Newbie asks for help with old Jotul 118 wood-burner + Smokey Room!

[transcendentalist]

Hi everyone. I've spent some time searching your fourm for answers to my problems, but couldn't find anything which was as specific as the help I'm looking for - admittedly because I am a total novice!

We live in an old house (1800) here in England and have one of the 1970s Jotul 118 wood-burning stove (the green model, not the updated version). Although we've lived here for several years, I've never managed to get it going - two small children and a full-time job meant that I was always too busy, and so relied on our oil central heating plus calor-gas heaters whenever we needed extra warmth.

Well, the rise in oil prices has meant that I am now *very* interested in getting this stove burning! We are lucky to have about a cord of dry wood that we collected and stored about 18 months ago when we had some tree surgery done. I had the chimney swept today, and the sweep (no expert on wood-burners) tried to help me light a fire. He did it with paper and kindling (which I'd read is the way to do it), but smoke was soon filling my living room. We went outside to the external (aluminum/metal-type) chimney, and smoke was seeping out of the elbow joint. We came back in, tried a few other things (keeping the door open, etc) but the smoke was still pouring in and I was worried he was going to charge me (even more) money. So I thanked him for the sweep and his help, and have been looking online ever since to try and find some answers before I give it another go myself.

My questions:

I've read about warming the flue first with paper ... should I try that?
Or should I be worried about that seeping elbow joint on the external chimney?
Or might this only be a problem because the smoke was built up in the stove?
Anything else I should know/might be overlooking?

If anyone has any particular advice for the Jotul 118 I'd be very grateful. And any advice on dealing with the smokey room would certainly be most gratefully received.

Thanking you all in advance!

 

[Peter B.]

If smoke is escaping from the outside elbow, it sounds like there's a clog above. The sweep may not have done his job very well.

The 118 is about as basic a stove as you can find... no mysteries to operation.

If pre-heating the flue doesn't work, I'd call the sweep back... or call a different one.

Peter B.

-----

 

[transcendentalist]

Thanks, Peter. I'm cautiously relieved by your reply ... I was fearing I might have had to replace the parts of the external chimney where the smoke was escaping

The sweep claimed he couldn't do the entire chimney because he couldn't get to our roof (which is slanted). So perhaps there is something blocking it further up top ...

Before I call him back to complain, though, I'll try priming the flue first. I'm determined to get this stove burning!

Thanks again.

 

[firefighterjake]

Thinking here . . . two possible problems . . . blockage somewhere in chimney . . . perhaps in the cap or towards the top which is where we see a lot of creosote build up . . . or you do not have enough of a draft due to too many bends in the stove pipe or the chimney is not tall enough. Pictures or a better description of your stove set up and chimney may help. I would guess that assuming you are burning seasoned wood and not attempting to burn unseasoned wood (and since you describe a problem with smoke simply in attempting to burn some paper) your problem is in establishing a good draft.

 

[transcendentalist]

Thank you, Pyro Extraordinaire. The first thing the sweep said today was that there were too many bends. I'll take photos tomorrow of the inside and outside setups as I sure would be grateful for advice.

The wood we are trying to burn has been properly seasoned. I think you are right that 'establishing a good draft' is the problem!

 

[firefighterjake]

Thank you, Pyro Extraordinaire. The first thing the sweep said today was that there were too many bends. I'll take photos tomorrow of the inside and outside setups as I sure would be grateful for advice.

The wood we are trying to burn has been properly seasoned. I think you are right that 'establishing a good draft' is the problem!

Yeah . . . we like pictures here . . . pictures of stoves, pictures of chimneys, pictures of Quads cutting firewood, pictures of just about anything. We would love to see your stove, stove pipe and chimney . . . it may well tell us the problem.