New here, need some advice on a pot belly stove

[mea786]

Hi all,

Not sure if I have posted in the right section but just need some advice. My husband and I have recently moved into a rental property privately - so without a letting agent. Its a lovely cottage joined to our landlords house so an extension of her property, in a rural surrounding.
We have used stoves for about 5 years now so we know how to use them and got a good understanding of starting a fire.
In this new home, we have a pot belly stove which we are currently getting to know but have noticed that a lot of the occasions when starting it up it blows out smoke - only when starting, so we always have to open the windows at the start. Then recently when starting the fire, it sounded like it was 'gasping for air' like a breathing sound (can't describe it!) and when the husband opened the stove door it blew out huge flames - scorching off my husbands hair on his arms! After much research, have read that it could be from the chimney pipe as we're not sure when it was last swept so we're thinking its not creating enough draw?
Also noticed a few cracks in the piping near the stove and a odd fork-like device coming out of the side of the flue - is this a damper? We've never had a stove pipe damper before so I'm not sure if this is causing the problem, maybe its blocking the air flow also?
We will be asking the landlord tomorrow when it was last chimney swept and if they can issue a chimney sweep especially before the winter comes.
Have attached pictures also.
Thanks in advance!

 

[begreen]

Welcome. The "odd fork device" is indeed a pipe damper. It must be wide open when starting the stove. Proper operation of this damper should be verified. Sometimes they rust out or become detached from the pivot handle and get stuck in the closed position. If so it should be replaced.

You may also have a balky chimney which draws poorly when cold. This could be compounding your issues. Warmer outside temperatures can make flue draft weaker.

 

[mea786]

Thanks for the response!
Just checked the flue damper and it does turn, silly question but how do you know when its open or closed?
And also, what is a balky chimney?

 

[Woody Stover]

DO NOT burn that stove until the cracked oval-to-round pipe adapter is replaced; You could die of carbon monoxide poisoning or burn the place down!!

 

[begreen]

I would guess that the plate in the damper is in line with the forks of the handle, but can't say without checking. A balky chimney is one that doesn't draft well.

 

[mea786]

DO NOT burn that stove until the cracked oval-to-round pipe adapter is replaced; You could die of carbon monoxide poisoning or burn the place down!!

Do you think its possible to be fixed by using fire cement?
I'm not sure how willing our landlord is to fixing it.

 

[begreen]

Replace the oval to round adapter. It's not that expensive.

 

[mea786]

Thanks everyone, I have contacted someone for a quote on a chimney sweep and to replace the adaptor and then tomorrow morning (its gone past midnight here in the UK) will ask the landlord if they will cover the costs. We have decided not to start the fire again until that's sorted.

Quick question, are pot belly stoves coal stoves? We have an ash department at the bottom and a grate for the ash to fall through so I'm assuming it can be burnt with coal?

 

[coaly]

Yes, a pot belly is a coal stove. Is there a way to shake grate with handle or tool of some sort?
Air will come up through fire from lower intake when coal is used. Open top air intake very little with coal to allow oxygen to ignite coal gas above coal fire. Opening the upper vent too much with coal allows inside air up chimney and cools flue reducing draft, slowing fire.