Smoke Problem

[lope]

I have a smoke problem. I have a Lopi Answer. Recently replace my Jotul.

I begin the fire with a Top Down without problems. No smoke on start up.... I GOT IT WORKED OUT.

I place the two medium pieces as far back as possible. Then crossed a few smaller (shorter) pieces so they fit north to south. Then smaller pieces to start the fire on top an four pieces of newspaper rolled and tide...

Let the door open until it get on fire ---- the Lopi here has enough draft - and I get no smoke coming out. I get the fire going fast..... with little pieces that burn very well.

Then I close the door or leave it just half an inch open until it is well going. Then I close the door and leave the air input fully open.....

MY PROBLEM IS ON RELOAD ----- I get smoke into the house.

I AM FRUSTRATED SEEING SMOKE COMING OUT WHEN I OPEN THE DOOR WHEN I NEED TO RELOAD.

I AM FRUSTRATED WITH SMELLING SMOKE....

IF I NEED TO MOVE A LOG - OR DO ANYTHING THAT IMPLIES OPENING THE DOOR - I GET SMOKE

The fire is roaring hot. The Lopi is full of red hot ambers. BUT I GET SMOKE INSIDE THE HOUSE

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My old Jotul did not have this problem.

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My flue seems to be installed following the standards. It is just under 4.6 meters tall

It has a half shield on to the corner inside the house

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The only way I think that I would not get smoke is to let it die down before I ope n the door - but this does not seem practical or right.

Can someone with the Lopi Answer explain to me how they run this machine?
en a little bit
Today I just refuse to reload. Just tried again. I have the air inlet fully open. Decided to open the door half an inch for a few minutes to give it extra draft/heat and time for me to muster the courage to open the door. There was a log red hot siting right at the back and a very nice bed of red hot ambers......

I opened the door a little bit more... slowly... carefully... and then mustered up the courage to open the door fully to load a new log....

Smoke poured out.... So I gave up, closed the door and decided to never turn the Lopi on again. Again had to open the windows and back door...

Tired of the smoke....


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The wood I am burning is very well seasoned.

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Is this a draft problem?

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During one of my first attempts to begin a fire --- I noticed on two occasions that I had smoke coming out of the air inlet but most supprisingly, smoke coming out from UNDER the Lopi form what I think is the OUTSIDE AIR inlet - which I think should be cealed.
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NOW SHOULD I:

1) PUT A LONGER FLUE?????

AND/OR

2) INSULATE THE FIRST METER OF THE FLUE with a perforated FULL FLUE COVER?????

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REGARDS.....
NEW LOPI OWNER ---- MISSING MY JOTUL

 

[begreen]

The issue is probably draft related. The Lopi will need stronger draft to pull the smoke around the baffle and out the flue. There are several factors that can influence draft. Stove location, chimney height, temperature differential are examples. Often adding another length of chimney cures the problem.

What is the outside temperature? Where is the stove located in the house, main floor or basement? Have you tried opening a nearby window a few centimeters first to see if this improves the situation?

 

[lope]

The issue is probably draft related. The Lopi will need stronger draft to pull the smoke around the baffle and out the flue. There are several factors that can influence draft. Stove location, chimney height, temperature differential are examples. Often adding another length of chimney cures the problem.

What is the outside temperature? Where is the stove located in the house, main floor or basement? Have you tried opening a nearby window a few centimeters first to see if this improves the situation?

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Thank you for your reply. The guy from the Fireplace centre will meet me at my house on Thursday... We will see what happens.


TODAY WHAT HAPPENED !

1) Prepared the wood for a TOP DOWN start...... Decided to make it lighter, so no big logs. So used smaller pieces 40cm by 5cm maybe.... cuts for the bottom and smaller towards the top. Varied pieces. With plenty of kindle, smaller pieces to start the fire.

2) Nice load. With space for air..... Roles four newspaper and tide in the middle as seen online. Works well for me.

3) At 15:50 pm used two matches... Lit paper on each side of the fireplace...... left door open.... as I noticed helps with initial lighting.

4) Paper on fire and little pieces of wood, kindle began to burn.

5) Smoke seems to go up around baffle up the flue.... LOOKED GOOD !

BIG PROBLEM.

***** Smoke began to come out from under the fireplace. (Freestanding Lopi Answer). There is a square cut out, sealed with a piece of metal. I think this is the inlet for Outside Air Installation. I don't have the outside air installed.

I still had the door open, but no smoke was coming out the door. Smoke seemed to still go up the flue. But A LOT OF SMOKE UNDER THE HEATER.

Smoke then began to come out of the air inlet hole just under the air control rod.

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This must be a DRAFT issue. I agree.

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At 16:52 the fan came on.

Have left Air intake fully open.

Heater with some flames... All wood now red hot.

No smoke in the house..... after a good ventilation of open doors and windows....

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NOW WHAT?????


Tuned Fan off to promote further heating....

