Everything's cooling down

[Cta2885]

Last year my wife and I purchased our first woodstove. Now I have grown up around them my whole life, but this one is my own. I went and bought a us stove wood burning stove. One of the smallest they have. With that I bought the duravent duraplus through the wall kit, as well as 3 foot sticks of triple wall ss pipe ( how many, I can't remember) but it was enough to make the proper clearances of the house, per code and manufacturer recommendations.
Upon starting fires I must go to the clean out and stuff newspapers into it light them close the clean out and let the whole chimney get super hot before I can light inside. Once it is going, it goes great. Then the mornings come when I come downstairs after a few hours of sleep, find half burnt smoldering logs still laying there. Upon investigation, I find that the single wall heading out of the stove is cold. No warmth to it at all. (Sometimes, smoke is just bellowing out of the stove). So I go get on boots head out and do the paper trick and it works fine. Sometimes while doing this weather it was snowing or not, I will have water laying in the base of my clean out. From the main pipe. Not from the cooling areas of triple wall. I do have a cap on the pipe, what could it be?

Do they make special caps to use for certain weathered areas? If not what should I try, I shouldn't have to keep doing the paper trick.


Thank you in advance

 

[begreen]

Exterior chimneys will be colder, but this sounds a bit extreme. Can you count up the 3 ft lengths and tell us how tall the outside chimney is? That will help with figuring out what is happening. Modern stoves need a lot more draft to pull out the smoke. Draft is the engine of the fire. It sounds like this stove's draft may be weak. What floor of the house is the stove located on?

 

[Cta2885]

I just counted and I have 6 sticks (3ft). The stove is located on our main floor, I have a basement, and an upstairs. I am trying to attach photos I just took so I apologize about the one of the chimney outside.

Also the pipe is 6"

 

[begreen]

Exterior chimneys can be balky. The two 90 degree turns are reducing the effective drat. Still, it should draft reasonably once warmed up. Have you tried top down lighting of the fire?

Watch the last video on this page for an example.
http://www.woodheat.org/wood-heat-videos.html

 

[Cta2885]

My wondering is, why would I have to preheat it per se with newspaper in the chimney instead of slowly burning kindling in the stove? And why is water getting into a slide and locked chimney?

 

[Cta2885]

Another weird thing, when I open my stove door, I have a cool backdraft coming in from the chimney

 

[stoveguy2esw]

negative pressure? competing flues? hmmm, is the flue pipe an insulated type not air cooled? install looks fine no worries on the sideways pic my friend , you aint the first .

I suppose it could be inversion from a cold flue, if you relight from coals after a burn before the flue completely cools does it light off better?

 

[jatoxico]

Another weird thing, when I open my stove door, I have a cool backdraft coming in from the chimney

You are experiencing an inversion. I have a little experience in this area, had it tonight. I used ahair dryer to get things headed in the right direction. In my case it's a transient problem and once corrected I typically have no issue. It sounds like you have a more systemic problem. Even a bit dangerous in that from what you describe as soon as the fire burns down you completly lose draft.

Inversion is often is a characteristic of basement installs (search stack effect). Since you say it is a first floor installation perhaps in your case it can be corrected by adding additional chimney. Maybe some of the guys with more installation experience will chime in?

 

[begreen]

Do you have a window cracked open upstairs, or an unsealed attic door or ceiling vent to the attic? These can cause negative pressure. So can an exhaust fan from a bathroom, kitchen, etc..

 

[Ashful]

Next time you observe the inversion, open a window in the room with the stove, and see if you can get it to reverse with kindling in the stove. There's a chance something else in your house (radon vent, dryer, range hood, leaky attic, etc.) is competing with your chimney, and the house is at a lower pressure than outside. Opening a window in the room with the stove should immediately relieve the pressure, and perhaps allow you to reverse the draft with some kindling heat.

If this works, then your permanent solution is an Outside Air Kit (OAK).

 

[stoveguy2esw]

whats up with the other chimney? is that a gas flue? does it stay running all the time? Its below the height of the woodstove flue but if its warm it could be competing and if it draws enough winning.

Joful kinda beat me to the punch

 

[jatoxico]

Next time you observe the inversion, open a window in the room with the stove, and see if you can get it to reverse with kindling in the stove. There's a chance something else in your house (radon vent, dryer, range hood, leaky attic, etc.) is competing with your chimney, and the house is at a lower pressure than outside. Opening a window in the room with the stove should immediately relieve the pressure, and perhaps allow you to reverse the draft with some kindling heat.

