Major smoke all of the sudden????

[trailblaze]

been burning seasoned wood all winter soo far. last night i just could not get things started, smoked like crazy! Even with the ash pan door open i could not get external flue temps over 200. let the fire die and cleaned out the remaining crap today....

figured i'd try again today... same thing happened. i started with paper, fire starter and kiln dried wood splits. smoked the house out sooo bad my eyes are still burning.

I am thinking my chimney is plugged up, or the mesh on my cap is plugged. this all just happened overnight. one day, burning hot and fine, the next it's like cheech and chong are over here...

i've only went through 3 cords of wood... straight up 18 ft chimney of 6" double wall (4ft of single off stove).

WTF am i doing wrong????

 

[pen]

Depending on your burning habits, wood and style of cap you have it could be very probable that it is clogged. It sounds like it is time for a cleaning.

pen

 

[burntime]

I think pen hit it on the head. Sounds like a clogged cap.

 

[oconnor]

Agree with all above - we've read folks who had a chimney soot over in less than a weekend - just takes the right set of factors to line up just the wrong way.

Once you have a look at the flue, let us know what you see for buildup - that will help with the problem prevention next time.

 

[Dix]

You & me both. Happened in a day. Of course, putting the baffle manifold back in wrong after a cleaning of the stove, had alot to do with mine :roll:

Chimneys getting cleaned tomorrow morning.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

No doubt that chimney is plugged. It can happen that fast. One load will burn and the next load finishes plugging the chimney and then all you have is smoke in the house. The smoke has to go somewhere and it will, like water, find the easiest way to more.

trailblaze, you stated you are burning seasoned wood, but how do you know it was seasoned? How was it seasoned and for how long? Don't believe it is seasoned just because someone said it was. The longer I am around wood heat the more I am convinced that very, very few people really know what seasoned wood is. Therefore, buy or put up your wood so it has a couple years to dry and your problems will be almost over. You will also burn less wood and get more heat.

 

[North of 60]

Backwoods hit the nail on the head when it comes to seasoned wood. All my wood is either dead standing pine, spruce and poplar.
Even an extra year of seasoning with this stuff is a night and day difference with all aspects of the burn cycle and chimney maintenance.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

No doubt that chimney is plugged. It can happen that fast. One load will burn and the next load finishes plugging the chimney and then all you have is smoke in the house. The smoke has to go somewhere and it will, like water, find the easiest way to more.

trailblaze, you stated you are burning seasoned wood, but how do you know it was seasoned? How was it seasoned and for how long? Don't believe it is seasoned just because someone said it was. The longer I am around wood heat the more I am convinced that very, very few people really know what seasoned wood is. Therefore, buy or put up your wood so it has a couple years to dry and your problems will be almost over. You will also burn less wood and get more heat.

Yes he could be tapping into a portion of his pile that has some.........cough, cough......damp oak and plugged it real fast.
Your spot on about "the knowledge on dry wood"

WB