Smoke rolling into room

[smmm]

Okay. We started our first fire this weekend. Start up went very smooth. Did not have a problem starting the fire or getting a draft going.

The only thing I am wondering about is that when there is a decent amount of wood in the stove and I open the door to add more, there is a small amount of smoke that rolls into the room. If I way until there is not much wood left and the fire is pretty small, I can open the door all the way and there is no smoke. Any ideas.

I crack the door and wait about 15 seconds before I open the door all the way. When I first open the door there isn't any smoke at all. After about 5 seconds it starts to roll out. ( small amount) But like I said, if the fire is small, no smoke.

 

[rdust]

Pretty typical I think depending on the stove. Unless the stove has a bypass the smoke comes to the front to exit in a lot of the newer stoves. If the wood is before the charcoal stage I can see it happening. Maybe try opening a nearby window or door a crack, also give it more like 30 seconds when opening the door and open it slowly.

I find loading the stove in complete burn cycles work best for me. This eliminates having to open the door before the wood reaches the charcoal stage.

Add your stove to your sig so we know what you're working with.

 

[Dix]

Okay. We started our first fire this weekend. Start up went very smooth. Did not have a problem starting the fire or getting a draft going.

The only thing I am wondering about is that when there is a decent amount of wood in the stove and I open the door to add more, there is a small amount of smoke that rolls into the room. If I way until there is not much wood left and the fire is pretty small, I can open the door all the way and there is no smoke. Any ideas.

I crack the door and wait about 15 seconds before I open the door all the way. When I first open the door there isn't any smoke at all. After about 5 seconds it starts to roll out. ( small amount) But like I said, if the fire is small, no smoke.

Sm, welcome to the forums !

Please put your stove info in your signature line, that'd help alot !!

What's your wood situation? Inquiring minds wanna know !

 

[firetender]

Sounds to me like you hav some type of restriction in your chimney system somewhere.Bird nest, stove pipe smaller than exit diameter on stove? I would check the chimney, better safe then sorry.

 

[DanCorcoran]

If I crack the door open for 3-5 seconds before opening all the way, I never get any smoke in the room. I think you may have a draft problem, for whatever reason (negative pressure, insufficient chimney height, warm outside temps, wet wood, etc.)

 

[ecocavalier02]

Sounds to me like you hav some type of restriction in your chimney system somewhere.Bird nest, stove pipe smaller than exit diameter on stove? I would check the chimney, better safe then sorry.

i dont think so. hes opening the door with a lot of wood in the stove. theres going to be a lot of smoke when you do that. if theres a lot of wood in the stove y should you need to open the door to add more wood? i would let the stove die down to coals. what is the reason your opening the door with a lot of wood in the stove for?

 

[ScotO]

a lot of factors could contribute to the problem you are having....one other thing I was wondering, do you have a damper in the flue?.....if that damper is closed (even a little bit) smoke will pour into the room upon opening the door.....if no damper, next I would question your flue height and outside temp......short flue equals bad draw.....esp. with warmer temps outside.....you'll get it figured out...

 

[ohio woodburner]

Sounds to me like you hav some type of restriction in your chimney system somewhere.Bird nest, stove pipe smaller than exit diameter on stove? I would check the chimney, better safe then sorry.

i dont think so. hes opening the door with a lot of wood in the stove. theres going to be a lot of smoke when you do that. if theres a lot of wood in the stove y should you need to open the door to add more wood? i would let the stove die down to coals. what is the reason your opening the door with a lot of wood in the stove for?

i tend to agree. why add more wood when you still have a fair amount in there?

 

[stoveguy2esw]

sounds like a bit of negative pressure to me , try cracking a window in close proximity to the stove a minute or two before opening the door , see if this helps with the smoke. most houses will have a slightly lower ambient air pressure than outdoors even if no air is moving out the flue, items such as bathroom vents, clothes dryers and the like increase this differential the house must "make up" this air through leaks in the home (window sashes under doors etc. ) if enough negative pressure is built up it can literally "suck" some of the smoke out the opened door before the flue can pull it up and out.

as for burning cyclically as was mentioned above , i am wholy in agreement. most modern stoves are designed to burn a load down to coals, then reload a full load, rather than the "one stick at a time" as you have room.
remember also that the first phase of a fire when the wood is outgassing its moisture is the least efficient phase of the fire. adding sticks or splits to the existing fire in the main body of the cycle actually reduces overall efficiency as some of the thermal energy which would be devoted to "pure heating" is then wasted in a way outgassing the moisture of the added wood. OTOH burning to coals then fully reloading allows the coals to expend their energy in relighting and helping to outgas moisture on the new load so you get into the main phase of burning using less of the new loads potential bottom line , burning by the load instead of a constant addition method is the most efficient method IMHO

 

[Wood Duck]

For comparison with your stove, I think my stove is working correctly and my chimney drafts pretty well, but I get the same thing if I open the door while there is still a fair bit of wood in there. I am not sure what you mean when you say smoke is rolling out, but with my stove there can be a fair amount of smoke escaping in waves. i don't like that. I generally load the stove, light it up, and except for maybe cracking it a little while the fire is starting up, I don't open the door again until the wood is charcoal. At charcoal stage there isn't much if any smoke.

