New Member, New to Wood stoves, and have some issues with my new to me Forester

[no plugs]

We recently purchased a home with a Forester WBS insert with blower and a brick chimney and I seem to have an issue. We had a chimney inspection done When we purchased the house and were told we needed a liner. I asked around and was told a liner isn't necessary on a brick chimney with a WBS.

So we had a fire a few weeks ago, and I was able to get it going no problem and played with the dampers, flue, blower, etc. The next morning, we woke up and the whole house smelled of smoke. In fact, the whole house smelled of smoke for almost a week. I started snooping around to see what the problem is and came across a few things. First off, the flue damper is non existent. The mechanism works in and out, but the plate that I am assuming should be there is not there. Secondly, the intake damper slides back and forth, but the dampers are mostly gone/disintegrated. The wood did burn down completely to nothing fwiw.

So I guess my questions are as follows:

1. Do we need a liner?
2. Is my flue damper gone? Should my intake dampers completely block the intake or no?
3. I did open up the doors for a bit. Should I not do that?
4. And I have read on here but havent really found a full how to on complete operation of this type of unit. Basically, after I get the fire going, when do I turn on the blower? How big of a fire should I have? I am used to open fireplaces and usually burn them pretty big. Does the blower always have to be on since this is an insert? Items like that.

I can post some pictures tomorrow of my unit and the flue/damper issues I was talking about. Thanks for your help.

-Greg

 

[BrotherBart]

Only Forester insert I know of is the old pre-EPA ones. Post a pic tomorrow and maybe we move it over to the Classic stove forum for burning advice in them thangs.

 

[no plugs]

Wow, quick response. Thanks. I snapped a picture of my unit to get theball rolling.

Looking at that picture could the seal around the outside of the frame Need to be reworked to ulltimately seal it up?

 

[no plugs]

Any advice from anyone? Thanks

 

[Sons924]

yeah. have a full liner installed that runs up the brick chimney and gets sealed at the top with a top plate. The install you have now isn't the safest, and you could also upgrade to a newer more efficent insert, if it's in your budget.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200442426_200442426
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...=false&ipp=24&storeId=6970&Ntt=duraflex+liner

 

[webbie]

Ok, the basics......just about every fireplace insert needs a full liner to operate well, however older units (such as this) may not have mentioned it in the owners manual because NFPA codes were different then!

You really can't do much of a seal on panels - although it's better than nothing, it's not the correct way to do things.

Start with this. The biggest reason for problems is that smoke comes out of the small hole on the top of the insert and then enters this big open chamber - vastly larger than the smoke pipe size! This has a lot of bad effects, including smell, poor draft, downdraft, condensation, etc.

Instead of writing a book here, met me make a minimum suggestion and also offer some reading material....

1. You should read about chimneys in our info sections - especially about smelly and reversing ones. You can dig through the articles or use the site search...
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/chimneys_an_unexact_science/

2. You should, at minimum, do the old "to near the first flue time" installation. This means hooking a flex tube to the read of the insert ( depending on the outlet size you may need a boot) an making a good seal plate as shown in this and other similar articles:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/making_a_block_off_plate/

This type of installation may not meet the most modern codes (it depends on the size of your flue, etc.), but it is well above what the maker specified in their manual when the stove was built....and, more importantly, it may actually work!

Most folks just bite the bullet and line all the way to the top for peace of mind AND for better operation and less chance of creosote or smell.

 

[sumo25634]

Wow, quick response. Thanks. I snapped a picture of my unit to get theball rolling.

Looking at that picture could the seal around the outside of the frame Need to be reworked to ulltimately seal it up?

 

[sumo25634]

This is the same stove we bought did you find any information on it and if so can you tell the site you went on

 

[webbie]

Manufacturer was US stove company. These are very old models so you can probably only get generic parts like gasketing, etc.