Cannot get fire to burn without smoke if the air control is below 50%

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

I have a Pacific Energy Super 27 and I am not sure if I am doing something wrong. Being a good neighbor, having smoke pour out of my chimney is a no-go for me. Unfortunately that means that I can't really burn on "low", because as soon as I turn my air control below 50% open, smoke starts coming out of the chimney. The secondary burn is definitely happening as I can see it, but smoke is still produced.

My wood is very well seasoned, I checked all the logs I put in today and they are all less than 15% moisture content. My (external) flue temperature is at around 350 when I try to go from 50% to lower than that. I just cleaned the flue, so no creosote. My flue is about 10 feet in height. Single wall inside and double wall outside.

The problem with burning @50% is that eventually the stove just gets too hot and I am probably wasting wood by burning it too hot. Even when I used to have a catalytic stove, I had the same problem. Even with an active catalyst, I would still get smoke up the chimney.

Anyone else have this problem?

 

[bholler]

I have a Pacific Energy Super 27 and I am not sure if I am doing something wrong. Being a good neighbor, having smoke pour out of my chimney is a no-go for me. Unfortunately that means that I can't really burn on "low", because as soon as I turn my air control below 50% open, smoke starts coming out of the chimney. The secondary burn is definitely happening as I can see it, but smoke is still produced.

My wood is very well seasoned, I checked all the logs I put in today and they are all less than 15% moisture content. My (external) flue temperature is at around 350 when I try to go from 50% to lower than that. I just cleaned the flue, so no creosote. My flue is about 10 feet in height. Single wall inside and double wall outside.

The problem with burning @50% is that eventually the stove just gets too hot and I am probably wasting wood by burning it too hot. Even when I used to have a catalytic stove, I had the same problem. Even with an active catalyst, I would still get smoke up the chimney.

Anyone else have this problem?

Your chimney is probably to short. And what procedure are you using to test your wood?

 

[begreen]

A 10ft flue system is quite short. Try adding a 3 or 4 ft section of chimney pipe. The chimney will need a roof brace at 5' above the roof exit.

How hot is the stove getting when too hot? What size wood loads are being burned? (How many splits?)

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

Your chimney is probably to short. And what procedure are you using to test your wood?

I have a wood moisture meter. It's fairly accurate I think. I gave it bone dry pieces and very wet pieces and it had no problems distinguishing.

My stove is in a new addition of the house and the pipe goes straight through the roof (no chimney). About 5ft inside and 5ft outside. How would a longer flue help?

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

A 10ft flue system is quite short. Try adding a 3 or 4 ft section of chimney pipe. The chimney will need a roof brace at 5' above the roof exit.

How hot is the stove getting when too hot? What size wood loads are being burned? (How many splits?)

I can try that. As I asked above, how does a longer pipe help?

Both my pipe thermometer and stove thermometer are in the "overburn" area. I confirmed this with a high temperature IR temperature meter. Wood is medium and small. I didn't feed it any large pieces today. All hardwood. Each time I reloaded I put in 3 pieces, 2 medium and one medium-small on top perpendicularly. Both times same exact result.

 

[begreen]

I have a wood moisture meter. It's fairly accurate I think. I gave it bone dry pieces and very wet pieces and it had no problems distinguishing.

Is the wood being resplit first to test on the interior core wood or tested at the ends?

What stove top temps are you seeing?

My stove is in a new addition of the house and the pipe goes straight through the roof (no chimney). About 5ft inside and 5ft outside. How would a longer flue help?

Adding a few feet of chimney will bring it to the height requirement specified in the manual. This will increase draft, allowing the air to be closed down further.

 

[bholler]

I have a wood moisture meter. It's fairly accurate I think. I gave it bone dry pieces and very wet pieces and it had no problems distinguishing.

My stove is in a new addition of the house and the pipe goes straight through the roof (no chimney). About 5ft inside and 5ft outside. How would a longer flue help?

More height will give you stronger draft to make the secondary combustion system work

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

Is the wood being resplit first to test on the interior core wood or tested at the ends?

What stove top temps are you seeing?


