Augmenting Dutch West 3000 exhaust vent

[corkyscott]

I have a Dutch West 3000 wood stove. I'm relatively happy with it's performance, but it's design causes some issues. This particular stove has one door only, it's in the front and is mostly glass. Like many modern design stoves, this one is designed to burn gasses by adding oxygen via perforated tubes that are placed at the top of the chamber. This in fact seems to work as I can adjust the stove such that I see only flames spooking above the wood, but this only happens if the stove is hot enough.

My problem is that the exhausts vent for the combustion chamber is a slot right behind the front opening door. Opening the door at any time when there is even a hint of fire or smoke means smoke inside the house. It simply does not allow opening the door at any time when there is a hot fire or any type of fire without smoking us out.

I've dealt with this by making sure all was ready for a long burn and then lighting it and letting it ignite and generate heat before closing the stove door to allow it to run on the air bled in by the adjustable vent. When I say closing the door what I mean is that in order to get the fire going, the door has to be cracked a bit. It is not wide open. The stove really needs to be cooking before the door can be shut. Too soon, and the fire immediately snuffs out. But let it heat up to about 250F or 300F and you can close the door and run it on the vent.

The problem that I'm faced with occurs when I have hot coals and want to add more wood. I have to have my supply of wood piled right next to the stove and be ready to pile it on with great haste or we are gassed out when the fresh wood is laid on the coals. The amount of smoke and smell can be significant, if I am not quick to load the wood and close the door.

I'm wondering if there is some kind of squirrel cage blower that can be added to the exhaust tubing that might enhance the draft so that I could open the door during those coals, but no flame moments without needing gas masks for my wife and I and our dog.

Additional details, the flue is a metal lined 5" type installed a year ago. I wanted 6", but the mortar in the chimney prevented such installation so 5" it is and no modifications possible unless I knock down the chimney and do it all over again.

The stove otherwise produces lots of heat and stays warm for a long time. I've noticed that I can adjust it to the point where it snuffs out, then spontaneously ignites with over pressure that piffs out of the intake vent and stinks us out. Just one of those things that happens when you burn wood in an airtight stove I guess.

Thanks, Corky Scott

 

[corkyscott]

I think I may have answered my own question. I called the stove company from which I bought the Dutchwest stove and asked if they knew of a device that would enhance the draft of the stove so that it did not smoke when I needed to open the door or when adding wood to hot coals.

They did, they called it at "Stove Draft Inducer". But they did not have anything like that for sale. I searched online and found that there is one brand of draft inducer that a number of businesses offer called the AD-1 by Tjernlund. It is a simple variable speed motor powered paddle wheel that installs by cutting out a rectangle in the flue and screwing it on using sheet metal screws and heat resistant gasket cement/caulk. It does not need to be run continuously, only when needed when the door is being opened.

All the reviews so far have been positive, most saying that the installation turned a smoker into an non smoking stove.

We'll see.

Corky Scott

 

[shawneyboy]

I think I may have answered my own question. I called the stove company from which I bought the Dutchwest stove and asked if they knew of a device that would enhance the draft of the stove so that it did not smoke when I needed to open the door or when adding wood to hot coals.

They did, they called it at "Stove Draft Inducer". But they did not have anything like that for sale. I searched online and found that there is one brand of draft inducer that a number of businesses offer called the AD-1 by Tjernlund. It is a simple variable speed motor powered paddle wheel that installs by cutting out a rectangle in the flue and screwing it on using sheet metal screws and heat resistant gasket cement/caulk. It does not need to be run continuously, only when needed when the door is being opened.

All the reviews so far have been positive, most saying that the installation turned a smoker into an non smoking stove.

We'll see.

Corky Scott

One issue that this product may cause is lowering the draft when NOT being operated. The "paddlewheel" will cause airflow blockage/slowdown when not paddling itself, at least IMHO.

I am not familiar with this product but... just wanted to put in my 2 cents. Take it for what it's worth.

