Lots of ash/unburnt coals not much heat. The company says I'm outta luck

[Lsingle]

I have a smartstove w01. I am having issues getting a ton of heat and I am having issues with coals building up. My wood is dry. My set goes like this

2.5ft 6in double wall pipe running straight out of the stove vertical.
1 double wall 90 elbow
1.5ft of double wall horizontal then goes another 1.5 through my wall as a single wall pipe into a 6in flexible stainless steel liner that runs the length of my outside masonry chimney.
The chimney is 23 feet from where it meets my stove pipe to the top of the chimney. Above the masonry chimney I have a 2.5ft stainless steel extension to get my over the peak of my roof.

The outside air hook up is attached by a 4in flexible dryer vent that runs roughly 10 feet from the outside to the back of the stove.

The two ceramic plates over the burners inside the woodstove are pulled slightly forward to allow more heat to go up the flue. If the plates are slid back blocking the flue but allowing for better secondary burn they stove gets hot but dies out very quickly and I am left with a ton of ash.

My chimney originally started as just a masonry chimney on the outside of my house that ran 23ft and stopped at the peak of the house. The company told me to run a liner and add some pipe to get it over the peak. This has helped but I am still getting a lot of ash and medium heat. I am okay with the heat but the coal is a pain in the butt. Every morning I have to dump 4 gallons of coals.

After I did all this to the chimney the company said i was out of options that's the best that stove can do because my chimney is on the outside of the house and the air is cooling down before it gets a chance to escape the chimney. This has been a 3 month aggrevation and a lot of money has now been put into it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[weatherguy]

You say your wood is dry, is this with a moisture meter? Also instead of a 90 you could put 2 45s to help with draft

 

[Lsingle]

I was thinking about the 45s but where I would put the 45 at it would eliminate 1.5ft of horizontal run but also eliminate 1.5ft of straight vertical run. Is losing the 1.5 vertical run going to be okay?

 

[trguitar]

Lots of coals sounds like wet wood. That's very typical of wet wood. What is the moisture content of the wood, and how are you measuring it? What kind of wood is it? What are the stove top temperatures throughout the burn?

We need more info.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

That looks like 8 inch pipe , try 6 inch insulated. Also try KNOWN dry wood. See if it makes any difference. I get plenty of heat from coals.

 

[Gearhead660]

I have a smartstove w01. I am having issues getting a ton of heat and I am having issues with coals building up. My wood is dry. My set goes like this

2.5ft 6in double wall pipe running straight out of the stove vertical.
1 double wall 90 elbow
1.5ft of double wall horizontal then goes another 1.5 through my wall as a single wall pipe into a 6in flexible stainless steel liner that runs the length of my outside masonry chimney.
The chimney is 23 feet from where it meets my stove pipe to the top of the chimney. Above the masonry chimney I have a 2.5ft stainless steel extension to get my over the peak of my roof.

The outside air hook up is attached by a 4in flexible dryer vent that runs roughly 10 feet from the outside to the back of the stove.

The two ceramic plates over the burners inside the woodstove are pulled slightly forward to allow more heat to go up the flue. If the plates are slid back blocking the flue but allowing for better secondary burn they stove gets hot but dies out very quickly and I am left with a ton of ash.

My chimney originally started as just a masonry chimney on the outside of my house that ran 23ft and stopped at the peak of the house. The company told me to run a liner and add some pipe to get it over the peak. This has helped but I am still getting a lot of ash and medium heat. I am okay with the heat but the coal is a pain in the butt. Every morning I have to dump 4 gallons of coals.

After I did all this to the chimney the company said i was out of options that's the best that stove can do because my chimney is on the outside of the house and the air is cooling down before it gets a chance to escape the chimney. This has been a 3 month aggrevation and a lot of money has now been put into it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Is the flex liner insulated?
Don't like the OAK coming down, could reverse draft. Have you tried disconnecting it and seeing the results?

