Strong winds and a woodstove...

[Shari]

We are experiencing 30-40 mph winds with gusts up to 60 mph. Common sense tells me "Woohaa! What a draft!" but then I wonder: Is this really safe to burn in winds like this? My concern is sparks being pulled up too fast and landing where they can cause a problem.

Right now it's been warm enough outside so there is no fire burning at this time but it will get cooler tonight and winds are forecast to continue through tomorrow. We can use the oil furnace if need be.

Shari

 

[Treacherous]

Isn't the screen on the rain cap supposed to address this concern?

 

[Shari]

Obviously, yes, but the question is do the high winds compromise the stove/burning/cap in any manner.

Shari

 

[Treacherous]

I'd have to defer that to the experts here.

 

[quads]

I have never had any problem with it Shari. The only adverse thing with the strong winds, under just the right conditions and direction, is I might get a little back-puff. Otherwise, have never had a spark make it all the way up the chimney, as far as I know. (without the help of a chimney fire that is!)

 

[northwinds]

For whatever it's worth, I'm planning on burning. If your conditions are like mine, it's wet and damp besides being windy.
During winter's windy conditions, I've never given it a second thought and haven't had any problems.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I've had some pretty serious winds when burning and it hasn't been a problem for me. With my setup I've never seen an ember come out the chimney. I imagine it might if I left the stove door open long enough but that would also overfire the stove.

If you're nervous about it, burn the furnace. Or, just burn a smaller fire.....don't get the thing roarin'.

 

[Shari]

Okay, let's break this down:

1. High winds = better draft (Right?)

If yes to the above, then

2. Better draft = quicker starting fire, faster burning fire (Right?)

If yes to the above, then

3. Faster burning fire = reaches 'cruising temp' faster (Right?)

If yes to the above, then

4. Basically all I have to do is possibly add less wood than normal, temp will rise faster so I will have to turn the air down sooner (Right?)

If yes to all the above, then you can applaud me now.

(I've only burned since February of this year so I'm still a beginner in burning in different situations - and the weather today is TOTALLY different than any conditions I've burned in.)

Shari

 

[Todd]

Fire up Shari, this will be a good learning experience. ;-)

 

[Shari]

Fire up Shari, this will be a good learning experience. ;-)

But be prepared to dial 911???

I haven't been burning since Sunday due to having the roofers out here replacing the roof on our home (shingles are kaput). I figured with the guys working up there I didn't want to cook them off the roof! Right now we have 1/2 new roof and 1/2 old roof as the guys deemed it too windy to attempt to remove any more of the old shingles today. We are 'buttoned up' up there for the weather so I'm not worried about anything up there for tonight.

Dang, this is a strange weather system! The weathermen are comparing this storm to the one that sunk the ship "Edmund Fitzgerald". Here's a link for a song about that for anyone interested: song

Shari

 

[ansehnlich1]

....love that song!

look, you fire that thing up yet?

It's been my experience that the firebox of my Oslo behaves pretty much the same under extreme wind conditions as any other times, sure, draft might be stronger, but the actual firebox theatrics remains the same. Only difference in my setup is I can hear the wind rumble in the firebox but that's only 'hearing' it, not a bit of evidence of anything in the way of burning embers being 'sucked' up the chimney.

 

[Shari]

a1: Will do! 72 degrees, like it is in here right now, with oil heat is cold!

Shari

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Hi Shari. Don't worry, all of us in this area are experiencing those winds.

Here is one little hint for you. Look at my signature line and you'll see we've burned wood for a couple years now. As you can guess, over that period of time we have experienced a lot of different weather conditions. Wood is our only source of heat so what would we do with wind like this in January? Yes, we've seen it....and we've kept nice and warm. Like quads stated, some get some back puffing with high wind. The only time it seemed to bother us was one time when we had an outdoor air kit hooked up.

Get that thing started and enjoy the heat!

 

[Dix]

Wow !! Gordon Lightfoot, takes me back to some days, and some days I can't remember %-P


You guys are really getting some weather ! I hope it by passes us.


How far are you from Endeavor, Shari? North of Madison.

 

[Shari]

Hi Shari. Don't worry, all of us in this area are experiencing those winds.

