air flow and draft

[TAG]

hello, my name is Andrew and I am relatively new to burning wood. I have a country Canyon Model S - 310 stove. Last Sunday I loaded it and went to work, everything seemed to be in working order. About an hour later it woke my wife up because it had filled our house with smoke. She took my 6 year old and got out of the house and had my brother in law came over and took the logs out of it and let the fire die. I assumed that I had a dirty chimney since I had not been burning in the stove for very long and had no idea how long since it had been cleaned. However, upon further inspection after taking apart the flue pipe and the outside chimney I learned that the whole thing is very clean. I did find that this particular model of stove has carpet board on the ceiling of it above the fire bricks, kind of like insulation. I had put a rather big log in and the only thing I could figure was that i had pushed up on the bricks and wrinkled the carpet board and blocked the air flow. After setting the carpet where it goes and cleaning the stove I put it back together and it worked fine. today I woke up again to the smell of smoke filling the house, I examined the carpet bored and everything seems to be fine. I took the shovel and scooped all of the ashes out of the bottom and now it seems to be working fine. There is a hole in the very center at the base of the door that goes from outside the wood stove to inside. I would assume that it needs to be clear? is there someone who could maybe explain to me the way the air flow system and drafting works on the stove?

 

[TheRambler]

I am not familiar with your particular stove, but a couple things i would check first. 1) Visually inspect the stove for any cracks or broken seams. 2)Visually inspect the chimney cap/screen to ensure it is completely clear and not clogged 3) Clean the pipe and chimney from where it leaves the stove to the chimney cap whether it appears to need it or not 4) Check all of the door gaskets on the stove with the dollar bill test.

If you have a good hot fire going all hot smoke should draft up the chimney and have no ability to leak into the house unless you have the door open during a reload. The only reason that smoke would start to enter the house otherwise would be because of some kind of obstruction in the chimney, and when the draft is minimal you could potentially have smoke leakage around a bad gasket or through a crack in the stove, or even out through the stove's inlet.

Did you actually clean the entire chimney? Just taking it apart and looking isnt neccesarily good enough. The most accumulation will usually be at the very top of the chimney.

What kind of chimney is this? If its a masonry chimney, does it have a liner? How tall is it? What was the weather like there when this was happening?

Weather- high winds can cause some funny things to happen too. A specific chimne cap designed for wind may be in order if everything else checks out.

i am sure others will be along shortly to add more.

 

[TheRambler]

Just another thought I had. When you say that the house is filling with smoke, do you mean you can actually see and smell smoke? Or just the smoke or CO detector is going off?

If you dont actually see or smell smoke then it could be the paint curing on the stove if your getting it really hot, the paint will set off a smoke alarm. Or if you have a container of ashes inside the house(which is a big no no), this can set off the CO detector.

 

[TAG]

Thank you for the prompt responses. It is a steel pipe chimney, double walled and it goes from my basement up through my deck and then up above my eve, all in all maybe 18 or 20 feet tall. The wind is gusting today out of the north, northeast and my chimney is on the east side of the house. It is not very common for the wind to be out of the North here so I'm hoping that that is all that it is. the stove is relatively new and in very good shape it is airtight with no cracks or holes or anything like that. And the seal around the door is also in very good shape I did the dollar bill test as suggested and it seems to be in very good shape. I never have any trouble with the stove leaking any smoke at all in to the the house then today it's not just leaking into the house its forcefully blowing back in like I have no updraft whatsoever. I assumed that it was the wind because it burned all night long and never gave me any trouble and then at six in the morning when I woke up to the house being full of smoke the fire had just about going out so I assumed that it wasn't hot enough to create enough updraft, maybe I'm confused about that process. But I assumed that because it still had hot coals in it that the chimney should still be warm enough to force the air to draft up. Someone told me that I can get a kind of cap for my chimney that swivels with the direction of the wind if I discovered that that is what it truly is. Does anyone have any experience or opinion on those types of caps, do you know how much they run? is there anything that I can do on days like today when out of the wrong direction 20 to 30 miles per hour so that I'm able to continue burning wood? Do I just need to keep it really hot all day?

 

[TAG]

No its filling the house with smoke, we have a smoke detector but no CO, which i assume is carbon monoxide. Ot is air tight, all seals good. It went out when my family and i went to church and if i try to light it it fills my house with smoke. I would like to try getting it really hot and seeing if it works after my chimney warms up. Is there anything that i can do so that i can keep burning and not use propane? Or do u just not burn on days like today?

Just another thought I had. When you say that the house is filling with smoke, do you mean you can actually see and smell smoke? Or just the smoke or CO detector is going off?

If you dont actually see or smell smoke then it could be the paint curing on the stove if your getting it really hot, the paint will set off a smoke alarm. Or if you have a container of ashes inside the house(which is a big no no), this can set off the CO detector.

 

[TheRambler]

I think you should take a close look at your chimney cap, with binoculars if u have them and inspect for any blockage.