Being that your chimney has been inspected, lengthened etc and now is what.. 26 feet? Your draft is fine. It is an issue with the stove almost 100%.
Draft Testing Question (re: backpuffing problem)
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The location could be the problem. Lots of very tall trees all around. If so, 26 feet might not be enough.
Perhaps, but my house is on the side of a mountain totally surrounded by huge trees and draft is fine. However, all situations are different. Breakout the chain saw...
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Beautiful. I take it that's Tennessee. I've been to the Jersey shore and it looks nothing like that.
The owners manual I received with the Princess only states that the draft should measure .02" wc or above with the stove at a medium burn.
No mention of a maximum draft that I could find. This seems very generous compared to what you posted about the Ashford. I hope it's a typo.
He has tall trees pretty close the the stack, other roof lines close(even though he meets the spec) and a mild climate. Who knows the house could even be in a low pressure area! The bricks are less than ideal, highbeam has even posted about too many of them creating a silly amount of smoke. I wish a member with good seasoned wood in the area would drop by and lend a hand.
One step at a time. Measure the draft and compare it to BK's spec.
My home is on a mountain side surrounded by trees also. VERY similar to yours. I have about 12' total pipe and no smoke spillage or draft problems at all other than a sluggish starting fire in cool weather. Makes no sense but it works.
I have about 20 ft of chimney and a very strong draft. And yet I originally did have a smoke smell problem. It was solved with help from the manufacturer, but it was very frustrating. Considering all that Parallax has already done, I'm not so sure it is just a draft problem. But with his determination and help from BK, I'm sure he will solve the problem.
I just don't buy it, those trees just are not going to make that much of a difference if at all. I have barely 15' of stack in the same mild region, live on a slope, rear vent stove, and I don't have any draft issues. I think you've done an admirable job at providing a vast array of information pertaining to your install as well as making modifications and eliminating a large number of possibilities. Again, I think in general far too many issues get blamed on wood/draft. I had first hand experience with burning issue being blamed on wood/draft. Once I got a better stove in place the wood/draft have proven to be excellent, as I believe is the case for you. Even when I have burned wet wood in ANY stove, it has never shown any greater chance of bringing smoke in the house as long as the door is shut.
Dealer says he's tested draft for other kinds of heating equipment but never for a wood stove. I guess that's why he seemed reluctant. I've ordered a flue probe so there will be something to plug up the hole with after he runs the test. He had suggested a bolt but that didn't sound like a great idea to me.
Does BK or any other manufacturer who use a dealer network prequalify their dealers and offer any technical training? Sounds like this BK dealer is in way over his head.
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No smoke smell in my room after loading 9 NEILS. The neighborhood got smoked out though for the next 24 hours. Good heat, long burn, too much smoke. Cordwood is nearly smoke free on low so I assume my cat is good.
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I'm not convinced either and tend to agree with you here. Everyone has supplied evidence to the contrary but simple logic doesn't side with their argument. There are so many factors in play, makes me just want to give up. Yet, at the end of the day, I want and need to burn wood and am not willing to save the money to live with this issue. Biting the bullet to increase draft and hoping this fixes the issue...
I feel for Parallax because he already has double wall and a ton of other things in place to fix it and is still struggling. Makes me wonder if this whole shoulder season, long and slow burning technique is meant for us mild winter peeps
Mix two pieces of cord wood with each load of manufactured fuel. Due to exceptionally low moisture content, the delayed ignitionyou are experieicing is most likely due to a rich firebox. Lean out the gases with some cord wood and it will help with the back puffing.
Still worried about where smoke smell is originating.
Chris
Still worried about where smoke smell is originating.
Chris
Thanks Chris. You're probably right about the pressed logs contributing to the backpuffing. But it seems like the box isn't getting enough air and the smoke smell comes and goes but never goes away entirely. Glad we're finally checking the draft. I hope you had a chance to speak with Dan. What sort of draft readings should we be looking for?
Is that the high burn spec? Is it assumed that if the chimney is good at high burn it's good at low burn?
From what I've read around here it seems to happen when the stoves are on the cooler side(lower burns) and the t-stat opens which brings the fire back to life. The draft at that point is weaker than it needs to be resulting in a build up of gas then a backpuff.
Have issues been seen where the draft meets spec for a high burn but still have low burn issues when the stack is cool?
Problem with someone coming in & measuring draft, is that it could be different the next day with changing weather & wind conditions or even different loads of fuel. But hopefully he can get you in the ballpark. It should be at or close to zero with no fire.
I also would not discount the effect all those trees could be having - prevailing winds & directions of them would play a big part there.
Hard to believe a stove dealer hasn't checked draft on a stove install before.
I also would not discount the effect all those trees could be having - prevailing winds & directions of them would play a big part there.
Hard to believe a stove dealer hasn't checked draft on a stove install before.
It's not hard to believe. It's very rare for a chimney to just not work. Our store hasn't needed to for 43 years that I'm aware of.
Still boggles my mind.
Take the case above, where the stove manufacturer specs 0.04-0.06. What happens when a new stove operator hooks that up to a chimney that pulls 0.1-0.2? Mine will go over 0.3 with a good fire + wind gusts.
Take the case above, where the stove manufacturer specs 0.04-0.06. What happens when a new stove operator hooks that up to a chimney that pulls 0.1-0.2? Mine will go over 0.3 with a good fire + wind gusts.
So with it being so rare, why is chimney always the #2 go-to solution anytime someone comes along with a wood-burning issue ?
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