 

[coaly]

"add liner to get it over the peak" ??
Is the liner insulated from bottom to top with no exposed liner at the top?
Need pictures of this chimney.
Put the plates where they are supposed to go for proper combustion. Correct the draft.

Using 45* els and angled pipe allows less resistance and higher velocity of rising gasses equalling higher net draft. Cooling gasses before exiting chimney decreases net draft much more than slightly less resistance to flow inside.

 

[brenndatomu]

I am okay with the heat but the coal is a pain in the butt. Every morning I have to dump 4 gallons of coals.

Rake the coals to the front, then burn some pine or some other "light" wood on the coal pile...gives you more heat and some time to burn the coals down without adding to them.

 

[tadmaz]

OAK looks really ghetto, sorry to say.

 

[coaly]

I get a "Say goodbye to rodents" ad picturing two mice between those comments. I can picture mice running up and down that corrugated pipe . Is there a screen outside?

 

[Ludlow]

Wood isnt seasoned long enough for that stove. Newer stoves need 3 years dry.

 

[wagne223]

1. Place the baffle all the way to the rear as the manufacturer designed it. The way you are running it, secondary combustion cannot occur efficiently, which reduces heat output, and you are allowing any heat you do make to go up the flue instead of staying in the fire box.

2. OAK is not sopossed to be higher then the stove.

3. Verify your wood moisture by bringing in a split and allow it to reach room temp. For 24 hrs. Then resplit it and put you MM on the fresh face.

 

[Ashful]

2. OAK is not sopossed to be higher then the stove. It essentially becomes a chimney like that and causes draft issues.

Your first statement is correct, this is not a legal hookup of an OAK. But your reasoning is not correct, this is a safety issue, not necessarily a performance issue. Even if the entire rig is air-tight, all that OAK is doing to performance is reducing the effective chimney by the height of the OAK.

Is that stainless liner insulated top to bottom? If so, what type of insulation? You should have plenty of draft with your height, barring any unusual unique circumstances. But an uninsulated liner in an exterior stack can indeed have issues with cooling exhaust on the way out, at any lower burn rates.

 

[wagne223]

Your first statement is correct, this is not a legal hookup of an OAK. But your reasoning is not correct, this is a safety issue, not necessarily a performance issue. Even if the entire rig is air-tight, all that OAK is doing to performance is reducing the effective chimney by the height of the OAK.

Is that stainless liner insulated top to bottom? If so, what type of insulation? You should have plenty of draft with your height, barring any unusual unique circumstances. But an uninsulated liner in an exterior stack can indeed have issues with cooling exhaust on the way out, at any lower burn rates.

Copy that, my OAK reply was based on other complaint threads that I have read. I do not have any experience with OAK use.
Not trying to spread bad info.

 

[Lsingle]

The liner is not insulated. The 8 by 8 masonry chimney would not fit a insulated liner. The OAK is that high because the stove is in the basement and below grade so I gotta get the oak above the dirt.
It doesn't seem to make a difference if the Oak is connected or not other then the house heats more evenly with it attached.

The stove runs great when the flue is around 600 degrees but once it falls under 450 the stove dies very quickly and leaves me with a lot of coals.

If I run it with the plates all the way back I can't get the flue hot enough to keep drawing. The fire dies out very fast and I'm left with a lot of coals. If the plate is pulled forward the flue gets good and hot a draws very well and im left with less coals but also I don't get the heat out of the stove.

I'm going to buy a moisture meter today. The wood has been seasoning for over a year and was standing dead when we cut it. It was not rotten.

 

[Highbeam]

The stove runs great when the flue is around 600 degrees but once it falls under 450 the stove dies very quickly and leaves me with a lot of coals.

We have to assume this flue temperature you are stating is from a probe meter since you have double wall and since the numbers are so high. 600 flue temperature is right in the middle of the "normal" range. That's what you want and that's probably why you are happy with the performance when the flue temps are up there where they are supposed to be on a noncat.

So why aren't you able to get your flue temperatures up? Wet wood is most likely candidate. Then your split size. This stove should be taking 3-5" splits as measured as the longest dimension on the butt end. Stack loosely.