If this works, then your permanent solution is an Outside Air Kit (OAK).

From what the OP wrote this sounds like a constant issue, has to warm the pipe just to get the fire going and reverses after the fire burns down. From the picture that chimney doesn't look more than 13-14' to me.

 

[Cta2885]

The piping beside the chimney is for my gas furnace and hot water tank, the chimney total height is 19' 9" and sits roughly 5' above the other pipe, sorry angle of pic gives a weird illusion.

I have a range hood, bathroom vent, dryer vent. Is my furnace pulling the fresh air away from the stove being it sits in the basement directly below where the stove sits?

My stove is a Aps1100, which unfortunately does not have any connecting ability for an OAK. I am just frustrated with this, the wood I burn is easily seasoned two seasons. My neighbor is who I get it from and I help him cut and split. I just don't know what do to at this point

 

[Fireshoppe]

Yes it is an inversion based on cold chimney pipe. Try a Draw Collar and let us know the results. It will shut off when flue temps are high enough and turn back on when they fall below the useful range. (no afil) good luck

http://www.drawcollar.com/

 

[HotCoals]

Yes it is an inversion based on cold chimney pipe. Try a Draw Collar and let us know the results. It will shut off when flue temps are high enough and turn back on when they fall below the useful range. (no afil) good luck

http://www.drawcollar.com/

Never seen that before. Would be interesting to see if that would solve his draft problem without doing anything else.

 

[Cta2885]

I really am lost at what to do, weather an oak for my furnace or whatever would help? I do not know

 

[begreen]

The piping beside the chimney is for my gas furnace and hot water tank, the chimney total height is 19' 9" and sits roughly 5' above the other pipe, sorry angle of pic gives a weird illusion.

I have a range hood, bathroom vent, dryer vent. Is my furnace pulling the fresh air away from the stove being it sits in the basement directly below where the stove sits?

My stove is a Aps1100, which unfortunately does not have any connecting ability for an OAK. I am just frustrated with this, the wood I burn is easily seasoned two seasons. My neighbor is who I get it from and I help him cut and split. I just don't know what do to at this point

Did you try opening an adjacent window a little (maybe 1") to see if that improved flue draft? If yes, what was the result?

 

[HotCoals]

I really am lost at what to do, weather an oak for my furnace or whatever would help? I do not know

Well you could take that 90 out and try two 45's coming off the stove. I'm not sure it would be enough to solve the problem though..but it could help.

 

[HotCoals]

Well you could take that 90 out and try to 45's coming off the stove. I'm not sure it would be enough to solve the problem though..but it could help.

Is there a slight rise on the horizontal pipe going into the flue?

 

[Cta2885]

I have tried a slight crack and only sometimes does it work, depends if any part is warm or if it's completely cool.

And yes a very very slight rise, could that actually disrupt that much. It's at most maybe 1/4".

 

[HotCoals]

I have tried a slight crack and only sometimes does it work, depends if any part is warm or if it's completely cool.

And yes a very very slight rise, could that actually disrupt that much. It's at most maybe 1/4".

You want the rise and a 1/4" is ok i guess..a little more would not hurt.

 

[Cta2885]

Ok, so now my question is. To put more rise into the pipe id have to cut down my long pipe coming out of the stove. Is there any specific way I should do that so the slow will go into it?

 

[HotCoals]

Ok, so now my question is. To put more rise into the pipe id have to cut down my long pipe coming out of the stove. Is there any specific way I should do that so the slow will go into it?

Well if I were you and if I was going to do that I would get 2 45's and go from there.

 

[Fireshoppe]

Draft is achieved by hot air rising through the chimney pipe. Your chimney is and air cooled insulated hybrid that should not be used in your application because it will not hold heat inside the flue pipe very well. The fire in the stove has a natural cycle; high flames as the wood catches and begins to burn off the water; high heat output stage where the energy is converted into gasses and burned in the stove; charcoal which provides intense heat at first then begins to tail off.

You have to burn paper in your flue to begin the draft cycle. The heat from stage 1 and 2 maintain flue temps but as stage 3 starts to tail off your air cooled flue does what it is supposed to do (but what is not desired) and cannot sustain the draft because of too much heat loss in your exterior installation. So you need to supplement the heat loss and the Draw Collar is made to do just that. To start a fire you turn on the collar, it heats the stove pipe causing a draft to start. When the fire starts to tail off the Collar senses the low heat and turns back on increasing draft.

 

[Cta2885]

I guess I should save some money up for it then. They look to be pretty pricey for what they are?