Strange occurrence this evening

[suprz]

I was just starting a fire in the jotul, and had the fatwood sticks going, with alittle dryer lint and small kindling. Within 3 mins, smoke started to come out of the door of the stove, and when i shut the door, the smoke actually came out of the vents on the top of the stove (intake air ports). I made sure the bypass damper was fully open and i moved the air control back and forth a few times and it didnt stop, at this point i opened the door and grabbed the burning sticks etc,closed the door back up and tossed the kindling out into the backyard. There were a few sticks left in the stove that were still burning and i could tell the smoke had stopped and the sticks that were still burning were burning okay and the draft in the stove was working now. I proceeded putting more kindling in and the stove is running fine now and right now has only a few embers left and is cooling down for the night. (We dont burn all night). I am thinking that for some reason the draft wasnt working tonight? It never did that before though. Temps in the low 40's and no wind... Weird....

 

[begreen]

Check the cap screen for plugging. When was the chimney last cleaned?

 

[egclassic]

Same thing happened to me one day last week. Smoke was pouring out of the door, air intake and even between the glass (at least now I know I need to replace my gasket). Since I had just cleaned the liner, I still had the ladder out, so I climbed up to check if it was blocked. No smoke whatsoever was coming out of the stack. Once the smoke died down, I lit some newspaper and the draft took off. Must have been a low pressure system sitting over us that night is all I could figure.

 

[suprz]

Brand new chimney and cap (Selkirk pipe , no screen) and double walled stove pipe installed 10/29/2012. Have had maybe 15 fires in the stove. No overnight burns and max time stove is lit hasnt exceeded 6 hours at a time. The wood is 3/4 seasoned at best and i have been supplementing it with bio-bricks. Last time stove was lit prior to this evening was maybe 2weeks ago

 

[begreen]

Not sure what's up seeing the cat bypass was open. How much flue on the stove. Were some strong exhaust items running at the time? Examples would be kitchen fan, bath fan, dryer, etc..

How tall is the flue on the stove?

 

[suprz]

The double wall stove pipe is about 4 feet vertical run to a 90 degree elbow then class A pipe out the wall to a T and then class A pipe up the side of the house with about a 15 foot vertical run. Like i said normally this stove drafts great, i have never had this problem before. The ceiling fan near the stove was off, and no other fans in the house were on at the time. No open doors or windows. Maybe i will open the stove door a few minutes before i start the fire to warm the flue with the inside air next time.

 

[begreen]

Very odd. Might have been the weather?

 

[corey21]

Was it raining or foggy outside?

 

[suprz]

Well, i will definitely make sure the flue is warmed up more next time and keep a sharp eye on it...

 

[suprz]

Was it raining or foggy outside?

No rain, or fog...pretty clear night

 

[corey21]

No rain, or fog...pretty clear night

Wow this is odd.

 

[suprz]

Same thing happened to me one day last week. Smoke was pouring out of the door, air intake and even between the glass (at least now I know I need to replace my gasket). Since I had just cleaned the liner, I still had the ladder out, so I climbed up to check if it was blocked. No smoke whatsoever was coming out of the stack. Once the smoke died down, I lit some newspaper and the draft took off. Must have been a low pressure system sitting over us that night is all I could figure.

Good to know I'm not alone

 

[etiger2007]

Happened to me today, it was 44 outside and when I lit my kindling smoke started coming out the door. Sometimes it just happens, I think when its fair outside I will leave the door cracked for awhile before I start a fire. I ended up cracking a window and it took right off. No big deal just sucked for a minute.

 

[BrotherBart]

Lots of things can cause it. Bathroom fan upstairs on, vent hood in the kitchen. Zombies breathing hard in the basement.

Happens to all of us sooner or later.

 

[etiger2007]

i think it could have been the zombies we had to take out.

 

[suprz]

Zombies!! Now you're talkin! i'm on it!

 

[etiger2007]

This is no call of duty stuff lol

 

[tsquini]

That has happened a few time to me. I can usually feel the cold air dropping down the flue. I keep an old air dryer by the stove to heat up the flue. Letting it run for 30 sec. Does the trick.

 

[corey21]

Or put a couple of sheets of paper in the stove and burn that before you start building a fire should warm the flue.

