I'm upset with my stove tonight. Not sure what's going on this happens sometimes. Smoke pours out of the door when I open it. I got a smoky house tonight. It's placid outside...zero wind. I love nights like this. I can go stand in the garage and watch the snow it's cold but with no wind it's beautiful. I'm frustrated again. I have been learning as I go along and it's been improving...but now I have a window open to air this place out!
UGH -- Getting Smoked Out
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Did you start the stove from stone cold? If so, perhaps you have a downdraft in the chimney that needs to be reversed. This can be done with a hair dryer shoved up the stove's air intake in the back (if it's a free-stander and similar to many modern stoves, don't know what you are working with since it's not in your signature and you didn't mention it).
If you are loading a warm stove, on coals, and this is new, I'm concerned that your cap may be plugged or perhaps even a baffle plate bumped / moved that's blocking something.
More about what's going on is going to be needed for a good answer here.
pen
If you are loading a warm stove, on coals, and this is new, I'm concerned that your cap may be plugged or perhaps even a baffle plate bumped / moved that's blocking something.
More about what's going on is going to be needed for a good answer here.
pen
The heart of the problem is probably the flue is not hot enough resulting from multiple factors....other than the setup as a whole I did not want to load the stove up yet because of the timing (this was an hour or two ago really) and I wanted to burn down some coals so I pulled them forward and put a split on top....not sure what kind of wood it was but it was a groan to keep going...so I put something else in there and the whole thing just started to struggle. Bottom line I never loaded it up to heat the flue up enough to get the draft going....so when I opened the door to mess with the fire and try to get it going smoke poured into the room. UGH. In the big picture this is a problem I need to resolve. It only happens occasionally but is unacceptable. The placid air outside seems to drive poor stove performance on the inside. When the wind kicks up she burns nice....
Oh and no it wasn't cold I got home from work and the stove top was about 250. I'm pretty happy with that I was gone over 10 hours....but getting back into the groove was a real struggle tonight! Usually I can rake forward and get burning....but it wasn't cooperative LOL.
How tall is the chimney? What's the chimney type and how is it constructed? Is it located within the home on on the exterior?
5 double walled 8" chimney pieces at 30" so 150" of chimney. About 60" outside and the rest through the attic. Attached is what's down below.
![[Hearth.com] UGH -- Getting Smoked Out](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/20141225_223214-1-jpg.148527/ "[Hearth.com] UGH -- Getting Smoked Out")
Is it 12.5 feet of chimney pipe in total above the ceiling in this room? Or is that the total height from the stove to the cap as measured vertically? Or the length of all the pieces together in the system, irregardless of angles?
Also, you are working with some serious bends above this stove, which reduces draft.
Additionally, going from the recommended 6 inch chimney to the 8 inch chimney is hurting your draft.
Have you viewed the cap to make certain it's clear? Have you swept the chimney recently? How much wood have you burned since this was last cleaned?
If your wood isn't very well seasoned, with lots of bends, an oversized chimney, and one that may be relatively short if I follow correctly, this sounds like a recipe to have the exact symptoms that you are describing.
Wish I had better news.
Also, you are working with some serious bends above this stove, which reduces draft.
Additionally, going from the recommended 6 inch chimney to the 8 inch chimney is hurting your draft.
Have you viewed the cap to make certain it's clear? Have you swept the chimney recently? How much wood have you burned since this was last cleaned?
If your wood isn't very well seasoned, with lots of bends, an oversized chimney, and one that may be relatively short if I follow correctly, this sounds like a recipe to have the exact symptoms that you are describing.
Wish I had better news.
The chimney is probably not drafting well because it is oversize. It looks like the stove requires 6" not 8" like you have.
the 12.5 is the total length of the double wall from the ceiling out through the roof.
Yes, the bends and the difference in chimney diameter hurts.
Nail ... meet head.
Yes, the bends and the difference in chimney diameter hurts.
