Puffs of smoke from Fireplace Insert?

[BraveDave]

Hey Everyone,

I'm new to the board and relatively new to the world of woodstoves. Heres a question I have on a occurance that began recenlty.

Last fall I purchased a fireplace insert and had it professionally installed in my livingroom, and I used it light to moderate through the 2006/07 season. This season I've been using it fairly constant. It burns for about 5 to maybe 6 hours tops, so I usually only wake up with a bed of hot coals upon which to stoke it up again. Anyway, over the past week I've noticed that once in awhile I hear a little puff and smoke comes out from the face plate trim that provides a clean look around the insert. I am not sure what is causing this or how dangerous it is? It has not happened until now, and I've been burning since November (through one cord +). The Insert was installed with a pipe going the entire legnth of the chimney with the last few feet being stainless steel and a cap. I have a Vermont Castings Winterwarm 2080 which has a catalytic converter. I have yet to dissasemel the hood to inspect the catalytic converter, and was planning to do a complete cleaning this spring, but since this problem started I was thinking of doing so. I thought of this board and figured I'd ask to seek some advice from y'all.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

~David
P.S. Go Patriots

 

[webbie]

Hopefully the entire length of pipe going up the chimney is stainless, since you certainly could not call any other job "pro".

Another question is whether a tight fitting block off plate was installed in the upper firebox.

I doubt that is has much to do with the cat or cleaning....but it would not do any hard to dust out the cat at some point. It is most likely flashback.....

check this article and the associated links.
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/flashback/

 

[jtp10181]

Have you checked the cap or cleaned the chimney out since it was installed? There is a good chance the cap screen is starting to plug up causing a reduced draft.

 

[BraveDave]

Thanks for the suggestions. I read the "Flashback" article and the only thing I can think of that has changed is the wood. It has started to happen since my last delivery of wood. This wood seems to be older and dryer than my first 4 cords (since I bought the stove). I think he the person said they ran it through the kiln too. I usually wait until I have a really hot bed of coals (30-45 minutes) before closing the damper, which cuts the stove over to the catalytic converter. The instructions call for the damper to be open or closed and is not meant to be operated in a partial position. I can play with the draft control a bit. Depending on the snow storm, when I get a chance I'll pull out the ladder and check the cap. I have a one story house, so the chimney isn't that high. Since this occurance is new, I'm betting it's the wood.

The pipes have not been cleaned yet, I was planning on doing so this spring. I was going to burn one of those "sweeping logs" after I did some research on them here in the forums.

Oh, as for the pipe liner, the store I bought the stove, a well established store in Hingham, recommended the installer and even gave me his card. I took a quick look and it looks like it's all stainless. I think it was the cap he was asking if I wanted stainless or not, which I choose stainless.

Thanks for your suggestions and info!

-David

 

[webbie]

Very dry wood is always suspect in this cases. Maybe you can mix it with wood that has a bit more moisture or at least adjust for the other factors as suggested by the article.