Adding a few feet of chimney will bring it to the height requirement specified in the manual. This will increase draft, allowing the air to be closed down further.

I see what you mean. Just resplit a couple of now and they are dry inside too.

Stove reached 600F with 50% of the air open.

I did not realize my pipe was too short. I assumed the installers would have mentioned something about that... Thanks for the tip!

 

[bholler]

I see what you mean. Just resplit a couple of now and they are dry inside too.

Stove reached 600F with 50% of the air open.

I did not realize my pipe was too short. I assumed the installers would have mentioned something about that... Thanks for the tip!

The stove being 600 is not to hot at all

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

The stove being 600 is not to hot at all

Only reason I said that is that's in the "overburn" section of the stove temp gauge.

 

[sixer]

I'm still learning, but I'm pretty happy when my STT is at 650 or so after a reload. I've gotten it close to 800 and feel like that's probably getting too hot and try to avoid it, though some have said that's fine too. I'm curious to see what some of our "resident experts" have to say. I think the flue temp is a key parameter too, but I have an insert so no flue temp gauge.

This site is a tremendous resource, thanks to all of you who provide accurate and timely info and advice here!

 

[begreen]

Only reason I said that is that's in the "overburn" section of the stove temp gauge.

This sounds like it's a stovepipe thermometer that has different ranges than a stovetop thermometer. Just go by the temperature.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

When you’re able to cut the air down further, the stove will draw most of it’s air through the secondary burn system. With the air being injected up high, the smoke gets burnt and then can’t be seen.

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

This sounds like it's a stovepipe thermometer that has different ranges than a stovetop thermometer. Just go by the temperature.

I actually have two, one for the pipe (special pipe thermometer) and one for the stove. They both say overburn if I burn on medium for too long.

Gonna have a couple of chimney companies come and give me a quote for adding another 5 feet of pipe. Looking at pipe prices online ($300 for a 48 inch double walled pipe) I have a feeling the quotes are going to be up there. I may just do it myself since it shouldn't be that hard. I just have to find the supports/anchors. Any idea where I can buy those?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Search for roof supports for the brand of pipe you have

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

Search for roof supports for the brand of pipe you have

Found it using that search term. Thank you sir!

 

[Todd]

Are you sure it’s smoke and not steam? If it’s white wispy and dissipates quickly it is just water vapor. Darker gray blue color that lingers into the neighborhood is smoke.

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

Yeah, definitely smoke. As soon as I open up the air, it goes away. Also, my wood is very dry, not a lot of water to evaporate.

 

[bholler]

Yeah, definitely smoke. As soon as I open up the air, it goes away. Also, my wood is very dry, not a lot of water to evaporate.

You will always have steam even at 15% that's still quite a bit of water.

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

You will always have steam even at 15% that's still quite a bit of water.

Gotcha. This is definitely not water.

 

[bholler]

Gotcha. This is definitely not water.

I wasn't saying it was. With only 10' of chimney your secondary combustion won't be working properly

 

[bholler]

I actually have two, one for the pipe (special pipe thermometer) and one for the stove. They both say overburn if I burn on medium for too long.

Gonna have a couple of chimney companies come and give me a quote for adding another 5 feet of pipe. Looking at pipe prices online ($300 for a 48 inch double walled pipe) I have a feeling the quotes are going to be up there. I may just do it myself since it shouldn't be that hard. I just have to find the supports/anchors. Any idea where I can buy those?

You need to extend it with matching chimney pipe

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

You need to extend it with matching chimney pipe

Yes for sure. I have someone coming to add another 5 feet (at least) of pipe.

 

[FireUpTheChainsaw]

Ok, the company said $3600 to replace the entire outside chimney pipe, which is way too high. They said they had to replace the entire thing, because they have no idea what kind of pipe there is currently. I was looking for extensions and I can get a high quality double wall extension and roof supports for under $500. Only problem is my existing double walled chimney pipe (6" inside, 8" outside diamater) is an unknown brand. So I am trying to find an adapter that can be installed into the 6" hole so I can put an extension on top of it.

Any ideas anyone?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

You can put the chimney in yourself.

It'd probably be around $1000.

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