Cheers,

Shawn

 

[corkyscott]

One issue that this product may cause is lowering the draft when NOT being operated. The “paddlewheel†will cause airflow blockage/slowdown when not paddling itself, at least IMHO.

I am not familiar with this product but… just wanted to put in my 2 cents. Take it for what it’s worth.

Cheers,

Shawn

Thanks for the comment Shawn, I wondered about that myself. But the photos and diagrams of the device show that the paddles stick out only about an inch into the stove pipe, and they are only about an inch wide besides. In addition, all the reviewers who mentioned its operation claimed that the stove was unaffected by it's installation when it was not switched on.

But when it was running, it solved the problem of being unable to open the door without smoke coming out.

Corky Scott

 

[CarbonNeutral]

My stove, like many, exhausts near that front door. You have a draft problem - as you know - but I would try to solve that first without doodads. Questions: How long is the chimney? Insulated (sounds not)? External? Last swept? Clogged mesh screen?

I only had issues when my mesh was clogged - it seems a common theme amongst Simpson liner owners - the mesh is too small. I solved that by just removing it.

 

[corkyscott]

My stove, like many, exhausts near that front door. You have a draft problem - as you know - but I would try to solve that first without doodads. Questions: How long is the chimney? Insulated (sounds not)? External? Last swept? Clogged mesh screen?

I only had issues when my mesh was clogged - it seems a common theme amongst Simpson liner owners - the mesh is too small. I solved that by just removing it.

The chimney is mostly inside the house and runs from the basement up through the first floor and then up through the cathedral ceiling and extends roughly 6 feet above the roof. It is made of concret block and red clay fire liner. When the clay fire liner began to deteriorate badly, I decided it was time to line it. This was two years ago. The people who sell the liners told me I did not need an insulated liner because most of it was inside the house. It was about 25 feet worth of chimney if I remember right, plus about 8 feet of slightly slanted 6" flue from the stove to the chimney.

I was involved in installing the liner. I tried to pull down a 6" liner but the mason had not cleaned off the squeeze out of the cement between each red clay fire liner and it got stuck nearly all the way down and I could not pull it back out. No one else could either, including the professionals who came to try. I had to snip the liner and pull it out as a huge ribbon.

The install guys from the stove shop decided they didn't want to get another liner stuck so they went with a 5" liner. Even with that, it needed considerable oomph to pull it down the chimney. But they got it down thanks to the platform I'd built on the roof that allowed them to easily work at the top of the chimney.

I handled all the parts including the cap and did not see any mesh anywhere in the system. The stove has smoked when the door was opened while the fire was going since day one. But checking for restrictions is very very good advice, thank you. I'll do that before buying any draft inducer.

Corky Scott

 

[corkyscott]

My stove, like many, exhausts near that front door. You have a draft problem - as you know - but I would try to solve that first without doodads. Questions: How long is the chimney? Insulated (sounds not)? External? Last swept? Clogged mesh screen?

I only had issues when my mesh was clogged - it seems a common theme amongst Simpson liner owners - the mesh is too small. I solved that by just removing it.

Last week I took down the horizontal run of flue that connected the stove to the chimney for inspection and cleaning, should it need it. This run is about 8 feet long, with another 3 feet of pipe from the stove which is at about a 10 degree angle off vertical. The horizontal run has about a 5 degree slope to it.

I have to admit I was really surprised at how much built up soot I found inside the horizontal section. I'd put it at about 10% restricted. I carefully carried the pipe outside and cleaned it off as best I could by slapping it and using a wire brush to scrape off the stuff. I took off the vertical run as well and cleaned that out too. Then I reassembled everything and tightened the joints with the sheet metal screws used by the installers.

When I lit a fire, I let it get cooking and then slowly opened the door to see what would happen. Basically nothing happened, the smoke obediently went up the exhaust vent instead of coming out the open door.

So thanks, your advice was spot on and I think I'll now have to remove and clean the horizontal run at least twice during the heating season.

Corky Scott