Newbie (kind of) question

[overload]

Hey everyone,
Got a new (to me) stove, new chimney, I know my basics but I have something stupid that I'm missing. Figured someone would be able to tell me what it is. This is a new setup that I have not been successful with as of yet.

Stove is a Wonderluxe B2350B located in the basement
Chimney is Airjet 6S.

I had draft problems last year that prevented me from ever keeping a fire going. Took the cap off last week and got a nice test fire lit and it stayed going for at least a half hour. I celebrated. Simple small victory.

Burn indicator had exceeded 300 degrees when I opened the bulkhead and did some work outside for 15 minutes, came in to the room filling up with smoke. Grabbed a fan and quickly vented the smoke out, and choked the fire (in a panic, didn't want to set off the smoke alarm and upset the baby) I closed the bulkhead. Ok, I changed the ambient pressure of the house, don't do that. No worries.

Stoked the fire up and got a log on it. Figured I'd keep it going for the night since I would be close the whole time. Burn indicator exceeded 400 degrees, the room started to fill with smoke again. No changes to pressure this time, everything was closed up. Again, I panicked, vented the smoke out quickly, and killed the fire.

Planning to do another test fire tomorrow while everyone is out of the house. I'm just curious what I should be looking for. The chimney drafts fine while building the fire. It seems like it's only once the fire gets really going that smoke is getting into the room somewhere. Is it draft? Should I have sealed the connection from the stove collar into the black pipe? Is this just the burning off of the furnace cement on the black pipe? I doubt it, but figured I'd ask all the questions.

I was thinking about going out in the morning and getting solid 90 degrees to replace the adjustables I currently have.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

 

[stoveliker]

How tall is the chimney?

It's in a basement; keep the windows upstairs closed so your home does not act (draft) like a chimney, creating negative pressure in the basement.

Switch off all fans (kitchen, bathroom).

Crack a window in the basement.

Outside temps may have been too high for good draft too.


Is your wood dry? How do you know?

 

[overload]

How tall is the chimney?

It's in a basement; keep the windows upstairs closed so your home does not act (draft) like a chimney, creating negative pressure in the basement.

Switch off all fans (kitchen, bathroom).

Crack a window in the basement.

Outside temps may have been too high for good draft too.


Is your wood dry? How do you know?

Chimney is about 30 feet.

It was a cool day, high 50's, so no windows open or fans on.

Wood is too dry if anything. It's been in my dry basement since the beginning of winter 2021. Dehumidifier runs all summer, it's very dry

I'll crack a basement window and see what happens

 

[stoveliker]

Ok. 30 ft is very tall. (And without smoke roll out, I'd have said to consider a key damper....)

Is there e.g. an oil boiler that kicked on (sucking out air from the home)?

What were the wind conditions?

This puzzles.me...

 

[EbS-P]

Has the chimney been cleaned recently?

 

[vbu]

Was the wood dry when you put it in your basement last year or was it green?

 

[overload]

Wind was no more than 7-10 knts. The boiler is something I didn't consider.

 

[overload]

Has the chimney been cleaned recently?

Brand new chimney, installed a few years ago but never fired. I ran the brush down it before the fire in case any creatures were present.

 

[stoveliker]

Furnace cement does not smoke. Stove pipe doesn't need sealing.

Draft issues would be worse when starting a cold stove. Wet wood might too (though turning down the fire later on can cause wet wood issues again). The fact that the problem appears when things are not cold anymore, suggests another cause. Something is changing. (Hence my boiler or fan question.)

 

[stoveliker]

Can you post a pic of the outside? Where is the chimney cap located w.r.t. roof ridges,.trees, hills?

 

[overload]

Was the wood dry when you put it in your basement last year or was it green?

It was already seasoned and dried for a year prior. So I'm essentially dealing with 3 year dried and seasoned wood.

 

[stoveliker]

It was already seasoned and dried for a year prior. So I'm essentially dealing with 3 year dried and seasoned wood.

So, I presume it was.split three years ago (or sat in logs)?

Not doubting you, just eliminating possible causes.

 

[GrumpyDad]

It was already seasoned and dried for a year prior. So I'm essentially dealing with 3 year dried and seasoned wood.

Go to amazon and get yourself a good moisture meter. I think they are like $20 for the general brand. Split a split in half, and check the moisture. Anything above 20% is too high and it will have an issue. You can split all your stuff further to get good flames / heat when wood is wet. Ive had to burn wet wet wet wood before. Im talking non seasoned, also partially stuck together with snow/ice wet, and have resplit pieces to small pieces to get them to burn. In a modern stove though, even that may not work.
One thing you will find about these forums is that people here are basically super keen to spot anything that may tip them off to challenge. When I see poured cement foundations and pex plumbing, I think - newer home. Newer homes are MUCH more airtight than the older homes. So as someone said, you may have an air intake issue - crack a window down there and stand by it when the stove is going, and then again when not. You should see better burning, and feel the air being sucked in. Then you will know you have an air intake issue and can address that more readily. Or, just leave the window cracked a bit and that solves that.

