Problem with excessive intake, please help!

[tgaito78]

Hoping someone can help!

I have a Jotul Blackbear installed in my basement which has been running pretty good up until now. I'm having a problem with starting fires due to the stove pulling air in. Now I end up with a room full of smoke because the stove pushes it all out. Its a really strong intake, you can light a lighter and it almost puts it out, or a simple piece of newspaper goes out within seconds. I've tried opening windows to pull in air, opening doors, running fans to pull air from outside in, push it out..nothing works!

I'm fairly new to the world of stoves so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[fossil]

I wouldn't try to burn in it again until you get a professional chimney sweep out there to inspect and clean the entire system from the stove to daylight. Rick

 

[begreen]

Welcome. Can you describe the flue that the stove is connected to? How's the wood that you are burning?

 

[fossil]

What else do you have running in the house that might be exhausting to the outside...dryer, kitchen vent hood, bathroom vent fans, anything? What have the inside and outside temperatures been running since you first noticed the drafting problem? As BeGreen said, anything you can tell us about the flue from the stove to the sky...lengths of vertical and horizontal runs, changes of direction, total height, whatever...would be useful information. Rick

 

[tgaito78]

stove is in my basement. flue goes out of stove from top about 4-5 feet then elbows out of foundation. It then goes up along the house for about 5-8 feet then goes into a offset to go over my gutter and then up another 10 feet or so. The wood is small pieces of kindling, not bad stuff. I've tried opening and closing the handle valve which lets more air in/out at the bottom back of the stove, didn't do anything. The weather change has been from about 35-40 degrees to maybe 20? but tonight in particular hasn't been cold, around 40...which I've lit fires in before.

Not to make the post too long but as a strange story...Last night same issue with the smoke out so I turned a fan on and aimed it out of my casement window to get rid of the smoke. I read a post about positive air pressure or having a house too well insulated, causing too much draw from the stove, so I immediately turned to fan to pull air in and it was like magic, the wood that wouldn't light lit right up and the stove started working properly for the rest of the night. I assumed tonight would be the same story, but even pulling air in via the fan still couldn't get it going.

Thanks for the quick responses, if you need more info let me know.

FYI - I noticed someone said get the system cleaned, this is a new install as of June or July, so I've only lit about 8-10 fires in this stove.

As far as what else is venting...the only thing that vents on the same floor is the dryer, which wasn't running.

 

[begreen]

Seems like this might be a case of an exterior chimney and warmer outside temps reversing draft. Basement stove + exterior chimney, can lead to marginal draft unfortunately. But tomorrow, you need to check your flue cap closely for clogging. If it's blocking up, that is the issue. If you find that the case, it would be good to inspect the flue for creosote buildup as well.

Just curious, why was the stove put in the basement instead of upstairs?

 

[tgaito78]

Its in the basement because we have a small ranch and finished the basement, so its our source of heat on the lower floor. without this strange happening, its been working awesome. Can anything be done to help reverse the flow back? that sounds like a valid reason.

 

[Pagey]

See if you can find any pointers in here: (broken link removed to http://www.woodstove.com/pages/cures_for_bkpuff.html)

 

[tgaito78]

Awesome find...it gives me hope, I'm going to follow these steps when I get home. Thanks all!

 

[begreen]

First thing, check the top of the flue and the cap for clogging.

Here's some additional reading material:
(broken link removed to http://www.woodheat.org/chimneys/chimneys.htm)
(broken link removed to http://www.woodheat.org/chimneys/evilchim.htm)