Tarm door flap - yay or nay?

[Rory]

My plumber talked me into removing the door flap in my Tarm. It's a bit of a pain to lower and raise when you add wood, and mine had actually shifted and stuck. I think that a little more smoke comes in the room when I open the door now, and I suspect that that was the prime function of the flap.

Has anyone else taken theirs out, or is it a big no-no?

 

[chuck172]

do a search on smoke bonnet.
Most never bothered installing it. I use mine. When I removed it I had smoke problems. Now its back in, I'm used to it and it works.

 

[Tarmsolo60]

My Tarm is in a outbuilding so I never installed it. Maybe I'll try it just for the heck of it.

 

[NHFarmer]

I have a really good draft and have very little smoke.It looked like a pain to use so I never installed it

 

[WoodNotOil]

I never installed mine. I don't have much smoke. I avoid opening the door when there is a full load in and when reloading once a few pieces are over the coals I get no smoke coming out. Also, when reloading I leave the door only open a crack at first between putting the pieces in until the smoke stops.

 

[Jim Post]

I didn't install it on my solo plus 30....the boiler is in my garage so smoke roll out isn't a big issue. I do try to minimize smoke spillage by only opening the loading door S-L-O-W-L-Y when I am in need of wood and closing it to just a crack between wood placements.

We had some warmer weather today...mid 20s I think...first time in about a month....I loaded at 5:30 am and my wife never needed to reload today...I checked after dinner around 5:45 pm, I reloaded about 1/4 full on some coals...That's a solid 12 hours between loadings....kind of surprised me. I need to adjust back to non frigid weather no storage loading patterns.

jp

 

[oilbegone]

Have not tried it yet but I think I will because lots of smoke comes out in certain situations.

 

[hoth2oguy]

yes, the flap is to help reduce smoke roll out. If you are going to use it, please insert and remove it each time you load wood. By leaving the flap in place, you are shielding the inside of the door from firebox temps and excessive creosote will build up on the inside of the door. This will prematurely rot out your door. This is especially true if you are not using storage. Prefer to see it removed, but it will help with smoke roll out.

 

[twitch]

What does the door flap look like? I don't remember receiving one with my Scandtec Solo 30.

 

[Birdman]

Never used mine. First year of use for me and tarm. I have discovered alot less smoke rolls out of my door.... when i do everything the way Tarm tells me to....like closing the damper halfway and leaving the door open about an inch when starting. I have improved in less smoke... the more times i load and learn the nuances of Betty Blue ( has anyone else named their Tarm ? )

 

[woodmeister]

First year with Tarm 30 I havn't had any real smoke issues and that's without the insert, but the comment about rotting out the door is a concern and no I didn't name the stove but the wife did, her choice--- the Princess.

 

[chuck172]

Chris, you're the man. I'll remove mine.

 

[Rory]

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like I'd let more smoke into the room installing and deinstalling the flap than just leaving it out.
Out she stays.

twitch - it's a piece of channel iron, like a wide, shallow U shape with lags to hook into the mouth of the doorway.

 

[flyingcow]

Just pointing out, my tarm I do not have to worry about smoke problems. The Innova is designed so when you open the door, no smoke. Gotta love it!

 

[hoth2oguy]

quit showing off flyingcow!

Twitch, the smoke flap is not shipped with the Scandtec units because of the problems mentioned. Like the sight glass in the lower door we'd all be better off with out it! (sight glass becomes fouled and useless pretty quickly and repeated cleanings will eventually result in broken glass and/or gaskets - if you want to check the gasification flame on a Solo Plus, just open the door and look in! Ignore the sight glass.) Jeez, I hope I don't start a whole 'nother thread with that comment....

 

[NHFarmer]

Maybe we should start a new thread and I don't mean to hijack this one but Chris,I have managed to destroy my viewport gaskets and was wondering if there are replacements available

 

[chuck172]

Now I have to re-learn how to load my Tarm without smoking out the basement. I used the smoke bonnet, got used to the inconvenience, it worked well for me. I removed it, now I can't get the smoke to stay in the boiler while loading.
Oh, well.

 

[hoth2oguy]

No problem NHFarmer. Give Brian in parts a call on Monday - you're not the first, so we keep a good stock of these on hand!

 

[hoth2oguy]

Chuck172, try just wedging the bonnet in there during loading and remove again before you close the door.

 

[flyingcow]

quit showing off flyingcow!

Twitch, the smoke flap is not shipped with the Scandtec units because of the problems mentioned. Like the sight glass in the lower door we'd all be better off with out it! (sight glass becomes fouled and useless pretty quickly and repeated cleanings will eventually result in broken glass and/or gaskets - if you want to check the gasification flame on a Solo Plus, just open the door and look in! Ignore the sight glass.) Jeez, I hope I don't start a whole 'nother thread with that comment....

Sorry, a little TWD going on :-S