 

[overload]

So, I presume it was.split three years ago (or sat in logs)?

Not doubting you, just eliminating possible causes.

Split and stacked 3 years ago in a relatively dry stack with plenty of airflow, brought into a dry basement 2 years ago.

I get it, need to rule it all out. Especially with a weird problem like this.

 

[overload]

Can you post a pic of the outside? Where is the chimney cap located w.r.t. roof ridges,.trees, hills?

House is in a pretty open clearing, no trees for 50+ feet.

Roof is pretty flat, sorry, I don't have a good enough understanding of pitch. Let's just say it's comfortable to stand on it while cleaning the chimney and I clean the gutters by sitting with my legs over the edge and scooping leaves out without hanging on.

Outdoor pics of chimney, I forgot to mention the 30 degree bump out. Beside that, there are 8 lengths of pipe outside, so I'm at ~34 feet, plus what's below grade is ~4 feet. Let's call it 38 feet from the stove to the top of the chimney.

 

[moresnow]

As mentioned, post pics of the entire system outdoors.

Beat me to it!

Add pics of the T (cleanout cap is installed?)and is the cap hard to, see? Or missing?

 

[overload]

Go to amazon and get yourself a good moisture meter. I think they are like $20 for the general brand. Split a split in half, and check the moisture. Anything above 20% is too high and it will have an issue. You can split all your stuff further to get good flames / heat when wood is wet. Ive had to burn wet wet wet wood before. Im talking non seasoned, also partially stuck together with snow/ice wet, and have resplit pieces to small pieces to get them to burn. In a modern stove though, even that may not work.
One thing you will find about these forums is that people here are basically super keen to spot anything that may tip them off to challenge. When I see poured cement foundations and pex plumbing, I think - newer home. Newer homes are MUCH more airtight than the older homes. So as someone said, you may have an air intake issue - crack a window down there and stand by it when the stove is going, and then again when not. You should see better burning, and feel the air being sucked in. Then you will know you have an air intake issue and can address that more readily. Or, just leave the window cracked a bit and that solves that.

Good point. And thanks for reminding me, I have a moisture meter somewhere. I'll go find it and check,

House was built in 1989. Pex plumbing was a repair. I consider this house "newer but not too new" and pretty drafty for when it was built. Still I'm going to try to crack the window today and see what happens.

 

[stoveliker]

If the chimney does not leak at a T or clean-out (as indeed raised above), I see no issue with the chimney that would result in what you see. I would be very concerned about too much draft, in fact. But that is hard to reconcile with smoke rolling out.

So, chimney unlikely to be an issue (swept, tall enough, presumably cap is clean - but again, this would all show worse problems on start up rather than later in the fire, imo), wood unlikely the issue (moisture meter data would be nice, but I think I trust it to be good).

I go back to something else sucking out air. Boilers do go intermittent. With a window open near the stove, or the boiler off for a test (it's not yet freezing after all), that could provide a datapoint even if not ultimately conclusive.

 

[overload]

If the chimney does not leak at a T or clean-out (as indeed raised above), I see no issue with the chimney that would result in what you see. I would be very concerned about too much draft, in fact. But that is hard to reconcile with smoke rolling out.

So, chimney unlikely to be an issue (swept, tall enough, presumably cap is clean - but again, this would all show worse problems on start up rather than later in the fire, imo), wood unlikely the issue (moisture meter data would be nice, but I think I trust it to be good).

I go back to something else sucking out air. Boilers do go intermittent. With a window open near the stove, or the boiler off for a test (it's not yet freezing after all), that could provide a datapoint even if not ultimately conclusive.

Thanks for the help. I'm going to shut off the boiler today and light it up. If I still see issues, I'll crack a window.

I'll be in touch.

 

[begreen]

Furnace cement does not smoke. Stove pipe doesn't need sealing.

Agreed, but this looks like silicone, maybe RTV. That is not rated for the high temps a single-wall stovepipe sees. It may stink something awful and smoke too.

 

[overload]

Agreed, but this looks like silicone, maybe RTV. That is not rated for the high temps a single-wall stovepipe sees. It may stink something awful and smoke too.

Can't find the tube, but it was furnace cement, bought at Lowes.

 

[overload]

Following up here, it was far too warm for a fire on Friday, but we should have some cooler weather this week.

Spoke with a friend who has the same stove over the weekend. He informed me that the thermostat on the front of the stove may have closed the flap door and that may have led to a puff back into the room. Seems like a logical explanation. I'll have to start a fire and see.