Do I need a damper for my All Nighter?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
I picked up a Mid Moe in good shape recently, and hope to be installing it soon. The stove will be going in my basement, with the chinmey exiting through a conventional framed gable end wall. The exterior chimney will be triple wall Duravent, with a total height of about 20 feet. Interior stovepipe will be double wall DVL, about 2 feet up, and 2 more feet to the wall penetration, to include (2) 90* elbows. Being a 1979 pre-EPA stove, the only combustion controls are the door air inlets. Will these be adequate to control burn and regulate exhaust temperatures, or should I include a damper in the chimney pipe as well? Where should I measure stovepipe temperature, and what should be my approximate target temp? TIA
[Hearth.com] Do I need a damper for my All Nighter?
 
You will probably be just fine with no damper. If your door gasket is good, you should be able to shut the fire OFF with that stove if you close the air inlets.

Put a probe thermometer through the pipe about 18" above the stove top. The probe will give you your target temperature. I shoot for something between 450 and 600.

I will say that using a digital probe is the way to go. I use a home-grown reader, but the Auber solution is often recommended here. The response time on the digital probe tells you right away what any adjustments to your intake air is actually doing to your burn.

I burned a Bog Moe for about a decade. It was a great stove for me. I still miss it, sometimes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hdxbones
You will probably be just fine with no damper. If your door gasket is good, you should be able to shut the fire OFF with that stove if you close the air inlets.

Put a probe thermometer through the pipe about 18" above the stove top. The probe will give you your target temperature. I shoot for something between 450 and 600.

I will say that using a digital probe is the way to go. I use a home-grown reader, but the Auber solution is often recommended here. The response time on the digital probe tells you right away what any adjustments to your intake air is actually doing to your burn.

I burned a Bog Moe for about a decade. It was a great stove for me. I still miss it, sometimes.
Thanks for the advice. I prefer simpler, and if I don't really need the damper, it's one less thing to fuss with. The Auber digital looks like the way to go as well, I'm going to order one and have it ready for the install
 
Some will say that having a damper there won't hurt, and they are mostly right.

The downsides to having one are that they do reduce draft, even when fully open, and they also introduce more opportunities for leaky stove pipe joints. Every leaky joint sucks in air.

So I agree with you, go as simple as you can.