectly fine completly out side they are insulated and warm up very quickly that is one major reason for insulation. I would not worry about it

Agreed . . . I have had no issues with my outside Class A chimney in terms of draft (other than the typical early Fall and late Spring reversed draft that many folks get when the outside and inside temps are close to each other), excessive creosote, etc.

I was going to enclose it to make it "pretty" but after a year of burning I realized that due to the location most folks passing by would not be able to see the chimney anyways except for the very top . . . so I left it as is . . . naked.