Flame getting sucked into flue....

[dtabor]

THis has come up in a previous post but Im wondering about it.....

When I load the stove up full and leave the air open, if I dont keep an eye on it, when the load of wood catches, the flame gets sucked right into the stovepipe to the point of glowing a couple times when I hadnt noticed it.

My stove pipe comes 90* out of back of stove for a couple feet, maybe 3 or so then 90* straight up and out about 20' or so. Its that first section that takes the hit. When not full, it does not do this, its only when the flame is up right by the damper opening. Ive opened the top and could see the fire being sucked in.

Chimney has been checked and no buildup and no obvious sign of a chimney fire happening.

If I close the damper on the stove, it stops this. While the damper is closed, I close up the primary air and then can open the damper and let it finish charring etc without the above problem recurring. Ive tried just closing off the air but its like the process has started so doesnt seem to slow it down fast enough.

Note: while this is happening, the stovetop temp is between 5-600* so not a runaway. Its usually just before I want to damper down anyway.

Hope Im making sense with my ramblings

 

[offroadaudio]

My Quad does this also - but I try to keep aggressive flames like that to a minimum, only because it wastes fuel.
Also, those flames are not as hot as the secondaries that I get latter in the cycle, so I don't think they are cause for concern.

 

[dtabor]

I usually can keep an eye on it getting ready for work etc but at times Ive come back and its occurring. I didnt even notice the glowing pipe one night until I went into the room and the light was off so saw the pipe was dull red. That was the scary part.

 

[Gooserider]

Glowing is bad in general, but this type of issue is probably less of a problem than most other sorts of over-firing. As long as it isn't a regular occurence, I wouldn't worry about it tremendously, though it's worth avoiding.

If you can close the damper and get the stove to go into Everburn mode then I would say do so and don't worry about whether the load has fully charred or not. I know that with my Cat Encore, if I'm reloading on a good coal bed (griddle top in the 3-400 range or higher) I will generally leave my air set where it is, and close the bypass w/in about 5 minutes or less after loading - I can't hear if the cat is kicked in or not, but if the griddle is that hot the cat must be as hot or hotter, and able to light off quickly - I'm generally burning with barely visible smoke...

Gooserider