Backdraft issues with basement wood stove

[shep546]

Hey guys,

I recently bought a house, ~25 years old, wood stove is original.

It's in the basement with 2 floors above it (enclosed staircase to dining room, not split entry) and an exterior (lined) brick chimney that goes pretty high above the house.

The basement is not entirely finished but it is drywalled/insulated. I don't believe the previous owners used the wood stove much if at all. Prior to closing I had the stove WETT inspected/cleaned.

I have a good amount of experience with wood stoves but I've never had issues like this.

When trying to light a fire I am getting ridiculous amounts of backdraft sometimes, to the point that just lighting some newspaper smokes out the entire basement.

The damper on the stove is wide open, doesn't appear to be any sort of flu on the chimney.

I have tried leaving the door open for a while, opening the windows, starting off lighting small amounts of paper etc. to no avail.

I understand this is likely to the house being newer/air tight and the fact that it's in the basement.

The bottom of the stove has this fan that I thought (from my previous stoves) was only to blow air across the stove and push it out into the room, but I think it might actually be to help the draft go up? I set it manually and was able to light a fire with no issues.

Also I'm not sure what the "Auto" setting is detecting?

Thanks in advance.

 

[rwhite]

I suspect that the fan is creating enough positive pressure to overcome the problem. You can test this by running a small box fan in the same area then try to light a fire. Does it still backdraft once the fire is established and the fan is off?

 

[kennyp2339]

Cold flue, please search stack effect on this website, you need positive heat flow to establish draft, not a negative draft like in your case. Things to try.. take a hair dryer or a sterno and run / light it and let it go for an hour or so, this should warm up the flue to break the negative draft.
Word of caution here, before doing anything else with that stove, buy a co meter and put it in the basement, depending on your chimney run and other factorss the chimney draft may switch back to negative as the fire burns out, this can cause coals that are still off gassing with minimal heat to let co back into the basement through the primary / secondary inlet on the stove.

 

[bens_igloo]

Hi shep546.

I have a basement install and same problem about 75% of the time. In fact I think we are both using PE stoves based on your picture.

I also have a lot of experience with wood stoves and have a second stove (main floor) in my house with zero problems.

I have tried literally everything, with no success. Opening window, opening basement door (it's above grade), using a hair blower, using a heat gun, lighting a candle in the stove for 10 hours before trying a fire. Tried super cedars, top down fire, no luck. Once the stove is going, I've never had a backdraft at the "end" of the burn when the stove cooled down.

Only one thing works: lifting the stove pipe away from the stove (I have an extendible section going down to the unit), and holding a lit piece of newspaper up it. This reverses the draft in less than 5 seconds. It's a bit of a pain in the butt, but I can do the whole thing in less than 2 minutes now.

At my old house, I had a regency unit, which allowed me to move one of the baffles away so I could put a lit piece of newspaper. However with the steel PE baffle, this is not possible.

I've never thought of the fan possibly helping. I can't see how it would, but I will give it a shot.

Good luck on your end!

 

[bens_igloo]

"Also I'm not sure what the "Auto" setting is detecting?"

Auto tells the fan to turn on when the stove is hot, and to turn off when the stove is cold. It's based on a thermo-coupler that touches the back-side of the unit.

 

[MR. GLO]

I am dealing with your issue now. I put a small chunk of fire starter inside the stove high up near the tubes, open the outside basement door about 4 feet away, put a passive 4 inch vent nearby, and shut off my box fans when lighting has helped.

But sometimes at the end of a cycle or at the start of the end of cycle I can smell smoke on second floor. I have ultra low co2 and the readings are zero, but i can still sense a little smoke smell. First I thought it was coming in the ridge vent and soffits vents.

Last night the wife shut a door that I left open to a cold entry way and then walked into the bathroom and used the fan. Then I got this smell in the bedroom. It was snowing out and the temp wasn't too cold. I went down stairs to load the wood and smoke wanted to spill out at the top of the door. This does not happen all the time. I put a camera on the chimney to see the wind when I light up and it changes direction a lot. So it could a backdraft but not sure. I only have birch wood this year and not sure its the wood causing the issues yet.

If we use the kitchen exhaust fan that vents outside we crack a door or window to see if it helps. I'm guessing this will offset any further stack effect. Please keep us posted.

Jotul f50 tl Rangley.

 

[DeadTreeBurner]

Hi shep546.

I have a basement install and same problem about 75% of the time. In fact I think we are both using PE stoves based on your picture.

I also have a lot of experience with wood stoves and have a second stove (main floor) in my house with zero problems.

I have tried literally everything, with no success. Opening window, opening basement door (it's above grade), using a hair blower, using a heat gun, lighting a candle in the stove for 10 hours before trying a fire. Tried super cedars, top down fire, no luck. Once the stove is going, I've never had a backdraft at the "end" of the burn when the stove cooled down.

Only one thing works: lifting the stove pipe away from the stove (I have an extendible section going down to the unit), and holding a lit piece of newspaper up it. This reverses the draft in less than 5 seconds. It's a bit of a pain in the butt, but I can do the whole thing in less than 2 minutes now.

At my old house, I had a regency unit, which allowed me to move one of the baffles away so I could put a lit piece of newspaper. However with the steel PE baffle, this is not possible.

I've never thought of the fan possibly helping. I can't see how it would, but I will give it a shot.

Good luck on your end!

I just moved into a 2 story house w/ basement and Buck Model 81 in the basement. Only easy foolproof method I have of getting the draft going is to use a propane weed burner. I have an unfinished basement with nothing flammable in reach, so it's pretty safe, just start it on low and let it burn with flames through open stove door for maybe 5 minutes. Stove pipe is toasty at that point and I can get a fire started easily. After it's warmed up I have no issues unless coals die out to the point that stove top and pipe is close to ambient temps. I have a 27' masonry chimney. If I try any other method it fails with some amount of smoke in the basement.

 

[MR. GLO]

Harbor Freight cheap heat gun pointed in and angled up works best for me. or build a little stand.