What we don't know is if this goofy smart stove is trying get smart with you and screwing up what would otherwise be a good burn.

Definitely put the baffle boards back where they belong.

 

[Lsingle]

I just checked my wood. The pieces outside on the wood pile. The highest number I got was 18 with most at 16 0r 17. That's splitting it open. The pieces that have been inside since last night next to the stove, split open are at 15. Does seem to bad

 

[jetsam]

OAK looks really ghetto, sorry to say.

It's dangerous; it needs to be below the firebox at all points.

After the OAK is fixed, I'd look to your wood supply. Get a couple cords of softwood split, stacked, and covered now (your area should have pine). It will be ready for next year, and your coal problems will be gone.

You'll never have long burns out of that stove but you should be able to get good heat.

You may also want to consider getting a manometer. I don't think your draft should be awful (the elbows and the horizontals are bad, but 26' of insulated vertical should be able to overcome that). The manometer would let you see if it's okay or not.

 

[bholler]

I just checked my wood. The pieces outside on the wood pile. The highest number I got was 18 with most at 16 0r 17. That's splitting it open. The pieces that have been inside since last night next to the stove, split open are at 15. Does seem to bad

How are you testing the wood? Once you split it open? Your symptoms really sound like wet wood. The uninsulated liner isn't helping any either. And what type of wall does that single wall pipe pass through?



And yes everyone is right about the air intake. Running it up like that is unsafe

 

[Lsingle]

I checked it with a moisture meter. Split the wood open and jammed the probes into the wood what percentage should dry would be at. I was told under 20 is good.

The manufacturer told me to install it that way. Since the stove is below grade the oak line has no other choice but to be ran up inorder to get it to fresh air.

 

[bholler]

I checked it with a moisture meter. Split the wood open and jammed the probes into the wood what percentage should dry would be at. I was told under 20 is good.

The manufacturer told me to install it that way. Since the stove is below grade the oak line has no other choice but to be ran up inorder to get it to fresh air.

Where did you push the points in on the wood?

Yes below 20% is correct so if your readings are accurate the wood isn't the issue. But I am skeptical that they are. It doesn't make sense that the wood from inside would be that much dryer.

 

[Lsingle]

Where did you push the points in on the wood?

Yes below 20% is correct so if your readings are accurate the wood isn't the issue. But I am skeptical that they are. It doesn't make sense that the wood from inside would be that much dryer.

I am jamming them into the the side of the wood that was just split.

 

[bholler]

I am jamming them into the the side of the wood that was just split.

Ok that is the correct way to do it. Do you get any hissing from the wood or moisture coming out of the end?

 

[brenndatomu]

I am jamming them into the the side of the wood that was just split.

And in the middle of the fresh split face, pins parallel to the grain?

 

[Todd]

The liner is not insulated. The 8 by 8 masonry chimney would not fit a insulated liner. The OAK is that high because the stove is in the basement and below grade so I gotta get the oak above the dirt.
It doesn't seem to make a difference if the Oak is connected or not other then the house heats more evenly with it attached.

The stove runs great when the flue is around 600 degrees but once it falls under 450 the stove dies very quickly and leaves me with a lot of coals.

If I run it with the plates all the way back I can't get the flue hot enough to keep drawing. The fire dies out very fast and I'm left with a lot of coals. If the plate is pulled forward the flue gets good and hot a draws very well and im left with less coals but also I don't get the heat out of the stove.

I'm going to buy a moisture meter today. The wood has been seasoning for over a year and was standing dead when we cut it. It was not rotten.

I use to have an outside chimney like yours and tried lining it without insulation because it wouldn't fit so I ended up stuffing rockwool insulation down as far as I could beneath the cap. This helped keep an insulated air space between the top and bottom of the liner and improved my draft.

Outside chimney can cool down fast and reduce draft once the wood off gassing slows down. Once your flue temps start dropping your chimney cools to the point where it doesn't pull hard enough to burn down the coaling stage.