Too Much Draft?

[Pavesa]

Hi,

I bought a Pacific Energy Spectrum woodstove a few months ago and got it all installed with new internal Selkirk chimney about 3 weeks ago. We have a one-and-a-half storey house. We're finding that even on the minimum vent setting on the stove we're getting a lot of flames and heat in the fire, rather more than the even gradual clean burn that we would like. The stove has an ash outlet at the bottom and that does seem to close correctly. Just wondering if there is a standard way of dealing with this issue? I believe you can get a kind of "choke" to go in the stove pipe to cut down the draw, I don't know if that is a good idea. Actually, we have 2 chimneys about 4' apart, the woodstove is in the sitting room and the other is for the forced air furnace down in the basement.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Andrew

 

[wendell]

Yes, you can put in a flue damper to control the air flow but I would be surprised if you have too much draft with only a story and a half.

How high is your chimney?

 

[Pavesa]

Hi,

I think it is about 27' high from the ground, the stove is probably about 2' above ground.

Andrew

 

[wendell]

So, probably about 23 feet. One way to check is take 2 thermometers and place one a foot above the stove and the other one 4 feet higher and if the higher one is a lot cooler, you have too much draft.

 

[Pavesa]

Yes, I ought to get a thermometer anyway I guess...

 

[Pavesa]

What would be "a lot cooler" in this instance?

 

[wendell]

I was vague on purpose. ;-)

I'm sure you'll get a better answer than mine but I would say over 100 degrees.

 

[Pavesa]

I ought to get a thermometer anyway, I think you can get them with alarms on which would be a good idea.. sorry to put you on the spot!

 

[Hogwildz]

Check the door gasket doing the dollar bill test.
I have 27' of double wall rigid liner which is insulated, and while it does have a strong draft, it is not overwhelmingly too strong.

 

[BrotherBart]

If you are used to one of the older stoves that you could choke down, welcome to EPA stoves. You can't choke them all of the way down and they burn hot. A requirement of EPA testing is that the user can't close the air down enough for it to burn "dirty".

But after the wood gets out of the initial outgassing stage it will slow down.

 

[Todd]

Thermometers are a great tool for woodstoves, buy two and put one on the stove top and the other on the pipe about 2' up, if your overdrafting your temps will tell you.

 

[Pavesa]

Hi,

yes, I'll check out the door seal and go for a couple of thermometers and see what the temperatures look like and get back to you. Thanks all very much for the advice.

Andrew

 

[Pavesa]

I checked the door seal and it is fine, almost new actually and nicely flat so that's not the issue. Thermometers next..

 

[Linesider]

Will the thermometer test work it you have double wall pipe running out from the top of the stove?

 

[Hogwildz]

Unless you did the dollar bill test on the door, you can;t tell by just looking at it.

 

[mainstation]

I am having the same type of problem with my Regency insert. Professionally installed, hte installers had to use a 5" SS flex, approx 28' long. I damper the insert right down but it still seems to race a bit on the wood, I would like it to just dance on the wood. It is a bit unnerving at night's end when puting that final piece in before bed. SHould I be inquiring about another damper mechanism? If so what kind. I'll try the dollar bill test as well.

 

[wendell]

Will the thermometer test work it you have double wall pipe running out from the top of the stove?

It should as you are looking at the temperature difference so reading the actual temperature isn't critical for the test.