Pleasant Hearth will not burn unless door is open ?

[Dave404]

I grew up with the old pot belly stoves. I recently purchased a small Pleasant Hearth wood stove from Lowe's with the glass door. Model HWS-224172MH
This thing is complete junk in my experience. I spend part of the day installing it. My pipes are 6" diameter and about 6' to my chimney.
No obstruction anywhere , the stove won't even burn paper let alone wood ,unless the door is left open.
The draft control rod pulls in and out and dont change it any. I read all the reviews on Lowes website and everyone says the same. any tips ,advice, or anyway to modify it ?

 

[corey21]

Welcome.

How tall is your chimney? Also you may want to take a look under the stove to see if the Air control rod opening is the air vent.

 

[begreen]

Welcome Dave, this is a common complaint for first time EPA stove burners. EPA stoves need stronger draft than old pot belly stoves. It could be the stove needs more draft or perhaps the wood is not fully seasoned?Try burning a small fire using carpentry scraps and leave the door ajar about 1/4" until the fire is going strongly and starting to coal.

How tall is the chimney that this is connected to? Did you install a stainless liner? If not, what is the ID of the masonry tiles liner in the chimney? If there is a cleanout at the base of the chimney, make sure it is sealed well and not allowing air to be pulled in.

 

[Dave404]

the rod is opening the draft ,as i felt up under it moving it in and out, the masonery chimney opening looks roughly 12" square or a little bigger.
i left the door open until i got a hot bed of coals and put a couple small split seasoned pieces on it and it went out.
Left the door cracked a smudge and about half burnt and went out.

 

[Dave404]

oh, forgot the masonary chimney is roughly 4' tall. going above the roof

 

[corey21]

oh, forgot the masonary chimney is roughly 4' tall. going above the roof

That is too short.

 

[Pallet Pete]

I am a little confused by your post forgive me if I am reading this wrong. You are saying that it is a 6 foot tall chimney or a 4 foot tall chimney either way it is too short. Are you installing it into a masonry chimney that is 12 inches wide ?

Pete

 

[Pallet Pete]

If your installing 6 foot of 6 inch pipe into a 12 inch wide chimney then that is most likely the issue. You will need to run 6 inch pipe all the way up to the height the manual calls for. EPA stoves require good steady draft in order to work right when they work right they are far more efficient and put out much longer burns and heat than older pre EPA models.

Pete

 

[begreen]

Yes, this sounds like a draft issue and not the stove. The stove requires 15' of 6" vertical pipe. Adding 90º turns to the smoke path increases the height requirement because it slows down the smoke. If you are in an area with mild weather, draft is going to be even worse.

Post a couple pictures of the setup, inside and out and we can make some suggestions on how to improve draft. Putting a decent flue on the stove will make a world of difference in how it burns.

 

[Dave404]

yes ,you may be right. i have 6' of pipe from stove to ceiling, and it enters the chimney flue which is around 4' tall and 12" square. overall length from top of stove = 10'
i thought once it entered the 12" chimney it would draw better, i didn't know the length of 6" was that critical.

 

[begreen]

The 12" chimney pipe is slowing down the wood flue gases too much. That's a 144 sq in cross-section or about 5x the diameter of the 6" pipe. It would be like you trying to sip out of a 2" pipe vs a 1/4" straw. Fortunately this is fixable, but we'll need to see what you've got.

There may be a safety factor here as well. 6" single wall pipe gets very hot. It needs to be a minimum of 18" away from any combustibles, especially the ceiling. Do you have this clearance or better?

 

[chimneylinerjames]

Yes since it is a 6" stove venting into a 12" flue, that is horrible for draft. It should be 6" all the way up.

 

[Dave404]

begreen, i understand now by the the straw example. yes clearance is good. what if i added more length of 6" and run it on up the chimney?

 

[begreen]

You will need to use stainless in the chimney. This is pretty short for a flex liner so i would just go with rigid. Yes it can go higher than the top of the chimney. It will need a top plate to seal and hold the pipe in alignment.