Here is one little hint for you. Look at my signature line and you'll see we've burned wood for a couple years now. As you can guess, over that period of time we have experienced a lot of different weather conditions. Wood is our only source of heat so what would we do with wind like this in January? Yes, we've seen it....and we've kept nice and warm. Like quads stated, some get some back puffing with high wind. The only time it seemed to bother us was one time when we had an outdoor air kit hooked up.

Get that thing started and enjoy the heat!

It's up to 74 degrees in here - guess what's burning?

Hey, I still consider myself a beginner. I just didn't know if I should 'expect the unexpected' or just burn per usual.

Shari

 

[Shari]

Wow !! Gordon Lightfoot, takes me back to some days, and some days I can't remember %-P


You guys are really getting some weather ! I hope it by passes us.


How far are you from Endeavor, Shari? North of Madison.

We are west of Milwaukee - far enough away from there to not get the benefit of the warm Lake Michigan water in the winter nor the cold Lake Michigan water in the summer.

Shari

 

[firefighterjake]

....love that song!

look, you fire that thing up yet?

It's been my experience that the firebox of my Oslo behaves pretty much the same under extreme wind conditions as any other times, sure, draft might be stronger, but the actual firebox theatrics remains the same. Only difference in my setup is I can hear the wind rumble in the firebox but that's only 'hearing' it, not a bit of evidence of anything in the way of burning embers being 'sucked' up the chimney.

+1 . . . I hear the effect of the wind outside . . . but don't notice much of a change in the temps or fire behavior in the fire box.

 

[nate379]

Will be fine. Those wind speeds are just a stiff breeze compared to what we get here!

 

[BrotherBart]

Only had one wind "event" since I lined the chimneys four years ago. Last winter we had a night of very high winds and the "uber draft" was very noticeable. Had me concerned for a while.

 

[argus66]

i live on the coast and get a lot of high winds all the time 50 to 60 + mph in the winter not really a big deal for me just a little extra draft is all ive ever noticed.

 

[SteveKG]

We live up in the Rockies and get winds off and on during stove-using season that can hit 70 mph or much higher. Typical winds are 50 mph maybe. And often very gusty due to terrain [steep and rugged]. I have seen sparks come out of the chimney pipe during a few of these episodes, usually on start up and it may be tiny pieces of burning newspaper. With the winds, these things are whipped down-gulch and die out well before hitting ground. Not to say I ignore it. I've begun starting my fires a bit more slowly during high winds because of this. With the beetle kill, a raging, wind-whipped fire can take out a town miles from where a fire starts.

However, I mostly have no problem. With embers. In this area, with the aforementioned gusty and high-wind conditions, the more prevalent wood-stove problem is smoke blown back down the chimney pipe. If this occurs even only for a few seconds, it is messy with ash drifting around and it necessitates opening a door or window for a while to clear out the smoke. I've found that the taller the chimney pipe, the less likely this is to happen. I get zero downdraft with my pipe minimum four feet higher than any portion of the roof, and this is for three chimneys. I tried making my third pipe, for a new stove I just put in last week, a bit lower to save a couple hundred bucks. However, the third burn was during a frontal passage with gusty, high winds and the room was full of smoke in moments during one gust. So, I've ordered more pipe.

The manufacturers of Class A offer screens for the caps. I just put one on the new pipe, which is Metalbestos, and it should contain any embers which might fly up and out while I await the new pipe. Looking at the screen I bought from Selkirk, one could make the same thing for less with some expanded metal lathe.

Easiest way to judge whether you are emitting sparks or embers is to start a fire on a windy night, then watch the cap on the pipe to see whether any of that is escaping. If any are, then you need to be very cautious until you fix that situation.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wow !! Gordon Lightfoot, takes me back to some days, and some days I can't remember %-P


You guys are really getting some weather ! I hope it by passes us.


How far are you from Endeavor, Shari? North of Madison.

Ah yes, the Edmund Firzgerald sank in Lake Superior during winds like we've been experiencing for 2 days. I'll never forget that day as I was working near Hillman, MI and things were tough with that strong wind. Then later that night I heard about the ship going down.