I currently do not have a chimney damper on my used jotul f400 wood stove. I basically have a real short chimney double walled pipe about 13 feet straight shot through the roof with no damper. I get good draft and seem to choke the fire down well with the built in air control lever on the stove. So should I install a damper and what benefit would it have on my set up? Thanks for any replies.
chimney damper question
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I sort of figured that but wanted a second opinion. Im still learning the stove but it seems like a real good heater. My only issue is that i still can't really load it up without over fire condition. Im not sure if that is related to chimney height but if I put in more that 3 good size logs and shut it down for secondaries it over fires quick. next thing i know im up to 800 plus degrees. The obvious downside is I do not get a long burn only about 3-4.5 hours if im lucky
800 on the stove top near the right rear corner. Its typically shut down about 75% or so sometimes full shut. Ive had this happed 4 times now.The secondaries are roaring at this point and the logs are barely fire just a small ghost flame. The last time this happened i opened the door to try to get more air flow to help cool it down. The temp dropped quickly to about 600. Now i typically run 3 or 4 pieces of wood at a time and can keep the stove at or below 500 with no issue.
also i let the fire get going good for about 30 minutes or so shut it down about 20% wait another 20 minutes shut it down another 20 or so. It seems like once its down to about 10-20% the secondaries start cranking out of control.
Shut it back way faster. With my tube stove i would have it shut completly in 15 to 20 mins
I got the stove this summer and put new gaskets in except for the chimney collar. Like i said if i shut the air lever down the fire respond as it should in that the fire can almost snuff out. I don't think there is a major leak anywhere or i would not be able to control the primary right?
Yes but it should not be overfiring with a short stack like yours. I would recomend running it by the pipe temp instead of stovetop temp. It will probably show you that you can shut back much faster.
that would be great because id like to get an extended burn. So far thats my only complaint. For example right now im running 50% closed with 3 decent pieces of oak and the temp is around 500. Because the primary is at 50% I have a nice little flame with hardly any secondary burn but the temp is not crazy. If i shut it down and throw in 2 more logs it gets scary lol.I would not go to to bed with more than 3 pieces on so no coals in the morning
i did the dollar bill test and it seems like a real nice seal. I could not really check the glass gaskets on the doors other than a visible inspection. The ask pan seems good as well.
i know that this was a damper question but this discussion is better lol. Any way i just shut it down with 3 oak logs and the primary fires every couple seconds and the secondary fires every couple seconds for a real nice display. No smoke at all outside and running at about 450 or so. So with 3 logs no danger of over fire at all. as a matter of fact i would have no issue walking away from it right now. It could be that glass itself has a small leak but what has me baffled is that the primary is shut down. If i had a major leak i would expect that i had no control over the primary not the secondary. Im no expert but the air flow pattern in this stove is not real complicated.
Yes, this sounds like the problem. You need to turn the air down sooner. It's easier to go by flue temps, but in lieu of that, start shutting down the air as soon as the fire starts burning well. That could be in as little as 10 minutes with good dry wood. Don't go by the clock or stove top temp, go by flue temp or eye.
It took me a month to be happy running the Castine and another month in very cold weather to learn all over again. For now, assume the stove is ok. It's a good strong heater and puts on a really nice light show when running right.
Tip 1: Never use the ashpan door to start the stove
Tip 2: Our stove ran better and had longer burns with a belly full of ash insulating the coal bed. Let the ashpan fill up with ash over the grate and scoop out the ash when it gets too high.
Tip 1: Never use the ashpan door to start the stove
Tip 2: Our stove ran better and had longer burns with a belly full of ash insulating the coal bed. Let the ashpan fill up with ash over the grate and scoop out the ash when it gets too high.
NoGoodAtScreenNames
Feeling the Heat
Are you adding more wood to a fire that’s already 500 degrees? In my stove that would send me nuclear. I’m better having a bigger load all from the beginning. With an already hot fire new wood is going to off gas fast and really raise the temps in the secondaries.
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