Anyone else have OAK problems with wind?

[OhioBurner©]

So today it's really windy here. Forecast said 20-25 mph gusting to 40. That doesn't sound that bad really but my place is slightly elevated with an open field to my west, so tends to be more windy here than most places. My large 18' high great room wall is creaking really bad so it's got to be at least that if not more here.

Anyhow I woke up this morning to a cool house. I had just been using the pellet stove overnight because yesterday evening it was 50F out and I really didn't want to bother with the wood stove or getting it going with a sluggish draft. Being really drafty I figured the house would be cooler than normal by morning, but when I came down stairs the pellet stove looked like it was barely going. And in fact while I was standing there it pretty much went out. I know in the past on windy days I had to turn the air setting down since my OAK is on the windward side of house and it seemed to burn the pellets down to nothing between cycles. Normally I have to have the air maxed out to get a better burn with my tall chimney and high esl. In the past on windy days when I see the fire burn down into the pot I turn the air back down to factory setting. Today that didn't help, actually it went completely out at one point and I pulled the burn pot out quick to verify - about a dozen fresh pellets in the bottom and just a bit of ash, maybe a teaspoon (I cleaned it last night). So I bottomed out the air setting and also cranking the fuel up. Still no real change. So I decided what the heck and pulled off the OAK and plugged it. After the fire got going again I reset controls to factory, then after another short while cranked the air back up to max again, and seems to be running normal now.

I guess the OAK is unregulated air, and it seems in my case almost like a supercharger in the wind since its in a covered porch that might act like an air scoop on the windward side of my house, on a knoll, across from an open field to the west. But I didn't have a whole lot of choice in the location since I was utilizing an existing hearth.

 

[tlc1976]

I only have that issue when running on the lowest setting when I don't need much heat and the fire is barely limping along. And it's not every time, just once in awhile. This only happens during those gusty spring or fall winds, since with any strong winter winds I'll be running the stove on a higher range anyway. Winds here are more like 40-60 mph or more off the lake.

I did attach a flexible air intake (saved from one of my old cars) to the OAK inlet, turned down, to help keep direct wind out of it. GF doesn't like it but eventually I'll come up with something better looking (the OAK of course). Since when it blows out the pot doesn't fill up, I'd like to make a circuit to restart the stove if the fire blows out and a thermostat or other switch is calling for it to be on.

 

[OhioBurner©]

It might be more than just a lean burn condition... I reconnected the oak this afternoon briefly. The stove went right out in a few minutes! But I noticed I wasn't hearing the tinkle of pellets dropping in. Is it possible the wind overcame the vacuum of the combustion blower and de-activated the vacuum switch? I suppose I should clean my glass so I could see for myself if the pellets where feeding instead of just sound. Unfortunately this stove doesn't keep the glass clean beyond the day you clean it.

 

[MadMax31]

Honestly thats why I didnt run an OAK. Im on a hill with no cover from everwhere except East. Wind doesnt come from the East but twice a year... My weather station says we currently have gusts of 20. Its out of NW tonight so its not bad. When the wind comes from the South, it hits 33+. Sounds like house is going to be pushed off foundation.

Between my less than steller door, windows, and attic hatch, it gets all the O2 it wants.

Also thats why I vented up and not horizontally. I added goosenecks to my LP boiler venting to eliminate wind issues.

 

[heat seeker]

We have a lot of wind here, and my stove wall faces the wind. I've never had a wind-related problem, and my OAK inlet faces directly into the wind.

 

[tlc1976]

It might be more than just a lean burn condition... I reconnected the oak this afternoon briefly. The stove went right out in a few minutes! But I noticed I wasn't hearing the tinkle of pellets dropping in. Is it possible the wind overcame the vacuum of the combustion blower and de-activated the vacuum switch? I suppose I should clean my glass so I could see for myself if the pellets where feeding instead of just sound. Unfortunately this stove doesn't keep the glass clean beyond the day you clean it.

If it blew out within a few minutes, then the exhaust was cool enough to where it stopped feeding pellets pretty quickly. I'm not familiar with your exact stove but typically that's the exhaust temp switch doing its job. If the stove had been running for some time, the exhaust would have taken longer to cool, and it would have kept feeding pellets until it cooled enough to trip the exhaust temp switch.

The vacuum switch has never tripped on mine so I don't know. Well maybe once when I first got it but there were other installation adjustments in process. I tried it first with no OAK but the house was too airtight, the stove wouldn't run.