 

[Highbeam]

Couple things that contributed were the ice cold stove. A couple of weeks since your last fire? Sheesh. Everything was cold.

Two 90s and the evil outside chimney? The outdoor chimney is cold and not sucking the smoke, the big slug of stagnant cold air needed to be cleared.

No OAK so indoor pressures can effect the draft.

Bottom line was that your chimney was not sucking the smoke and your home made a better chimney so the smoke chose to come into the home. If you let the stove sit for that long again, start with a loosely crumpled sheet of newspaper in the stove to verify draft and to warm the flue.

 

[Slow1]

As a suggestion - before lighting anything that could smoke, close all the air vents and the door, then hold your lighter flame (or match flame) near the door and open it a crack. If the flame doesn't get pulled into the stove (or worse if it gets blown away from the stove) then you don't have a draft flowing in the right direction. A simple test but when I have had a marginal draft I found it much nicer to know before lighting anything that would make smoke.

Now what you do about it is up to you - you have options. My favorite for a stubborn cold air flowing down the chimney is a hot air dryer aimed up the chimney for a few minutes. Then re-test with the closed door test and see if it fixed the issue and move on with the fire if it passes. Otherwise you can try burning paper or perhaps another fire starter that doesn't make smoke (I never liked the smell of burning paper).

If this is a constant problem for you then perhaps an extra piece of chimney pipe on top could help out - I added 3' to my external ClassA and have not had to pull out the hair dryer since.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Apart from Slow1's suggestions I'll suggest one more thing, open some doors and windows. Fast rising barometric pressure outside can create enough of a pressure difference to force air down your chimney. If you open some doors and it allows the pressure difference between inside and outside to equalize faster. When the barometric pressure outside is rising, it's like your house is inhaling. The opposite effect happens when the barometric pressure outside is dropping, when that happens your stove has a lot stronger draft then it normally does, then your house is exhaling.

 

[colin.p]

I have an Jotul F3CB and my chimney is outside as well. I usually get a downdraft after the stove has been out for a day or so (usually happens in fall or spring, when I am not burning 24 hrs a day). I can tell right away when I open the door and feel a cold draft coming into the room from the stove. I just light a rolled up newspaper and stick it as far as it can reach up into the chimney. After a few seconds of a couple of puffs of smoke, the draft reverses and I'm good to go. Sometimes if there seems to be heavy pressure (not sure what it's called) and the smoke from the neighbours chimneys just hovers in the air with no real movement, then when I go to start the stove (again from cold) I'll get a back draft.
Not to worry.

 

[Curly]

I was just starting a fire in the jotul, and had the fatwood sticks going, with alittle dryer lint and small kindling. Within 3 mins, smoke started to come out of the door of the stove, and when i shut the door, the smoke actually came out of the vents on the top of the stove (intake air ports). I made sure the bypass damper was fully open and i moved the air control back and forth a few times and it didnt stop, at this point i opened the door and grabbed the burning sticks etc,closed the door back up and tossed the kindling out into the backyard. There were a few sticks left in the stove that were still burning and i could tell the smoke had stopped and the sticks that were still burning were burning okay and the draft in the stove was working now. I proceeded putting more kindling in and the stove is running fine now and right now has only a few embers left and is cooling down for the night. (We dont burn all night). I am thinking that for some reason the draft wasnt working tonight? It never did that before though. Temps in the low 40's and no wind... Weird....

I just had the same thing happen to me last week. Draft issue. I bought a bag of those fatwood sticks and used them twice and I'm sticking with using small pieces (golfball size) of duraflame log for a good start. It was only the second time I (and last) I used the fatwood sticks. A few days passed since I used the insert and when I opened the door, I could feel the cold air hit my feet. I started the fire using the fatwood and it just couldn't get the draft flowing in the right direction. I closed the door and it made things worse, smoke coming through the air openings. It was an "oh $hit" moment. I then threw a piece of duraflame log in the small fire I had going. Once it lit up, it quickly got hot enough to pull the smoke out and up. I've noticed the duraflame piece smoked much less than the fatwood (hardly any smoke)and heated the flue much faster. Fatwood, never again.