 

[lillyrat]

I have the exact same problem with my summit. I believe it has to do with where the stove exhaust's right in the front. Smoke comes out and goes right over the top of the stove, kind of like it is stuck to it. I don't know but I have close to 20' ceiling in the room and wonder if this doesn't contribute. I haven't tried opening a window yet but I try and wait till only coals exist before I reload and even then, we still get a whiff of smoke out of the stove.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Okay. We started our first fire this weekend. Start up went very smooth. Did not have a problem starting the fire or getting a draft going.

The only thing I am wondering about is that when there is a decent amount of wood in the stove and I open the door to add more, there is a small amount of smoke that rolls into the room. If I way until there is not much wood left and the fire is pretty small, I can open the door all the way and there is no smoke. Any ideas.

I crack the door and wait about 15 seconds before I open the door all the way. When I first open the door there isn't any smoke at all. After about 5 seconds it starts to roll out. ( small amount) But like I said, if the fire is small, no smoke.

And why would you want to open the stove door when there is still a small amount of wood in there? That is the time to open the draft fully and let it burn the rest of the way down and then open the door to add wood.

 

[smmm]

Wow ! Thanks for all the replies. I have a buck model 81. Smoke can only exit out the front. I will add it to my sig line. The reason I was opening the door with wood is because I was like a kid lighting that first fire. I put a lot of work into it and just couldn't sit back and watch. When it happens it is not much smoke all... Just little waves of it. Doesn't happen at all when it's down to coals or a small fire.

Ive only had it going twice now. Just got back in town.

The other thing is that it says it's equipped with an air wash system for the glass but the glass still gets dark. Is that normal. Course it could be from opening the doors too often. I think I'm past that stage now though.

Ohh yeah. It was About 45 degrees outside. And a little windy. I opened the door to see if that would help and it didn't. When the door is closed and the air control is all the way open, the fire roars. So I don't think anything is blocking it.

I think I'm convinced it was user error opening the door too often. Just wondering about the glass now.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, opening the door too often can cause black glass because when you open the door, the firebox cools quite a bit. Looks like you will be okay now though by letting the stove do what it is supposed to do for you. Don't try to fix it if it is working okay.

 

[LLigetfa]

Blackened glass will be about less than ideal wood or not enough air.

 

[smmm]

Okay... Started another fire and loaded it about four times through the burn process and did everything like I was supposed to. NO SMOKE into room from opening door. And the glass stayed clean the entire time. Even after the fire died out. Thanks again!

One other problem I'm hoping you can answer about smoke though:

When I first start the fire everything works great. The chimney starts to draft right away and I have no problem getting the fire going. No smoke enters the room. However, after about a minute a little smoke does come out of the bottom and top (where the vent holes are for the fan to push out the hot air on top and at the bottom where the wires of the fan are located). You open a trap door to get to the wires and there is smoke in there. I no that the smoke is not supposed to be in these two places and have no idea how it is getting there.?

Through this process,,, absolutely no smoke exits through the door that I have open to start the fire. As a matter of fact, a lot of the smoke that is coming out of the bottom is being sucked back into the stove through the door so I can't see how it is a draft problem... After the fire gets big this smoking stops and does not happen again through the remainder of the burn process...

Haven't added my stove yet but it is:
Freestanding buck model 81 non catalytic
tee supported with one elbow and tee (about 2feet of horizontal run)
height from stove to chimney cap is about 27'

 

[raygard]

Strange. Cause I do this: When it's time to reload first of all crack your door about half an inch for several seconds, the airflow for the fire will now come in through the door (creating a suction effect) after a few seconds open the door fully and insert wood and close. No smoke.

 

[woodmiser]

Strange. Cause I do this: When it's time to reload first of all crack your door about half an inch for several seconds, the airflow for the fire will now come in through the door (creating a suction effect) after a few seconds open the door fully and insert wood and close. No smoke.

Same here. Be patient. Crack the door for a couple seconds. You will see the smoke start getting sucked up the flue. Open the door slowly so as not to create a suction, pulling smoke out.

 

[smmm]

My post might have been confusing. I can add wood to the stove all night long and not get any smoke. This smoking only occurs durring the start up. It doesnt leak the door though. Only through the areas where smoke shouldn't even be.