New Buck Stove Model 21 Install

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With a cold stove. Confirm the correct location of both the baffle board and insulation board lying on top of the reburn tubes. If they have possibly been jostled forward during shipping/installation, they may restrict the venting. Maybe? Just looking at the manual it is worth a look.

Post a picture of the loading door opening also (door wide open) if you get a moment.

A slow starting load of 2x4's seems rather odd.
 
With a cold stove. Confirm the correct location of both the baffle board and insulation board lying on top of the reburn tubes. If they have possibly been jostled forward during shipping/installation, they may restrict the venting. Maybe? Just looking at the manual it is worth a look.

Post a picture of the loading door opening also (door wide open) if you get a moment.

A slow starting load of 2x4's seems rather odd.
Well here is a picture with the door open and the embarrassing mess that I created for myself. Not super clear but the whole interior is caked with creosote now. My fault for allowing it smolder so much. Lesson learned the hard way.

Baffle board and insulation board are fully against the back.
049846E4-2ED1-453A-8EB2-7470D6E61751.jpeg
 
Is the stove sitting elevated on adjustable leveling screws? Prior to setting the stove did you remove the 2"X2" knockout plate shown in figure 12, page 14 of the manual? May be worth contacting Buck to ask if this needs to be removed in your installation option. Sure seems it could.
 
Is the stove sitting elevated on adjustable leveling screws? Prior to setting the stove did you remove the 2"X2" knockout plate shown in figure 12, page 14 of the manual? May be worth contacting Buck to ask if this needs to be removed in your installation option. Sure seems it could.
I did not do the knockout. Looks like that is required for an outside air connection but I will contact Buck to be sure. It seems the user manual is a catch all for all the various Model 21 variations. I didn't even read through that section when installing because its not technically freestanding. I do have 1" shims under the back to level with the front of the hearth but the front is just sitting on the hearth. It's a heavy unit but I'll tilt it back and look underneath too just to see if there is anything going on.

I also notice that I overlooked the step of blocking off the ash dump in my fireplace as well. I'll take care of that too.
 
Any joy yet? Curious
So I finally found the time to work on this again. Good news to report and a very embarrassing mistake to admit.

I disconnected everything, pulled the liner, cleaned everything really well. When I pulled the liner out of the chimney, I immediately discovered my draft problem. When I originally installed the liner, I didn't have the stove top adapter so I *temporarily* put some insulation in the liner till the adapter arrived. When I connected the liner to the stove, I *thought* I had removed all the insulation in there. Turns out I missed a chunk.

While the liner was out I also put an insulation wrap on it, dropped it back down the chimney and hooked it all back up. I am pleased to say I am sitting on couch in front of the burning stove as I type. Its putting out great heat and no smoke backing up into the room any more. Only thing left to get rid of is the off-gassing burn-in smell.

I thank you all again for taking the time to offer some suggestions and come along this journey with me.
 
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Glad you got it figured out. I just read the thread and as I was reading it everything pointed to a draft issue. One thing I learned when I was a new wood burner is take the time and get a nice coal bed established when starting a new fire. Kindling and smaller splits to start. Let that get going and burned down and go from there. Also, it also takes a little time to figure out the stove...see what it likes, what kind of air setting it likes, etc.