I have an Englander 24-ACD in a home purchased a little over one year ago. Replaced warped impingement plate and all new seals on the door. 6” stainless steel flue in an exterior chimney. There are 2 90s to the flue. Chimney is on an eave side of the home. The stainless steel flue was installed by a certified chimney sweep upon purchase prior to last winter.
Once we got to burn season last year we had so many issues with down draft in the slightest bit of wind. After a great deal of reading, we determined that the chimney height must be the culprit.
This past summer, the guy we used would not return calls for an estimate on extending. We found certified chimney sweep #2. #2 comes out and says height might or might not be an issue, but guy #1 didn’t install correctly. It’s a masonry chimney with an old clay tile flue. The reason we had the stainless installed was because the clay was cracked and shifted. We paid for removal of clay and installation of stainless with insulation. Guy #2 finds that the old clays were never removed and there is no insulation surrounding the stainless. He cites this as the most likely primary cause of the downdraft. He also advised if we wished, we could trial a temp extension with stove pipe this season to see if it rectifies the problem, however, he felt the lack of insulation is the root cause.
I did add a single wall pipe extension and it has helped some, but on very windy days (anything over 15-20 mph) it is still downdrafting and we are having to let it burn out. During normal operations we typically need to let it get roaring hot (600F pipe) before closing the door and bypass and then the temp will steadily drop and hover at barely 300F for the bulk of the burn. We have burned a variety of hardwoods this season with measured water content ranging 13-17%.
We do plan to tear down the chimney and completely rebuild to code in the spring, but in the meantime I have several questions:
1) Can the draft issues and the low stove temps actually be attributed to the lack of flue insulation?
2) Is the negligent work grounds for reporting to CSIA? I’m suspicious there is a reason he was reluctant to come back.
3) Is there anything that can be done this season to improve operations so that we don’t have to shut down during windy periods? This is our primary heat source and operated 24/7 when possible. I’ve read some on baffle caps and automated dampers but there are very mixed opinions on both. Like I said, we absolutely do plan to rebuild in the spring but would like to make something work to get through this season.
Once we got to burn season last year we had so many issues with down draft in the slightest bit of wind. After a great deal of reading, we determined that the chimney height must be the culprit.
This past summer, the guy we used would not return calls for an estimate on extending. We found certified chimney sweep #2. #2 comes out and says height might or might not be an issue, but guy #1 didn’t install correctly. It’s a masonry chimney with an old clay tile flue. The reason we had the stainless installed was because the clay was cracked and shifted. We paid for removal of clay and installation of stainless with insulation. Guy #2 finds that the old clays were never removed and there is no insulation surrounding the stainless. He cites this as the most likely primary cause of the downdraft. He also advised if we wished, we could trial a temp extension with stove pipe this season to see if it rectifies the problem, however, he felt the lack of insulation is the root cause.
I did add a single wall pipe extension and it has helped some, but on very windy days (anything over 15-20 mph) it is still downdrafting and we are having to let it burn out. During normal operations we typically need to let it get roaring hot (600F pipe) before closing the door and bypass and then the temp will steadily drop and hover at barely 300F for the bulk of the burn. We have burned a variety of hardwoods this season with measured water content ranging 13-17%.
We do plan to tear down the chimney and completely rebuild to code in the spring, but in the meantime I have several questions:
1) Can the draft issues and the low stove temps actually be attributed to the lack of flue insulation?
2) Is the negligent work grounds for reporting to CSIA? I’m suspicious there is a reason he was reluctant to come back.
3) Is there anything that can be done this season to improve operations so that we don’t have to shut down during windy periods? This is our primary heat source and operated 24/7 when possible. I’ve read some on baffle caps and automated dampers but there are very mixed opinions on both. Like I said, we absolutely do plan to rebuild in the spring but would like to make something work to get through this season.
