My stove thought it was puff the magic dragon last night

[They Call Me Pete]

I got a BIG down draft at 2AM that filled living room and now house smells like smoke. Windows have been open since it happened(luckily it's warm outside) but was wondering if any of you have any tricks to help further the smell.

 

[ROYJ24]

OPEN DOOR

 

[savageactor7]

Sorry to hear about that Pete...other than airing out the house I'm stumped. I take it you have fans running inside to increase the airflow?

 

[Techstuf]

I'll tell you one thing from experience, it's good to have an electrostatic air cleaner if you have a wood stove, for smoke, and fine ash. I currently use a Blueair 301 model as my television screen was proving just not up to the task. lol.


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Also, about the puffing incident, does it happen very often? Mine did it a few times in the past before I installed an autodraft controller, works great by increasing chimney upflow


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TS

 

[karri0n]

Techstuff, is that the same thing as those old Sharper image Ionic breeze units?

 

[Techstuf]

Oh no. It is a three speed HEPA/electrostatic combo....a serious unit. Works dandy, although I'm sure there are numerous alternatives out there nowadays!

 

[karri0n]

But, by electrostatic, you're talking about the same principle as those, right?

 

[They Call Me Pete]

Windows have been open for a long time. I'm sure over the next couple of days it'll air out. I just hope it hasn't gotten into the couches/ect.

 

[Techstuf]

Same principle only working in tandem with a filter. In my house, I needed a unit with larger throughput.


TS

 

[leaf4952]

Also, about the puffing incident, does it happen very often? Mine did it a few times in the past before I installed an autodraft controller, works great by increasing chimney upflow[/size]


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TS[/quote]

Very interesting, this looks like a damper but situated before the bend in the elbow rather than on the straight-up section. I'd like to know how this works better than a regular damper (physics-wise). I don't have a problem with these drafts unless I'm trying to start my stove during a windy storm if my stove is already completely cold. I think it has something to do with the updraft not being already established, in progress, & strong to counter act the actions of rogue winds. It's kinda a good argument for not letting your stove go cold...keep it burning. I'm wondering if the creator of this topic/inquiry has the recommended chimney cap with the spiral rotating thingie on the top which helps prevent downdrafts. I got 25ft of stainless steel stovepipe & that fancy cap installed for just a few hundred dollars. It's given me great peace of mind.

 

[Techstuf]

Yeah, mine's installed directly above the stove, then stovepipe from there up. Those who have alot of chimney to travel, or large burn boxes, this simply inducts more air up the chimney for a healthy upflow that's less dominated by winds at the chimney mouth. Less likely to get an aeroelastic reverb started, or maintained.


TS

 

[pyro68]

Delayed ignition is something normally related to a gas unit, but it is possible and fairly common in woodstoves w/ secondary burn tubes. The gases from the wood are being "re-burned" by introducing oxyegen through the burn tubes, if this process stops and gases build up in the stove, downdraft or just poor draft (chim not hot enough) the gases can ignite when the stove does pull air through the tubes. The stove fills with gas and ignites, sometimes even causing a small "boom" and smoke puffs out into the room. I've had it happen to my Leyden strong enough to lift the top load lid on the stove. I've tried several things and typically see this if it's not real cold out, and I turn the stove down before I have a hot enough fire going. Not a real good explanation, but maybe the phrase "something like that" applies here

 

[pyro68]

actually missed the part about the smell. I usually tell my wife she has to bake lots of cookies & pies to help get rid of the smoke smell. . . . ;-P

 

[Techstuf]

And to think, all this time I've settled for artificial smoke flavoring in my cookies.


Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Now she'll start to put Ash filler in 'em fer sure....


TS

 

[They Call Me Pete]

TS[/quote]
I'm wondering if the creator of this topic/inquiry has the recommended chimney cap with the spiral rotating thingie on the top which helps prevent downdrafts. I got 25ft of stainless steel stovepipe & that fancy cap installed for just a few hundred dollars. It's given me great peace of mind.[/quote]

No, I don't but this is the first time it's ever happened. Burn over 6 months last year with no problems. I called a local stove shop asking about a different cap to help with down drafts and he said on warm/wet days there is low static pressure(I think) and draft isn't very good plus add a lot of wind spells bad news. I'll probably invest in a new cap at some point but if it get cold and stays cold I'll have no problem. Makes it hard to justify the $150 for the cap. I'm going to search around on-line to see if I can get a better deal.