Nail ... meet head.
yep that's what I am figuring too....not something I want to fix right at the moment though!
How has the wood been? If marginal, but no change then I would check the chimney cap screen for plugging.
Without a good draft you won't be shutting that window anytime soon. You have no choice but...fix the pipe-fix the smoke...then you just need season wood.
In the mean time, candles will help with the smoke smell...good luck, do it right you won't be sorry.
In the mean time, candles will help with the smoke smell...good luck, do it right you won't be sorry.
Also, it looks like you are loading East-West (left to right). Ever try loading North-South in the stove? This might be helpful, especially if the wood isn't as seasoned as it really should be, or even North-south for the bottom few pieces of wood, then E-W for the second layer. That would give more air between the splits to help wood that isn't really seasoned.
Again, this is all dependent on a cap on the chimney as well as the chimney / connector pipes / bends being clear. If you haven't swept yet this season, and put more than a cord through, I'd be running the brush down and tearing these connector pipes apart to clean for piece of mind.
pen
Again, this is all dependent on a cap on the chimney as well as the chimney / connector pipes / bends being clear. If you haven't swept yet this season, and put more than a cord through, I'd be running the brush down and tearing these connector pipes apart to clean for piece of mind.
pen
Too large of pipe, elbows and short stack are a recipe for smoke spillage.
Get the correct pipe diameter, extend the pipe to 15+ feet, and any way to run straight up?
Get the correct pipe diameter, extend the pipe to 15+ feet, and any way to run straight up?
well....yes I would need to move the stove but then would no longer have a way to walk through...which I really like. A lot.
I will have to start looking into getting all new pipe ... that sounds like an expensive venture.
You said there is 5 foot above the roof? At that height above the roof, is this a very steep roof? Does the exterior pipe follow the 10-3-2 rule?
Is there a support on the chimney? There should be with 5 foot above the roof. If there is one, I'd be tempted to add another section of pipe to make the system taller and see if that helps.
It's tough to tell from the picture, but if the stove were rotated, could that help reduce the number of bends you are working with?
Is it really that cumbersome having two 45s in the system? I see so many with 90s! I must be missing something I really thought I would be OK with this...but the change in diameter of the pipe has always concerned me. Maybe I should have tried the increaser right off the stove the people at the hardware store said it wouldn't matter....
My house is a cape cod. Still 12.5 feet from that ceiling to the peak of my roof does not seem right I will have to recalculate these things. I'll be pulling it apart tonight so we shall see. I have never cleaned it before (been running about a month now) ... I guess I will just shovel out the hot coals and tear her apart.
Switching to the 8 inch up at the ceiling as you did, is the best you can do.
Two 45's in a system aren't a big deal if the total length is great enough. But having 2, 45's, on what sounds to be a shortish chimney, with increasing to 8 inch to boot, makes a for bunch of things adding together making a problem worse.
Here you go:
http://www.woodheat.org/all-about-chimneys.html
http://www.woodheat.org/firewood.html
Good luck!
http://www.woodheat.org/all-about-chimneys.html
http://www.woodheat.org/firewood.html
Good luck!
Links to other threads that may help you are found in this collection as well https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...lem-stoves-air-is-restricted-faq-about.59225/
Good luck
pen
Good luck
pen
before you spend $$$, check your chimney cap if you have one. It might be clogged up and that'll definitely roll the smoke into your home.
Someone today mentioned the method I was opening the stove...which was just to open it. And then it kinda clicked how quickly I can reverse the air flow in that system by sucking the air with the door opening...and not opening the air up all the way before I opened it. So maybe that's it...when the conditions are right I get the smoke...so I will try:
Opening the air up all the way an waiting a sec.
Opening the door a crack and waiting a sec.
Opening the door.
Sorry if I seem stupid....I am woodstove stupid!
Opening the air up all the way an waiting a sec.
Opening the door a crack and waiting a sec.
Opening the door.
Sorry if I seem stupid....I am woodstove stupid!
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