My glass gets covered with ash in a day too. I clean it along with the burn pot every 2-3 days, or if I'm in there for any reason I'll clean it.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

It might be more than just a lean burn condition... I reconnected the oak this afternoon briefly. The stove went right out in a few minutes! But I noticed I wasn't hearing the tinkle of pellets dropping in. Is it possible the wind overcame the vacuum of the combustion blower and de-activated the vacuum switch? I suppose I should clean my glass so I could see for myself if the pellets where feeding instead of just sound. Unfortunately this stove doesn't keep the glass clean beyond the day you clean it.

Ok, outside where the oak exits the house, can you take some baking flour out with you and while the wind is blowing, dribble the flour around the oak? Just a slight amount is all. Or something else if you can think of something that is non flammable or very low flash that you can visibly see moving int he air. I'd like to know if the wind is super charging your oak or perhaps causing a vacuum at the oak inlet. Some covers at the oak can act as a venturi causing a low pressure at the cover which would tend to pull air out of the oak instead of push more air into it.
Either way would cause burn issues. But sooting the glass seems like a lack of air more than too much air.
IMO.

 

[Tonyray]

We have a lot of wind here, and my stove wall faces the wind. I've never had a wind-related problem, and my OAK inlet faces directly into the wind.

Same here.....no houses or any barriers from the wind on my OAK/exhaust side.
my Oak outlet from the stove goes up foot/half or more before going out thru the wall...
prob helps since it is Not directly out...Never had any wind problems.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Between my less than steller door, windows, and attic hatch, it gets all the O2 it wants.

Also thats why I vented up and not horizontally. I added goosenecks to my LP boiler venting to eliminate wind issues.

Well I did it since it was required by manufacturer, and initially I had a lot of problems with the stove and didn't think I'd get any help unless I followed the approved installation. Though in the end, I ended up not getting one lick of help from them, in fact I was never even able to get through on phone, or email (to a few different addresses and techs) nor PM'ing the rep which at the time was active on the forums. It was incredibly frustrating but I eventually figured most things out on my own and with help of you all on the forums so I haven't tried since a year ago. That's for another discussion though.

I also vented up but because I had an existing hearth with an existing chimney I used, not straight up unfortunately but a couple of 90's to go up and then through thimble, then straight up 15' through chimney. 4" duravent. Exactly per 'Approved Venting Method 3' on pg 13 of manual. Of course after I get it all done I learn about ESL here on the forums. Too bad there was no mention in their manual. In fact this method requires more than 15' esl to start with because there has to be 3 90s and that is not including any pipe yet.

Anyhow back to the problems at hand...

If it blew out within a few minutes, then the exhaust was cool enough to where it stopped feeding pellets pretty quickly. I'm not familiar with your exact stove but typically that's the exhaust temp switch doing its job. If the stove had been running for some time, the exhaust would have taken longer to cool, and it would have kept feeding pellets until it cooled enough to trip the exhaust temp switch.

My glass gets covered with ash in a day too. I clean it along with the burn pot every 2-3 days, or if I'm in there for any reason I'll clean it.

I'm not sure how long it took to blow out, I didn't it expect it to happen so I wasn't counting. It could have just been a few - 3 to 5, I don't think it was longer than 10. If I was paying attention correctly it seemed rather immediate that the pellets stopped feeding, but I can't be sure. I didn't think about the exhaust sensor, as I know the vacuum sensor stops feeding pellets but I suppose there is control loop in there that stops feeding as well if the temp drops too much but yes the stove had been running I do find it hard to believe the sensor would have dropped that much that quickly. I've got about the same burn pot schedule 2-3 days when fresh maybe even 4, then after a few of those it's down to 1 day, gets dirty quick, have to deep clean it every couple weeks. But I often get lazy and only clean the glass every few cleaning cycles since it doesn't serve much purpose on this stove. Though I did clean it the day or two prior, but it was already completely coated with ash.

Ok, outside where the oak exits the house, can you take some baking flour out with you and while the wind is blowing, dribble the flour around the oak? Just a slight amount is all. Or something else if you can think of something that is non flammable or very low flash that you can visibly see moving int he air. I'd like to know if the wind is super charging your oak or perhaps causing a vacuum at the oak inlet. Some covers at the oak can act as a venturi causing a low pressure at the cover which would tend to pull air out of the oak instead of push more air into it.
Either way would cause burn issues. But sooting the glass seems like a lack of air more than too much air.
IMO.

Deezl that is an interesting idea. I'd have needed to know about it yesterday though. By the evening the winds had slowed and I reconnected the OAK again and no problems. During the peak of the wind though I'm not sure if flour in the air would have showed anything - I mean trash cans were flying around me I think once that flour left the container it'd be gone in a flash - probably in my eyes up my nose and everywhere lol. But I'll show you a pic...