 

[Techstuf]

The autodraft controller shown above that I got was 15 bucks and automatically adjusts the intake depending on how much air you feed your stove. It increases the updraft quite a bit, and I haven't had a problem since. I don't use a spinning turbine cap on my chimney, just a grate.


TS

 

[leaf4952]

Delayed ignition is something normally related to a gas unit, but it is possible and fairly common in woodstoves w/ secondary burn tubes. The gases from the wood are being "re-burned" by introducing oxyegen through the burn tubes, if this process stops and gases build up in the stove, downdraft or just poor draft (chim not hot enough) the gases can ignite when the stove does pull air through the tubes. The stove fills with gas and ignites, sometimes even causing a small "boom" and smoke puffs out into the room. I've had it happen to my Leyden strong enough to lift the top load lid on the stove. I've tried several things and typically see this if it's not real cold out, and I turn the stove down before I have a hot enough fire going. Not a real good explanation, but maybe the phrase "something like that" applies here

Jeez, I'm dazzled by your tech talk ! But I'm actually not making fun of you . . . what you are saying makes some physical logical sense. I think the deciding factors here would have to be the overall set-up of pipe exiting the stove amongst other factors. Is the stove a double chamber or a straight-up from the top of the stove, is it a one or two elbow turner, how high up does it go till it exits the chimney top, how high up is the highest level of living space in the house compared to where the stove is located, are there any open windows anywhere in the house that may be even halfway above the halfway point of the stovepipes full height.
Updraft is a far stronger fact of life than people appreciate. Your house itself becomes "part of the stove". It's like your whole house is a lung. I did not understand household wood burning stoves for over a year, until I realized they are just a small scale version of the kilns I'd studied in at the ceramics university I went to (Alfred). Most of the kilns I actually fired were large walk-in gas kilns so the whole updraft thing was not something I thought about or needed to understood compared to temp control thru simply turning up or down the gas or adjusting the air holes. But one time I had to build a small earthbound woodburning hillside kiln as a course requirement and actually make it work & get up to temp to fire earthenware and suddenly updraft was my very BIG friend. I then understood the chimney height/air tightness concept ! In kiln design class I studied and admired the hillside kilns of Korea which were very rudimentary chambers lined upward on a hill...very basic design based on . . . UPDRAFT ! Modern stove or kiln design has all this incorporaed into the design but the people buy, install, & use them in their homes without understanding their house becomes part of the "LUNG". The stove should be on the bottom level and no windows should be open above the stovepipe halfway point until you really know your circumstances and your stove. Don't ask me why I did not immediatly apply these ideas 30yrs later to my woodstove in my first home. . . too many drugs in the 80's ? I don't know !

 

[leaf4952]

TS

I'm wondering if the creator of this topic/inquiry has the recommended chimney cap with the spiral rotating thingie on the top which helps prevent downdrafts. I got 25ft of stainless steel stovepipe & that fancy cap installed for just a few hundred dollars. It's given me great peace of mind.[/quote]

No, I don't but this is the first time it's ever happened. Burn over 6 months last year with no problems. I called a local stove shop asking about a different cap to help with down drafts and he said on warm/wet days there is low static pressure(I think) and draft isn't very good plus add a lot of wind spells bad news. I'll probably invest in a new cap at some point but if it get cold and stays cold I'll have no problem. Makes it hard to justify the $150 for the cap. I'm going to search around on-line to see if I can get a better deal.[/quote]

Wow, in Northeast PA any salesman in a stove shop would throw in their mother if they felt it would close a sale of even a themometer. It's good that your shop has not got pushy sales people.

 

[pyro68]

LOL leaf, actually just trying to remember what the tech's at Travis Ind. told me so I could repeat it somewhat intellegently, jury's still out! Only caution with a windbeater cap is they are designed to help in cases of WIND induced downdraft, probably would not help with just poor draft, neg. pressure ect. If someone is not burning thier stove hot enough, they can get tremendous build up of creosote on the cap very quickly. Which reminds me, check the cap anyway, if enough creosote builds up on the cap that can block the draft enough to cause strange things to happen.