Smoking joint at single wall and ceiling collar - windy day - new install - also trouble keeping fir

[ancientoaks]

Hello all! great site! Just installed our gorgeous Hearthstone Heritage stove. Have burned wood for years but never in a stove this nice...Problem, tho..
We have 9' ceilings, black single wall pipe directly out the top of the stove. Two sections up we had to use one elbow adjusted in such a way to create a SLIGHT offset as we had to avoid the ceiling joists above where we had to go thru the ceiling. Other than that its a straight shot thru the bit of attic above and then 6' above the roof. We are beyond the 10' rule of the peak.
Here's the problem
our first regular burn of ownership, the day was very very damp, and very windy. Chimney is located on the roof nearly at the edge of house, but there is an ell and a carport nearby.My husband said that during one particular gust of wind he noticed a puff of smoke exiting at the joint of the black pipe where it goes into the ceiling collar..(All these parts came from a kit that provided all the parts needed to safely go thru the ceiling, thru the small amount of attic and then thru the roof.)
We have about 15' of TOTAL pipe as I saw that in the manual the Heritage needs at least 13'. He wants to change this pipe section as he thinks it might not be up onto the crimped section of the ceiling collar. You can see a bit of the crimping but very little. My concern is if we put a longer section there (it must be cut as it's not 24" of space) we won't be able to fit it in...you know, the chicken and egg syndrome of trying to get the sections to go together and then onto the stove!..should we not worry about it? it's the only time we saw smoke (but can smell a bit of smoke nearly all the time when the fire is low).
We let the fire go out so he can change the section but I want him to wait until I hear from someone else!
It also seems a bit hard to keep the fire going without it being a high burn (which we are trying to avoid in order to not damage the stove)
thanks
Deb

 

[struggle]

You need to add one more section of chimney to the outside. That is on the short side for total lenght and you have to subtract some lenght for every turn the chimney makes.

Add one more section of pipe to the outside to lengthen it as this will improve. SHorter chimneys create nothing but problems and it gets worse the warmer the weather is. You might be fine on cold nights but the inbetween temps you will have more problems.

 

[ancientoaks]

so I understand...we should have 9' instead of 6' on the OUTSIDE? will this help/stop the leaking of smoke INSIDE at this one joint? Is it ever recommended to seal the black pipe joints? how much of the crimped edge can you safely leave visible? it is sometimes so difficult to get the pipe up comepletely onto the next section...
thanks!

 

[struggle]

Some of the pipe manufacturers make a slip type pipe where one section slips/slides into the other one to ease removal for annual cleaning of the chimney and this may be something you need to look into. They can be bought on line at many chimney retailers if you do not have one in your area.

Yes I would extend the outside section another 3'.

You can seal the pipes up with the refactory type cement that you can get in tubes from places like home improvment stores.

As for how much crimp you have showing depends as some pipe will not fit complelety to gether showing no crimp. My pipes do not have crimped edges and are interference fit as the pipe is seemless (welded). The snap togeter thinner pipe that I have seen usually has the crimp ends. You should have a reasonablely tight fit of the two together and a good enough overlay that when the two sections are screwed together that the screw holes are not on the edge of the pipe crimped area.

Yes it will stop smoking if you improve the draft with more pipe on the outside.

http://www.ec.gc.ca/cleanair-airpur/default.asp?lang=En&n=8011CD70-1 watch tis video as it is very vaulable about how to build a fire as well and this applies to the soapstone operation as well.

Do you have a thermometer on the top of your stove as well? If not get one for sure.

 

[ancientoaks]

thank you! will check on that slip type pipe and look into getting more length to our outside chimney...ugh!

 

[webbie]

"Smoking Joint"

Heck, if you just used a glass of wine instead, the setup might have turned out better!
:coolsmirk:

Struggle is right - a proper chimney provides PULL on the pipe below and therefore stops smoke from exiting. It is always possible that there will be a few strange weather days each year when burning a stove can be tough. But this has little to do with sealing the black pipe joints (although that is good to do anyway). It is a lack of suction from the top.

 

[moondoggy]

thats gotta be one of the longest thread titles here....

 

[Highbeam]

Be careful with adding length to the top of the chimney since once you get over a certain height you will need to install those roof braces. I believe 5' is the max length without a roof brace in WA, that's why I chose 4' above the roofline. Maybe you like or already have the brace and all will be fine until you get 10' sticking out.

The soapstone stove will ooze an aroma as it cures. Be sure to follow the break in procedure from the manual so that you treat the stone right.

Wide open burning usually indicates wet wood and/or poor draft. I assure you that my 14' chimney sucks quite well.

 

[ancientoaks]

yup, thought that title might have said something different than intended!

We have been careful about size of fire, having read about the soapstone break in procedure. Perhaps that was part of the problem. Picked a bad day plus kept the fire really low. let is go out when stove was just warm. then restarted that evening for a regular burn. I never thought the fire ever got to the regular burn stage. it was pouring rain out, blowing like crazy, and my husband had not really split any 'medium' sized pieces to go on right after the kindling. We finally got a good bed of coals, but I don't think we loaded the stove with enough dry wood to keep it going all night. Had a small bed of coals about 6 hours later and he put a piece I thought too large (unsplit also) on it and the stove just went out by morning. We have had Vermont Castings cast iron stoves in the past, very little black pipe (old houses had masonry chimneys) so some of this procedure is new to us, despite exp. with burning wood..
If you seal the black pipe, how in the world do you get it apart to clean it yearly?.

also would adding 2' to the chimney outside be sufficient or is it a bit of trial and error? At 6' we don't have a roof brace but figured if we went higher we must have one.
sorry to be asking dumb questions, but want to take very good care of this beautiful stove!
Deb

 

[begreen]

Adding a couple feet to the flue should help. Yes it will need a roof brace at about the 5 ft. level.

Burning hotter fires will also help. It's better to burn short hot fires than slow smoldering ones. If you don't have a flue thermometer, get one. It will help you understand how the stove is burning.