Okay guys. I fired up my stove last night. I don't have a draft meter to test the actual new draft reading, but I did notice a few things, some good and one bad.
Upon the initial startup, some of the kindling was a little wet, so I had a bit of a smoker going. Despite the many joints in this new setup, the smoke only seeped out of the stove door itself, not the pipe joints. Good thing.
Once I got it going, I got a more even overall fire. Instead of all the flame feeding off the air intake area dead center, the flame was throughout the firebox. Also, when I cut the air down to almost nothing, I still had some good combustion going on. Before, when I shut the air down to low, it almost smothered the flames. Definitely an improvement in air flow. Good thing.
With my 90 degree setup last year, I had a hell of a time keeping the stack up to temperature. It would heat up with new loads of wood, but then would drop off sharply once I dampered down. With this setup, it stayed between 300 and 400, a nice safe temp with no chance for buildup. Good thing.
The wall behind around the thimble got a bit warm. Unfortunately I cannot remember if I got warm last year, so I have nothing to guage it against. I'm a little concerned that I might have come in under the clearances a bit. The clearance for center of pipe to rear wall for my stove is 21", but there is not actual rating for an angled pipe. When I measure 21" from the wall to the new setup, the angle that it meets up with is in line with the thimble, so I thought I was good there. Can anyone give me input on how warm a wall should be? Should it be cool to the touch altogether? If it's just a little warm, maybe I can put an airspace in front of it? I'd hate to have to take this all apart again. It was a major pain in the butt.
Last but not least, I don't have a blower on my stove yet. I'm waiting until I perfect the draft angle before I upgrade to double wall, rear heat shield and blower. Without a blower, I am having trouble get the heat to travel. The stove is in my basement and I'd like a little to make it to the upper floors. The basement gets around 72 on stove heat alone. I'd be happy with 64 upstairs. I've thought of trying a small fan behind the stove to push the air over the the staircase to the upstairs, or the illegal hole in the floor thing. If I do the hole in the floor, I'm not sure where to put it. I'm thinking it would be safer to have it about 8' from the stove than to have it directly overhead. Any thoughts on this would be helpful.
As always, thanks for all your input. The verdict's still out on whether this is an improvement. I'm most happy with the stack temperature thing.
Upon the initial startup, some of the kindling was a little wet, so I had a bit of a smoker going. Despite the many joints in this new setup, the smoke only seeped out of the stove door itself, not the pipe joints. Good thing.
Once I got it going, I got a more even overall fire. Instead of all the flame feeding off the air intake area dead center, the flame was throughout the firebox. Also, when I cut the air down to almost nothing, I still had some good combustion going on. Before, when I shut the air down to low, it almost smothered the flames. Definitely an improvement in air flow. Good thing.
With my 90 degree setup last year, I had a hell of a time keeping the stack up to temperature. It would heat up with new loads of wood, but then would drop off sharply once I dampered down. With this setup, it stayed between 300 and 400, a nice safe temp with no chance for buildup. Good thing.
The wall behind around the thimble got a bit warm. Unfortunately I cannot remember if I got warm last year, so I have nothing to guage it against. I'm a little concerned that I might have come in under the clearances a bit. The clearance for center of pipe to rear wall for my stove is 21", but there is not actual rating for an angled pipe. When I measure 21" from the wall to the new setup, the angle that it meets up with is in line with the thimble, so I thought I was good there. Can anyone give me input on how warm a wall should be? Should it be cool to the touch altogether? If it's just a little warm, maybe I can put an airspace in front of it? I'd hate to have to take this all apart again. It was a major pain in the butt.
Last but not least, I don't have a blower on my stove yet. I'm waiting until I perfect the draft angle before I upgrade to double wall, rear heat shield and blower. Without a blower, I am having trouble get the heat to travel. The stove is in my basement and I'd like a little to make it to the upper floors. The basement gets around 72 on stove heat alone. I'd be happy with 64 upstairs. I've thought of trying a small fan behind the stove to push the air over the the staircase to the upstairs, or the illegal hole in the floor thing. If I do the hole in the floor, I'm not sure where to put it. I'm thinking it would be safer to have it about 8' from the stove than to have it directly overhead. Any thoughts on this would be helpful.
As always, thanks for all your input. The verdict's still out on whether this is an improvement. I'm most happy with the stack temperature thing.
