So yesterday I planned on shutting down my stove and cleaning it while the weather was mild and before the cold front that came in overnight got here. I also figured it would be a good time to do my irregularly scheduled testing on my UPS system. This is my homemade, thrown together with what ever parts I could afford and find on the cheap, not a store bought system.
So I get out my meter and open the circuit breaker that the stove is on, the transfer switch did it's thing and the stove continued to run while I checked voltage and amps after the regulator and before the regulator. All worked just fine.
Like a lot in the Midwest we were experiencing high winds, constant 30-40 mph gusts here around 50+, a lot of power outages all around. I was thinking now would be a good time to actually test what the stove would do without power all together with the high winds as I've read people having problems with high winds and their stove back drafting into the house.
So I reset the breaker and put the transfer switch to manual/off. Went out to the garage for a few minutes and while out there the light went off. Never had a problem with it before...sure enough our power got knocked out, power pole had snapped and about 25,000 lost power in the area!
So I go back in the house and start to watch the stove. After ten or so minutes I notice slight wisps of smoke coming from under where the ash pan and manual draft are, nothing major but still there. So after checking it out I see that the rails that the draft slide in could be tightened later and make it more air tight. So I think I might as well pull the clinker and stop the smoke. So I close my OAK brass ball valve, the wisps of smoke stopped.
I could even open the manual draft an inch or so without it back drafting, anything further and it would smoke into the house.
Why closing that OAK under high winds from outside stopped the smoke I don't know for sure why. I opened the OAK again and sure enough the smoke started again. With the differential pressure being greater outside the house it just doesn't seem it should work like that but it did. The only thing I can think is that the warmer air in the house expands better than cool/cold outside air and finds its way around the damper into the stove and then creates a draft out the exhaust.
Surprised me, I never would have thought it would work that way. Perhaps in the future I'll have to try it again with high winds from a different direction and see if it acts the same.
So I get out my meter and open the circuit breaker that the stove is on, the transfer switch did it's thing and the stove continued to run while I checked voltage and amps after the regulator and before the regulator. All worked just fine.
Like a lot in the Midwest we were experiencing high winds, constant 30-40 mph gusts here around 50+, a lot of power outages all around. I was thinking now would be a good time to actually test what the stove would do without power all together with the high winds as I've read people having problems with high winds and their stove back drafting into the house.
So I reset the breaker and put the transfer switch to manual/off. Went out to the garage for a few minutes and while out there the light went off. Never had a problem with it before...sure enough our power got knocked out, power pole had snapped and about 25,000 lost power in the area!
So I go back in the house and start to watch the stove. After ten or so minutes I notice slight wisps of smoke coming from under where the ash pan and manual draft are, nothing major but still there. So after checking it out I see that the rails that the draft slide in could be tightened later and make it more air tight. So I think I might as well pull the clinker and stop the smoke. So I close my OAK brass ball valve, the wisps of smoke stopped.
I could even open the manual draft an inch or so without it back drafting, anything further and it would smoke into the house.
Why closing that OAK under high winds from outside stopped the smoke I don't know for sure why. I opened the OAK again and sure enough the smoke started again. With the differential pressure being greater outside the house it just doesn't seem it should work like that but it did. The only thing I can think is that the warmer air in the house expands better than cool/cold outside air and finds its way around the damper into the stove and then creates a draft out the exhaust.
Surprised me, I never would have thought it would work that way. Perhaps in the future I'll have to try it again with high winds from a different direction and see if it acts the same.
