Proper way to use Pipe Damper?

[rdust]

As the title says, can someone "learn" me the proper way to use one?

I burned my stove all last year and never needed it even though I installed one during the install. I figured I may need it at some point due to nearly 30' of chimney once I started burning better seasoned wood.

Anyway fast forward to tonight. I loaded the stove up for the first time this season with 20 month seasoned red oak and white ash.(silver maple up to now) I loaded with a stove top temp of 250 which is typical for me, started closing the air at 400 in about three increments. Well I thought the stove was settled in about 600/650 with the air open just a hair after about an hour burning. The fire was looking strong still so I closed the air the rest of the way and the temps continued to climb, once I hit 750 for a while I decided it was time to close the damper in the pipe.

This seemed to do the trick and bring temps down but I want to make sure I'm using it right. Everyone has told me I'd never need one with an EPA stove but had a feeling I may need it at some point since last year in the single digits the stove would draft like crazy with less then ideal wood.

I've did the dollar bill test on the door at the beginning of the season so I think that is fine but I plan to check again once the stove cools down. The chimney is lined with 27' of 5.5" insulated flex liner and 3' or so of double wall chimney pipe connecting the stove to the liner.

 

[Battenkiller]

Proper way? I dunno, but I'll tell you how I was taught in the old days. Close it until smoke starts to come from the pipe, then open it up just a tad. Warmth all night, nice bed of coals in the AM, pipe full of creosote... which you burn off the following morning with an armful of dry kindling.

For the pièce de résistance, make sure to put a big ol' green oak log on top just before you hit the hay and you'll be burning just like the old timers did. :coolsmirk:

 

[begreen]

With a 30' pipe you may be able to just set it and forget it while the temps are cold. Try closing it half-way and see if it works well. If no smoke during startup or reloading, but better control of the stove, you're golden. If the stove is still drafting too strong, then try closing it 3/4 and see how that works out. During mild weather, open it up all the way again.

 

[oldspark]

Proper way? I dunno, but I'll tell you how I was taught in the old days. Close it until smoke starts to come from the pipe, then open it up just a tad. Warmth all night, nice bed of coals in the AM, pipe full of creosote... which you burn off the following morning with an armful of dry kindling.

For the pièce de résistance[)/i], make sure to put a big ol' green oak log on top just before you hit the hay and you'll be burning just like the old timers did. :coolsmirk:

+1 Back in the old days before internet I read all I could get my hands on about woodburning (not much) and they said to open the door and close the damper until smoke starts to come in the room and then open it up just a little.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We always opened the draft full when reloading the stove until the fire was going good and then closed the draft. How much to close will take some experimenting.

 

[NH_Wood]

I'm in the same boat. I'm venting into a non-standard flue for my Mansfield. About 3' of single wall to 90* elbow tapped into thimble in masonry interior chimney (height is about 25' or so). Tiles are large - about 11" square, so I'm not venting into the recommended 6" flue. My draft is strong, and I've found that without a pipe damper, I'd simply not have enough control over the fire. With the primary air closed all the way, I'll have raging secondaries, interior probe stack temps of 1000*, and a stove top that wants to get above 600* (not recommended for the stones). I typically run the stove with the pipe damper wide open until I do the final adjustment to the primary air (i.e. the primary air is shut completely). If the secondaries are still very strong, I close the pipe damper 1/2 (diagonal). If the fire is still strong I'll close the damper almost all the way - leaving it open just a tad. At that point the fire is typically still rolling well with good secondaries, stack will settle at ~ 700-800*, and stove top will typically max at just below 600*. I'm glad I installed the damper during the install - my installer said not to bother, but, with the atypical flue setup, I wanted to have the ability for extra control. With all the posts about fires getting away from folks, I can't see why everyone doesn't have one installed. It's cheap, not bad looking, and gives you an extra tool in managing the fire. Cheers!

 

[summit]

you may not need to use it all the time, but it does not hurt to have one there just in case. I would stay away from using it all the time, unless you are really running into issues shutting her down on a full load (usually on high draft very cold outside temp days.)

 

[rdust]

I did the dollar bill test on the door today and along the bottom is a little questionable. The dollar bill pulled out but I had to tug pretty good. It looks like I may have closed a coal in the door at some point so the gasket is a little rough in that spot. :red: I'm going to see if my dealer has a new gasket and go from there.

 

[rdust]

Update:

New gasket installed and it seems to be burning with more control. I'll know more tonight when I load for the overnight burn since we're supposed to be in the teens tonight. I also did some investigating and found the secondary air channels so I'm going to try to fabricate so type of plugs to control them better for when the draft is strong on those cold nights.