Need Help With Smoke Leaking Into Home
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Agreed. But we have ways around it even with a sloppy flue collar.
blacktail
Minister of Fire
I didn't read the whole threadthread, I don't have a cat stove, and I'm not a pro. But our weather recently, and for much of the winter, has been the kind that makes for crappy drafting. My stove wants to puff smoke when I open the door now. My dad (who lives just a few miles away) was recently complaining about the same thing. Both of us have done a mid season chimney cleaning recently too. This damp, 50 degree weather makes stoves extra temperamental.
That's not bad looking. A bit like an air filter cover on a carbureted 66 Impala but interesting and it doesn't seem to be subject to the kinds of problems one might have with one that spins. Would love to know more about how well it works. Will research it.Here is one that a person on the other site raved about. He said it improved the performance of his stove dramatically. He lives on the shoreline of a windy bay. I have no personal experience with it.
StormShield Model STS
Was just looking at it online. Seems to be to protect from wind and rain. Not sure that it would increase draft. Does anyone know. Looks like a variation on the vacu stack.
So combine that fact with the fact that the OP had previously been burning green wood, and has not fine-tuned his technique for clean burning with a new stove. I suspect he ALSO needs a mid-season flue cleaning, perhaps in a big way!
Here is a suggestion, Parallax: since you say your dealer is not really a wood-heat expert, it might make sense to seek out a highly experienced chimney sweep. He could not only inspect and clean your flue, he could inspect the entire system and throw in his two cents as to what HE thinks the root problem(s) might be, and how best to proceed. Maybe you can get lucky and find a local sweep who has experience servicing BK cat stoves!
Before you seek out devices to increase draft, I really think you need to measure the draft, and ideally get an expert opinion on WHY you are seemingly suffering poor draft.
If you do get a sweep to clean the flue, he could probably also measure the draft while evaluating all the variables in your setup.
Not a bad idea. I know a good chimney sweep. Had considered having him install the stove. Didn't because he wasn't a BK dealer. My dealer recently saw the inside of the stove pipe when he added a four foot section. He said it looks pretty clean. But I could definitely bring him in to get another opinion. Will give him a call.
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
blacktail
Minister of Fire
Webby, here are some photos. First is of the whole run from stove to ceiling. Then of the collar, the connection between the top and bottom sections and then the plate at the ceiling. Let me know if this is what you were looking for. (Sorry they're rotated; I'm obviously incompetent with a phone camera.) [By the way, the splotchy paint is my fault; touched up with the wrong tone of black stovebright. Will fix next summer.]
alforit
Feeling the Heat
I used a flexible stove vent sealant on my stove pipe adapter . its nice cause it wont crack from contracting and expanding and its good up to 1100 F and continuous at 900 F
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Would you have a link to one you would recommend? I looked up the one you mentioned earlier but it appeared to be an adaptor to go into the box on the ceiling.
Yes, fans are off. It gets worse when the fans are on. Blows the smoke into the room.
If the top is off, does it look like that adaptor is seated good on the flue collar? Is the adaptor double wall like the rest of the pipe? It should have a label one it.
The dealer's guy is out here now. He says the adaptor is seated good, that it is double wall and he showed me the label. Says the pipe is Selkirk and so is the adaptor. Says nothing can be done about the screw holes because they're not in the adaptor but the pipe that sits on top. There's no section of pipe specifically designed to mate to the adaptor without the screw holes and he says there are no screws short enough to go in without piercing the inner stainless liner and creating more holes for smoke to escape.
How does this all sound to you, Webby?
The OAK wasn't blocked but the stove does appear to be running better without it. This is all very preliminary. Still checking it out and will have to do so under different atmospheric conditions. But it's running well at a lower t-stat setting with less smoke coming out the chimney. Trying to throttle it down so there's no fire in the box and see if it runs smoke free. Will have to see if it helps with the smoke in the house. For that, I'll need my wife's nose and maybe a week or two.
This was the next step. If it doesn't help or doesn't help enough, I'll ask him to measure the draft. Will have to order a flue probe to give us a reason to put a hole in the stove pipe.
maple1
Minister of Fire
Stop waiting & putting off measuring the draft - just do it. Under all fire conditions, and ideally under varying outside conditions. Without doing that, it is like grasping at straws. Or chasing your tail. Or chasing straws while grasping your tail. Or something like that.
Something else to try while you're doing what you're doing now, is crack a window on the side of the house opposite to the OAK intake.
Something else to try while you're doing what you're doing now, is crack a window on the side of the house opposite to the OAK intake.
Today is a tough day to test. It's 55F outside here under low pressure. If it works better in these conditions that is an encouraging sign. We haven't run our stove for a couple days now, but I wouldn't be surprised if we got a little smoke spillage before the flue warmed up. These are not great burning conditions.
My guess is that disconnecting the oak is likely helping the stove breathe a bit easier by not having to pull the air through more pipe.
My guess is that disconnecting the oak is likely helping the stove breathe a bit easier by not having to pull the air through more pipe.
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