No Damper use, In The Very Cold Temps?!

[soupy1957]

Hello folks!
Long time no chat! (lol)...............Temps here today (CT) are 8ºF and the air is very thin. Tried to pull out the damper to cause my secondaries to kick in, but it nearly suffocated the fire.
Does it make sense, that when the air is as "thin" as it seems to be during very cold days like this, that you'd have to do like I'm doing, and run the stove with the damper fully open, (no choke)?
Stove (wood) seems to be more responsive that way, today.............which is not typical of my stove.
I usually run it with the damper about 1 inch to 1.5 inches out.
Hope everyone had a wonderful "Christmas" and "New Year's Day!"
-Soupy1957

 

[jharkin]

Welcome back Soupy...

When you say damper, you are referring to the air inlet control, correct ?
(I beleive your stove has no bypass damper and you dont have a pipe damper).


Actually, cold air is not "thin", if anything cold air would be called thick, the colder it is the more dense the air becomes - this is what drives the stronger draft in cold weather (draft is caused by the buoyancy difference between the hot, low density flue gasses and the cold high density outside air).

So what you are experiencing is strange - if anything you would need to close the air down more on a very cold day to keep the stove from running too hot. Has anything else changed recently? Different wood? Did you airseal or heavily insulate the house? Do you have any other vents like a kitchen hood or strong bath fan running?

 

[soupy1957]

Jharkin: It was just "me" (lol).........

I forgot that I had Cherrywood in the pile (which tends to burn more "internally"rather than show a lot of flame); so I am guilty of misreading my fire (not the first time I've been wr......wro........wrong (lol).

Fire began behaving more like I expected, once I shuffled things around a bit and threw a couple pieces of Hickory in there. Secondaries churning up a storm, now!!

As for a fan......I often use my forced hot air fan for balancing out the heat in the house.

Yeah, I was talking about that sliding damper (apparently not the right word for it) under the stove which regulates the amount of air to the fire.

-soupy 1957

 

[Beer Belly]

hey Soupy.....yes, there is a chill in the air this morning in the Nutmeg state. I also have a Ranier, but an insert....how is your doing with keeping up with these temps ???.......ours is keeping pace so far...stove room (living room) at 76*F.....bedroom at far end of house at 70*F....but going thru a lot of Maple, a few pieces of Cherry and Hickory mixed in.

 

[soupy1957]

hey Soupy.....yes, there is a chill in the air this morning in the Nutmeg state. I also have a Ranier, but an insert....how is your doing with keeping up with these temps ???.......ours is keeping pace so far...stove room (living room) at 76*F.....bedroom at far end of house at 70*F....but going thru a lot of Maple, a few pieces of Cherry and Hickory mixed in.

80 degrees on the main floor where the wood stove is, 71 degrees upstairs, and 68 degrees on the lower level.

.......and that's with contractors (construction, plumbing, etc) going in and out the front door on the main level each day this week (today included). We're having the upstairs bathroom gutted and remodeled while I take some Vacation days.


-soupy1957

 

[jharkin]

Jharkin: It was just "me" (lol).........

I forgot that I had Cherrywood in the pile (which tends to burn more "internally"rather than show a lot of flame); so I am guilty of misreading my fire (not the first time I've been wr......wro........wrong (lol).

Fire began behaving more like I expected, once I shuffled things around a bit and threw a couple pieces of Hickory in there. Secondaries churning up a storm, now!!

Great! glad its solved.

As for a fan......I often use my forced hot air fan for balancing out the heat in the house.

I was thinking of any fans drawing air out of the house, so this probably makes no difference.

Yeah, I was talking about that sliding damper (apparently not the right word for it) under the stove which regulates the amount of air to the fire.
-soupy 1957

It might be what your stove manual calls it, so no prob. These discussions sometimes get confused because there does not seem to be any industry convention on terminology. Some stove companies call it a damper, others an air control, others a draft control. Vermont castings calls the catalytic bypass a "damper".

 

[jeff_t]

Good to hear from you, soupy. Hope all is well.

 

[soupy1957]

Thanks for the greeting Jeff. We're muddling along. The upstairs bathroom remodel is under way as I type this, to accommodate my wife's disability needs. I took the week (Vacation days) to oversee things here. Same Contractor.

So far, they have busted a bathroom window when installing the tub, and popped nails on the kitchen wall when they were sledge hammering the old tub, to get it out. Let's hope the REST of the remodel goes more smoothly!

-soupy1957

 

[Beer Belly]

80 degrees on the main floor where the wood stove is, 71 degrees upstairs, and 68 degrees on the lower level.

.......and that's with contractors (construction, plumbing, etc) going in and out the front door on the main level each day this week (today included). We're having the upstairs bathroom gutted and remodeled while I take some Vacation days.


-soupy1957

Sounds like the stove is doin' what ya need. They say to add an additional 10% to any remodel to cover those unexpected "oops!"...it happens....especially nail poppings while banging on the walls

 

[PapaDave]

Welcome back Soupy.
"Muddling" is a good word. I do that a lot.
Will there be pics of this "remod/reno"?

 

[firefighterjake]

hey Soupy.....yes, there is a chill in the air this morning in the Nutmeg state. I also have a Ranier, but an insert....how is your doing with keeping up with these temps ???.......ours is keeping pace so far...stove room (living room) at 76*F.....bedroom at far end of house at 70*F....but going thru a lot of Maple, a few pieces of Cherry and Hickory mixed in.

I had to look up Nutmeg State . . . didn't realize it was the unofficial name . . . always knew CT as the "Constipation" State.

 

[jharkin]

Also known as newyorkachusetts or the drive through state.... (I grew up there )

 

[soupy1957]

I had to look up Nutmeg State . . . didn't realize it was the unofficial name . . . always knew CT as the "Constipation" State.

It was the Nutmeg a 100 years ago or more, because the largest shipments of Nutmeg to our country, once came thru our ports in New Haven, and traveled by canal boats to other States. "Constitution State" is the current logo (at least on the license plates).

-Soupy1957

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Soupy, we want to do the remodel of the bathroom too. I think we'll hire a different contractor. lol

Good to see you posting again.

 

[soupy1957]

Soupy, we want to do the remodel of the bathroom too. I think we'll hire a different contractor. lol

Good to see you posting again.

For the most part, these guys have been quite good at what they do, but I have had my doubts about some of the Sub-Contractors they have used, is all. Overall, the end result is usually quite pleasing.

Thanks for the welcome back.

-Soupy1957