Just Finished Install - Couple Questions

[thebeatlesrgood]

I finally got my englander 30-NC setup, and this thing can really throw out the heat. the boiler hasnt kicked on for over 30 hours and it has kept my 2700 square foot house 65 except for the room its in which is 90* :coolsmile: . im gunna throw some duct fans in and spread the heat around and i should be able to get the house to 70 and the room to 80 or so (because the room the stove is in is a 25 x25 cathedral room and about 1/3 the cubic feet of the whole house.) i also set up my 5x8 trailer in the garage with over a cord of wood in there or about 3-4 weeks worth(it'll be helpful when im feeling lazy and dont feel up to deeling with snow...or shoes ;-P )

just want to say thank you everyone for all of the invaluable information i have gathered from this site, you guys ahh wicked smaaahhht . i just need to exploit you guys a little more for a few questions about what i have encountered so far.

1. when i get the stove roaring at about 550-600* i figured the stack temp would be about 450-500* but it hasnt. not even close. im lucky if i hit 250* with my magnetic stove thermometer. the thermometer has been tested in the oven and is pretty accurate +- 50*. is this low temperature an indication that i could have creosote problems down the road, or would i only get the numbers im looking for if i had a probe type thermometer?

2. i have about 5 feet of stovepipe before it hits the chimney pipe with 2 adjustable 90's (with lots of seems) and 4 connection seems. i lit a cigarette to test if air is being sucked in through the seems or slowly leaking CO / smoke. well it didnt suck in the smoke so i was kind of worried about the outcome of the test. then today i had smothered the flame when i reloaded so i pulled the damper out all the way. you could see the embers tryna catch. after about 20 seconds they suddenly caught and a little plume of smoke came out of one of the seems. should i be worried? is this an indication that smoke is constantley seeping out of the seems? i didnt add furnace cement or hi temp gasket on any of the seems so i could sweep the chimney without going on the roof. should i use some cement or gasket to seal the joints??

p.s. my dog's funny

 

[snowtime]

You do not say the full height of chimney. My thoughts are chimney joints do not leak unless you have poor fit, poor draft, high winds, or when first starting fire and you do not have a draft going yet. Do you normally have good draft? Do you leave the door open an inch to help get the fire going? You can seal the joints and the cement will just crack and fall off when you want to take it apart to clean. Good draft is the part of the installation that makes the stove work well and just makes your burning much more pleasurable. You might need an extra 2 or 3' of stove pipe but I am getting ahead as we do not know what you have.
If you burned green wood you might have a plugged chimney cap. Go outside with binoculars and look at your chimney.
Some Englander users will come along.

 

[thebeatlesrgood]

thanks for the reply. the overall height of the system is about 15 feet of stove/chimney pipe. i have great draft. when i fill the stove, even with the damper all the way in, it can still sail to about 500*. you make a good point about the draft though. when the fire was out and embers were just sitting that translated to very low draft. when the fire suddenly caught the surge of draft going from none to high probably created a lot of pressure and a little smoke leaked out. other than that time ive never seen any smoke leak out so it was probably just from the surge in pressure. i need to buy some CO detectors anyway, and that should conclusively tell me whether i have a problem with leaking gases.

any ideas on the stack temps. is 250 reasonable without a probe thermometer or should i have higher temps?

 

[North of 60]

Cant tell from your pics. Is your stove pipe double wall or single wall that your surface thermometer is sitting on?