New member, just purchased house with stove

[Ac921ol]

Hey, I’m a new wood stove person here and I’d love to understand it better and get to using it. Few things I’ve noticed from using it this past year.

1. The baffle plate on top falls on the fire every now and then. (Ordered a thermometer for the top)

2. The top of the wood stove is at an angle, and there is a pipe at an angle that leads into my golden flue (about a foot or two of gap from top of pipe to bottom of golden flue)

3. I’ve used mineral wool for the surround, but the back of the burner has nothing on it, and no block of plate installed, I plan on throwing wool on top and behind it to help for the season. Thoughts?

4. the unit has to door vents and a blower fan, how do I use the vents on the door? The blower fan has a bypass option, I just leave it on thermostat when I burn.

I have attached photos of the stove and tried to get photos of the back of it. (I have a clean out vent that I can see the top of the stove from the rear)

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Hi! Welcome to the forum!

I suppose the first thing is to have the insert checked over, along with the flue, to make sure they are safe to use. I'm not sure, but I think I see the flue terminating above the insert in the pick where you are wearing the glove?

 

[john26]

Is the glove pic taken outside, through a clean out door in the smoke shelf? It appears to me also that the chimney is terminated above the insert and doesn't appear to be stainless. I know tears ago this was common practice but I have heard of lots of complaints of smoke smell in the house. I would be afraid of CO2 with an installation like that.

 

[PaulOinMA]

... I would be afraid of CO2 with an installation like that ...

Paging the CO2/CO police.

 

[begreen]

Looks like a slammer which is no longer code compliant. And it looks like a stub of black stove pipe attached, also not code. I'm not sure it's worth investing anything in this old stove. If the goal is to make it safe then a full stainless liner needs to go in after the chimney is completely cleaned. 6" liner is pretty much standard for modern inserts which is what I would put in if the goal is the heat the place.

 

[Ac921ol]

Hi! Welcome to the forum!

I suppose the first thing is to have the insert checked over, along with the flue, to make sure they are safe to use. I'm not sure, but I think I see the flue terminating above the insert in the pick where you are wearing the glove?

we have had people come look and said everything is in working order, but just not up to code since it’s been changed since this was installed.
when say flue is terminating, what do you mean?

Is the glove pic taken outside, through a clean out door in the smoke shelf? It appears to me also that the chimney is terminated above the insert and doesn't appear to be stainless. I know tears ago this was common practice but I have heard of lots of complaints of smoke smell in the house. I would be afraid of CO2 with an installation like that.

yes, the picture was taken from clean out door which the backside of the fireplace is located in our garage.

also not Sure when people mention terminate. (can you explain some?)


we have a golden flue installed, which people have mentioned is perfect for this setup, only issue is the 2ft of gap between top of stove and bottom of flue liner.
(broken link removed to http://www.kschimney.com/chimney-relining-techniques/golden-flue-liner)

Looks like a slammer which is no longer code compliant. And it looks like a stub of black stove pipe attached, also not code. I'm not sure it's worth investing anything in this old stove. If the goal is to make it safe then a full stainless liner needs to go in after the chimney is completely cleaned. 6" liner is pretty much standard for modern inserts which is what I would put in if the goal is the heat the place.

when you say slammer, I assume you mean damper, there is actually no damper anymore. Just black stove pipe cut at that angle and then a 2ft gap until the bottom of the golden flue liner.

I want to use it and heat up what I can with it. So far I’ve had no c02 alarms going off and no smoke coming back in at all, and I’ve probably had it lit over 100 hours by now.

guess my next move would be to insulate The wood stove as well as I can with mineral wool, and see if I can a pipe that would get all the way up those 2ft to the bottom of the liner.

 

[Ac921ol]

Also, how do we know this stove is so old? I have no idea where to find an engraving or anything, and it seems it got moved to before 1993.

just trying to figure things out, and boom baffle just fell after 4 hours of it on. I just opened the door and closed it and down she went, lol

 

[EatenByLimestone]

A "slammer" is an insert that isn't connected to the liner in the chimney. It was once common practice, but isn't safe and no longer allowed by code. It can allow creosote deposits outside of the liner where they are hard to clean and become a fire hazard. It can also hurt draft.

We can tell its older by the design. In, I believe '92, the EPA started requiring that stoves reduce their emissions. This was largely achieved by adding a catalytic converter or by designing the firebox to return the smoke. You have an insert without this technology, so it's an older stove.

 

[Ac921ol]

Alright that all makes sense, and thanks for the EPA comment.

I have purchased a thermostat and have my logs set up to burn. 5 logs in a cross cross pattern Will see how it goes.

The baffle plate just keeps falling no matter how careful I am with the stove. Major PIA.

Any tips to help it from falling. I can post better pictures of how it attached

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Post away! Pics can never hurt!