Preparing to reload..... No wood left. Only red hot embers..... Would need to make space.. and load a few medium logs

---------------------------- Would expect no smoke but I doubt it--------------------------------


I will let you know

 

[lope]

After reload.... and moved a few embers to sit the logs well

1) No visible smoke seen. Embers Red Hot.... Really hot

2) My wife just came in from outside ---- into the kitchen - and says that she can't breath due to smoke smell..... Not a real amount of smoke, but clearly there is smoke smell after reload

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Set UP

Single level house. No basement. The heater is in the living area, semi open-plan. Houses here are definitely not air tight.

Temp outside 51 F (11 C) ----- In Australia this is as cold as it really get here. And people are complaining that it is really cold.....

My question is weather the Lopi Answer is at all suited for Australia? Or if because it was built in the USA that installation requirements in regards to flue height should not be increased to suit hotter climates ?????

The Jotul F3 TD worked well...... :-( Miss a house clean of smoke and warm

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[lope]

NOW 17:29

Closed Air inlet to roughly 2/3 full air.

Really nice secondary burning.

The reload was light ----- Just two medium pieces of wood.

I will let you know when I need to reload again.

 

[begreen]

51F is very mild and will affect draft. My guess is that you will need about .5 to 1 meter more chimney if this is the average outside temp.

Did opening a nearby window help stove performance.

 

[Heatsource]

is the chimney cap clean?

 

[lope]

51F is very mild and will affect draft. My guess is that you will need about .5 to 1 meter more chimney if this is the average outside temp.

Did opening a nearby window help stove performance.

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I will speak to the man from the distributor on Thursday.

What I don't understand is why the smoke that comes out the bottom of the heater on start up. I did do a top down light up. I had the door fully open and had no smoke out the door but I got a lot of smoke out the bottom of the floor of the heater. Just to clarify, the smoke was not poring out the door at all, but from the outside bottom of the floor of the heater and out thru the air inlet also at the bottom. I find this very strange. What is happening to the draft here? Smoke was also going around the baffle and up the flue.


Thank you

 

[lope]

is the chimney cap clean?

The heater is brand new and brand new flue and cap and all. I did burn really dirty first couple of times, but don't think this was enough to block the cap.

The thing is that funmny drafty that pulls smoke down the floor of hte heater......

 

[begreen]

Sounds like there may be negative pressure in the house. That is why I've asked if opening a nearby window helps.

 

[lope]

Sounds like there may be negative pressure in the house. That is why I've asked if opening a nearby window helps.

Will make sure I try tonight

 

[begreen]

Also make sure that all household exhaust fans are off. That includes kitchen, bath exhaust fans and clothes dryer.

 

[lope]

OK tried again. House door to the outside was open. No fans/etc on.

Prepared a top down

Two pieces underneath: a few crossed over this: then on top smaller pieces etc to light. Added four roles with a knot in the middle of newspapers onto of this. Two matches.

Turned the paper on with the door of heater fully open .....

The smoke does something funny ---- it goes down and out the air inlet which I have fully open. NO smoke out the door.

I think I noticed that when I closed the heater's door, then the smoke stopped coming out the air inlet.....

Funny this smoke

 

[Lake Girl]

Negative pressure issue ...

 

[begreen]

Yes, mild temps are spoiling draft. Additional chimney should help a bit. Above 50F I don't bother burning. The heat pump is much more efficient, cheaper and cleaner.

 

[velvetfoot]

I have totally no experience with that stove, but I was curious and did a little searching. Lopi brags about some of their stoves having a bypass damper, even though not catalytic, to help with smoke on reload. Since your stove is new, could it maybe have that feature and you didn't know about it?

 

[begreen]

Good thought. Some larger Lopi models have a bypass, but not the Answer.

 

[lope]

For any one that might have read these posts. After insisting with the seller, and they coming several times to turn a fire on, and reporting very strongly that it was their unanimous professional opinion that the heater was working perfectly fine.... I had a representative of Lopi drive more than two hours to my house, and in less then 15 minutes, he inspected the heater and detected the problem. Yes There was a problem in the installation of the flue, which was placed in a manner that it landed a few millimetres off the baffle.

Had the installer come back, install a ring in the flue so it sits as it should --- and wow --- there is draft and now we are happy.

So the professionals that came to my house to burn a fire and see how it was working, really knew nothing about how a wood fire heater should work. Incredible.

 

[velvetfoot]

Fantastic that you found the solution!
There are a lot of bozos in the world.

 

[webby3650]

I'm glad it got resolved. I'm a little confused with what was wrong though. The way a Lopi flue collar is designed I don't see how they could have blocked the flue during installation. Assuming they were using the proper parts.

 

[begreen]

Wow, so glad you got this figured out. I didn't see that one coming. Thanks for letting us know what the problem was. It sounds like the liner was extended into the stove so that it was just above the baffle. Not sure how that is possible without notching it. Wondering if the AU flue collar is different from US models?

 

[huauqui]

So glad you got this figured out! That sounds like it was a dangerous situation.