Please help troubleshoot my stove, dome home issues

[txvenom]

So we live in a giant concrete dome in windy West Texas.
50' across by 25' high .
Problem is it's not insulated.
So until we can come up with $20k to get it insulated, we're trying to make it liveable .
6 tons of heat and AC means huge electric bills and still 90 degrees upstairs in summer and 50 downstairs in winter.
So I thought a wood stove might help .
Vogelzang ponderosa was the biggest I could find at a decent price .

It's great for pumping mass amount of smoke into the house .

I'm sure there's an issue with pressure of the air blowing over the curve of the dome or something but any ideas on fixing the setup?
Will adding another 3' of chimney help?
Or am I just throwing more money away?
Just bought a $200 anti downdraft chimney cap that seemed to do nothing .
Until it's really hot it pumps smoke like crazy into the house and goes out if I close the door.

Here are pics of the stove and chimney setup .

 

[Hogwildz]

Probably not enough stack height to start with. The 90 degree and horizontal run ain't helping. The horizontal pipe looks way to close to those rafter and is a fire hazard, and surely does not meet required clearances. You should have run the stack straight up rather than out the side. You may be burning wood that is not dry enough. SO many issues, you need to do some research, and come up with a better set up.

 

[txvenom]

Clearance is a lot more than it looks in the pic, that's not an issue .
The lateral was necessary because of the dome. There's a flat wall there where the old roll up door was. That's the only place I could punch the chimney stack through.
There's a square built out the side of the dome there. Because of stove placement to go straight up would have meant coming out where the dome meets the roof of the protrusion or trying to bring it through the dome itself which is not an option. Plus I didn't want to to try to seal the stack coming through vertically on the small flat part of the roof.
Everything about this project has been a series of trade offs and engineering challenges due to the dome.
Concrete and compound curves are a pain in the rear .

It draws ok until the wind blows .

 

[Woody Stover]

Yep, the horizontal run may be killin' your draft, especially if it's not tilting up 1/4" per foot of run. And if the prevailing wind is coming from the other side of the dome, it may be slamming down on top of the stack.

 

[Hogwildz]

You could try 2 45 degree elbows to greatly soften the bend inside the home, and get rid of the horizontal section. That may help. If you need more draft, then add some more height to the stack.

 

[jetsam]

Agree with what Hogwildz said- get rid of the 90s and as much of the horizontal as possible. Check the manual for the stove to see what the minimum required vertical is out of the flue collar.

While you're changing out flue, go to double wall if it's not already. That will draft better because it gets and stays warmer inside.

You can also preheat the flue with something that doesn't smoke, like a blowtorch or electric heat gun.

More stack could help. If you want to test additional stack height for cheap, stick a piece of appropriately sized HVAC duct on there temporarily. we

 

[txvenom]

hard to tell because I just realized I took that pic dead on straight but it comes up, then leans back toward the window then turns toward the wall.
I could try re-running it straighter towards the penetration, get rid of the horizontal piece.
Theres a slight rise on the horizontal now but probably not enough.
outside is all doublewall
I had a crazy idea, what would happen if I opened the cleanout on the bottom of the tee outside where it comes through the wall?
So if the wind slams down the pipe, it can keep going on down and out?
Aside from soot build up on the wall, think it would help?
I'm going to pick up another 3' to add to the stack next week and see if it helps.

Like I said, the biggest problem is when the wind blows hard.

Thanks for the ideas!

 

[mcstatz5829]

I had a crazy idea, what would happen if I opened the cleanout on the bottom of the tee outside where it comes through the wall?
So if the wind slams down the pipe, it can keep going on down and out?
Aside from soot build up on the wall, think it would help?

I’m a neophyte myself, but that sounds like a horrible idea. I think it would make your backdraft worse under most circumstances

 

[bholler]

I’m a neophyte myself, but that sounds like a horrible idea. I think it would make your backdraft worse under most circumstances

Yes that is a bad idea.

 

[peakbagger]

I also wonder if the house it too tight? Domes are somewhat infamous for poor air quality unless there is a mechanical ventilation system put in place. In my area of the US, the concrete is made with granite aggregate that comes complete with decaying radioactive elements which turn into radon.

The MDI air form domes are built with a foam layer and they do not require much heat. If your dome doesnt have insulation, its going to be tough to heat as the concrete has minimal R value. The infiltration is low but without insulation its just going to radiate it out through the shell.

 

[jetsam]

If the stove is depressurizing the house, that definitely causes poor draft.

You can test that by waiting until it is having problems, then open a window and see if they suddenly vanish.

If so, it's time to look into an outside air kit, or some other form of air intake for the structure.

 

[gzecc]

How seasoned is your wood?

 

[Woody Stover]

I had a crazy idea,

Yes, you did. Warm air rises, so the taller your stack is, the more rising air you have, and the better it draws. If you open the cleanout, you've lost the draw above that point. Any warm air rising in that section would draw from the open cleanout, not from the stove.

I'm going to pick up another 3' to add to the stack next week and see if it helps. Like I said, the biggest problem is when the wind blows hard.

As jetsam mentioned, you could try 3' of cheap dryer vent first but I think if you went ahead and bought 3' of chimney, you wouldn't be wasting money. From what you've said, wind coming over the top of the dome is affecting draft, so the more height, the better. But you may need additional support to protect against high winds. Additional support is required above 5'. For sure, get rid of the 90s; Each one reduces your effective stack height by 2-3'.

 

[begreen]

You could try 2 45 degree elbows to greatly soften the bend inside the home, and get rid of the horizontal section. That may help. If you need more draft, then add some more height to the stack.

^^THIS^^ Soften that first 90º turn above the stove. The long horizontal plus the two 90º turns is killing draft.



The other thing that would help is switching to double-wall stove pipe. This will keep the flue gases hotter and help warm up the chimney faster.

 

[txvenom]

adding another 36" stick to the chimney fixed it.
got it up high enough that the wind coming over the dome wasn't crashing straight down into the chimney.
didn't change the inside

 

[begreen]

Good news. Be sure to brace that pipe well. In high winds it will act like a big lever.

Have to ask, at night by the fire do you sing, Dome, dome on the range...?

 

[edthesweep]

adding another 36" stick to the chimney fixed it.
got it up high enough that the wind coming over the dome wasn't crashing straight down into the chimney.
didn't change the inside

You could open the clean out and use a newspaper torch to preheat chimney then shove a little more burning paper in and put clean out back on and immediately go in side and ight since