It's 3" outlet with hardware cloth and just a piece of sheet bent into a box shape overtop to protect from accidental porch furniture contact and stuff.

I assume you're implying a suction might be present on the oak with the venturi theory? When the stove shut down earlier and I pulled the pot out quick to clear, there was a substantial amount of cold air blowing in, like holly crap amount of cold air, definitely not under any kind of suction situation.

Same here.....no houses or any barriers from the wind on my OAK/exhaust side.
my Oak outlet from the stove goes up foot/half or more before going out thru the wall...
prob helps since it is Not directly out...Never had any wind problems.

Mine is a lot more indirect than your, I have a horizontal 's' curve, well 3/4 of a 's' and very gently radius, the once it gets to the exterior wall a 90 up a couple feet and another 90 out.

Well sorry for the lengthy post. The bad wind is over and things are back to normal so probably not a big concern. 3rd year on the stove and first time this has happened so maybe a somewhat isolated event. It does burn lean in the wind but this is first it went out (I think).

 

[salt & battery]

If it blew out within a few minutes, then the exhaust was cool enough to where it stopped feeding pellets pretty quickly. I'm not familiar with your exact stove but typically that's the exhaust temp switch doing its job. If the stove had been running for some time, the exhaust would have taken longer to cool, and it would have kept feeding pellets until it cooled enough to trip the exhaust temp switch.

The vacuum switch has never tripped on mine so I don't know. Well maybe once when I first got it but there were other installation adjustments in process. I tried it first with no OAK but the house was too airtight, the stove wouldn't run.

My glass gets covered with ash in a day too. I clean it along with the burn pot every 2-3 days, or if I'm in there for any reason I'll clean it.

that happened to me also in the wind. you can get by the vacuum switch by pulling off the 2 connectors getting a short wire crimp spades onto each end and plug them into the 2 wires you took off the vacuum switch. my stove shut down in high wind and that made it work. but some one should be home if you jump it. I never was ran it a year until I moved the stove out of the wind. I have a P43

 

[OhioBurner©]

that happened to me also in the wind. you can get by the vacuum switch by pulling off the 2 connectors getting a short wire crimp spades onto each end and plug them into the 2 wires you took off the vacuum switch. my stove shut down in high wind and that made it work. but some one should be home if you jump it. I never was ran it a year until I moved the stove out of the wind. I have a P43

Yeah I thought about it, but would have to go through that cold wind to get to the garage and my electrical tools lol. Could even get fancy and mount a toggle switch for vacuum bypass if it was a regular problem, but I don't think I need to go that far quite yet.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Well I did it since it was required by manufacturer, and initially I had a lot of problems with the stove and didn't think I'd get any help unless I followed the approved installation. Though in the end, I ended up not getting one lick of help from them, in fact I was never even able to get through on phone, or email (to a few different addresses and techs) nor PM'ing the rep which at the time was active on the forums. It was incredibly frustrating but I eventually figured most things out on my own and with help of you all on the forums so I haven't tried since a year ago. That's for another discussion though.

I also vented up but because I had an existing hearth with an existing chimney I used, not straight up unfortunately but a couple of 90's to go up and then through thimble, then straight up 15' through chimney. 4" duravent. Exactly per 'Approved Venting Method 3' on pg 13 of manual. Of course after I get it all done I learn about ESL here on the forums. Too bad there was no mention in their manual. In fact this method requires more than 15' esl to start with because there has to be 3 90s and that is not including any pipe yet.

Anyhow back to the problems at hand...


I'm not sure how long it took to blow out, I didn't it expect it to happen so I wasn't counting. It could have just been a few - 3 to 5, I don't think it was longer than 10. If I was paying attention correctly it seemed rather immediate that the pellets stopped feeding, but I can't be sure. I didn't think about the exhaust sensor, as I know the vacuum sensor stops feeding pellets but I suppose there is control loop in there that stops feeding as well if the temp drops too much but yes the stove had been running I do find it hard to believe the sensor would have dropped that much that quickly. I've got about the same burn pot schedule 2-3 days when fresh maybe even 4, then after a few of those it's down to 1 day, gets dirty quick, have to deep clean it every couple weeks. But I often get lazy and only clean the glass every few cleaning cycles since it doesn't serve much purpose on this stove. Though I did clean it the day or two prior, but it was already completely coated with ash.


