Ideal steel hybrid draft

[nastyn8]

I have an ideal steel hybrid stove that is installed in my basement. I love the stove and seems to work pretty well except i get smoke spillage when i reload and after i scrape ashes into ash pan the top of stove will be coated with ashes. I also experience backpuffing if the air is set at 1/4 of the way open. It is rather neat to watch however i dont care for the smoke smell lol.
My setup is as follows, i have 2 feet of single wall pipe attached to top of stove then 2 45's which connect to the snout of a T then im guessing 18 feet of insulated chimney liner. The chimney is located inside the house.
So im thinking that the chimney draft is probably marginal so I looked In the manual for the stove and it states " Ideally this draft is between .04 -.07 inches water column when there is no fire in the stove. So i hooked up my dwyer mark 2 manometer and have .03 inches of water column. I called Woodstock and the person i talked to had no idea about anything i was saying.
So i guess my questions are
1. I have the manometer hooked up to the stove pipe approx. 1 foot above the stove. The manometer has the red fuild in there and is level. I tried it with the stoves air control opened and closed but didnt notice a difference. Am I doing this correct?
2. Say i am doing the draft test correct, do you think adding pipe to top of chimney create enough draft? If not, what are my options?

This stove keeps our house 70 ish degrees and burn times are great. I just dont like the smoke spillage and the amount of ash that is spewed out. Maybe i am nit-picking but let me hear your thoughts or experiencences with this stove or similar situations. Thanks

 

[bholler]

I have an ideal steel hybrid stove that is installed in my basement. I love the stove and seems to work pretty well except i get smoke spillage when i reload and after i scrape ashes into ash pan the top of stove will be coated with ashes. I also experience backpuffing if the air is set at 1/4 of the way open. It is rather neat to watch however i dont care for the smoke smell lol.
My setup is as follows, i have 2 feet of single wall pipe attached to top of stove then 2 45's which connect to the snout of a T then im guessing 18 feet of insulated chimney liner. The chimney is located inside the house.
So im thinking that the chimney draft is probably marginal so I looked In the manual for the stove and it states " Ideally this draft is between .04 -.07 inches water column when there is no fire in the stove. So i hooked up my dwyer mark 2 manometer and have .03 inches of water column. I called Woodstock and the person i talked to had no idea about anything i was saying.
So i guess my questions are
1. I have the manometer hooked up to the stove pipe approx. 1 foot above the stove. The manometer has the red fuild in there and is level. I tried it with the stoves air control opened and closed but didnt notice a difference. Am I doing this correct?
2. Say i am doing the draft test correct, do you think adding pipe to top of chimney create enough draft? If not, what are my options?

This stove keeps our house 70 ish degrees and burn times are great. I just dont like the smoke spillage and the amount of ash that is spewed out. Maybe i am nit-picking but let me hear your thoughts or experiencences with this stove or similar situations. Thanks

Yes adding height will increase draft. If you are at -.03 you need a little more. You could start by checking for any air leaks in the pipe or chimney. Do.you have a clean out? If so it it sealed well?

 

[kennyp2339]

Not arguing about having minimal draft, but when testing you need to have an established fire going with the stove running at its high setting.

 

[nastyn8]

Yes adding height will increase draft. If you are at -.03 you need a little more. You could start by checking for any air leaks in the pipe or chimney. Do.you have a clean out? If so it it sealed well?

Thanks for the reply, i will check for leaks. I have never seen a clean out on the chimney itself. The liner has a cleanout cap but it is s screwed on

 

[nastyn8]

Yes kennyp that is what I thought the procedure was to test with a fire. I will test it with a fire in a few days. I shut the stove down to clean chimney and we have other things going on.

 

[bholler]

Yes kennyp that is what I thought the procedure was to test with a fire. I will test it with a fire in a few days. I shut the stove down to clean chimney and we have other things going on.

That is absolutely correct if you were at -.03 with no fire you probably have excessive draft

 

[Hoytman]

I read it twice and couldn’t find where he said he had -.03 with “no fire”. Maybe I need to read it again.

 

[Highbeam]

That is absolutely correct if you were at -.03 with no fire you probably have excessive draft

I thought he wrote that Woodstock’s instructions specifically said “when there is no fire in the stove”. Do you think their owner’s manual is wrong?

 

[Hoytman]

Yes kennyp that is what I thought the procedure was to test with a fire. I will test it with a fire in a few days. I shut the stove down to clean chimney and we have other things going on.

I don’t think this necessarily says he got -.03 without a fire. At least it does match his description further up. Not arguing, just trying to get the specifics straight.

 

[Hoytman]

I thought he wrote that Woodstock’s instructions specifically said “when there is no fire in the stove”. Do you think their owner’s manual is wrong?

Ok...I see that now. Maybe he did test without a fire. Yes, he did write the manual said “no fire” and “-.04 to -.07”.

Seems odd to me.

 

[bholler]

I thought he wrote that Woodstock’s instructions specifically said “when there is no fire in the stove”. Do you think their owner’s manual is wrong?

I am not saying woodstock's manual is wrong but I don't see how a chimney could possibly get -.04 to -.07 with no fire. I think it is either a misprint or a misunderstanding. That number would at minimum triple with a fire which would put their draft spec way above any other stove I have seen

 

[nastyn8]

Yes i tested with no fire and have -.02 to -.03. I wondered if it was a misprint in the manual. The material i reference is on page 26 of the manual for the ideal steel. Maybe i will check the other manuals for stoves and see what i can find. I appreciate everyone's advice and ill keep posting when i get numbers with a fire.