Deezl that is an interesting idea. I'd have needed to know about it yesterday though. By the evening the winds had slowed and I reconnected the OAK again and no problems. During the peak of the wind though I'm not sure if flour in the air would have showed anything - I mean trash cans were flying around me I think once that flour left the container it'd be gone in a flash - probably in my eyes up my nose and everywhere lol. But I'll show you a pic...

View attachment 191991

It's 3" outlet with hardware cloth and just a piece of sheet bent into a box shape overtop to protect from accidental porch furniture contact and stuff.

I assume you're implying a suction might be present on the oak with the venturi theory? When the stove shut down earlier and I pulled the pot out quick to clear, there was a substantial amount of cold air blowing in, like holly crap amount of cold air, definitely not under any kind of suction situation.


Mine is a lot more indirect than your, I have a horizontal 's' curve, well 3/4 of a 's' and very gently radius, the once it gets to the exterior wall a 90 up a couple feet and another 90 out.

Well sorry for the lengthy post. The bad wind is over and things are back to normal so probably not a big concern. 3rd year on the stove and first time this has happened so maybe a somewhat isolated event. It does burn lean in the wind but this is first it went out (I think).

Thank you for that new information. Yes,, I was thinking perhaps a suction at the oak, but you have found that to not be the case, so that's good. Perhaps next time the wind does come up, you can see about taping off half or more of the oak shield? When you pulled the burn pot, you saw the size of the gate opening, the short oak and large diameter of it, does not need so much of an opening at the outside of the house. Especially not when the inlet air is super charged with wind blowing into it. Just an idea to try so you dont have stove issues when the wind blows.

 

[bogieb]

Deezl that is an interesting idea. I'd have needed to know about it yesterday though. By the evening the winds had slowed and I reconnected the OAK again and no problems. During the peak of the wind though I'm not sure if flour in the air would have showed anything - I mean trash cans were flying around me I think once that flour left the container it'd be gone in a flash - probably in my eyes up my nose and everywhere lol. But I'll show you a pic...

out (I think).

Just a note that flour is very flammable - don't use that. Ever seen someone try to put out a grease fire on the stove with flour? Yeah, used to be common - and be common to have a huge fire after that.

 

[OhioBurner©]

Well I think I just confirmed again what is going on... windy here today. I finally did a deep clean on got my stove fired up this morning since temp is cold and very windy out my house needed the extra heat! As soon as went through the startup sequence it went right back out again. Fearing it was a similar problem with the wind I decided to try something and put a half sheet of plywood I had on my porch leaned up over the oak intake. I fired the the stove up again and watched it. As soon as it kicked out of startup it stopped feeding pellets and the fire slowly died. I got out the screwdriver, took the back panel off, and removed the oak pipe. As soon as I pulled the oak pipe free it started feeding pellet again and ran normally. I slid the oak back on, and it stopped feeding. I loosely plugged the oak pipe with a glove and let it sit near the intake so a little fresh air leaked through and into the stove intake, but running on mostly room air now and it's running well.

It seems the wind is pressurizing the stove enough to cancel the vacuum and release the pressure switch.

NWS say current winds are 15-20 mph with gusts 30-35 mph which really isn't that much but it is pretty windy. Guess this is just something I am going to have to deal with.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Well I think I just confirmed again what is going on... windy here today. I finally did a deep clean on got my stove fired up this morning since temp is cold and very windy out my house needed the extra heat! As soon as went through the startup sequence it went right back out again. Fearing it was a similar problem with the wind I decided to try something and put a half sheet of plywood I had on my porch leaned up over the oak intake. I fired the the stove up again and watched it. As soon as it kicked out of startup it stopped feeding pellets and the fire slowly died. I got out the screwdriver, took the back panel off, and removed the oak pipe. As soon as I pulled the oak pipe free it started feeding pellet again and ran normally. I slid the oak back on, and it stopped feeding. I loosely plugged the oak pipe with a glove and let it sit near the intake so a little fresh air leaked through and into the stove intake, but running on mostly room air now and it's running well.

It seems the wind is pressurizing the stove enough to cancel the vacuum and release the pressure switch.

NWS say current winds are 15-20 mph with gusts 30-35 mph which really isn't that much but it is pretty windy. Guess this is just something I am going to have to deal with.

No, you will only have to deal with it until you fix it. It can be fixed, we just have to get creative and find a way to govern the OAK air.

In the picture of your OAK cover, is it open at each end? If so, can you tape off one end and see if that helps?

 

[OhioBurner©]

I have a bunch of stuff on my porch that makes actually working on it a bit tough right now, but if I get a chance today I can try to see if it closing in partly helps.