What reading should I be getting as proper draft/draw?

[electrathon]

What reading should I be seeing on my manometer? My chimney is about 25' above the stove. Fire is burning, about 450 degrees from the thermostat above the baffle board in the top of the stove. The draft reading does not vary much from a small fire to a big one.

 

[brenndatomu]

Your gauge is not "sensitive" enough. Here is the one than many of us us on wood furnaces/boilers, Dwyer Mark II model 25...can be bought used and NOS on fleabay and the like pretty cheap ($20-30)

Depends on the stove though...but -0.04" to -0.06" is pretty common...looks like you might have -0.2"...which is way high.

 

[begreen]

Yes, depending on the stove a common performance range is .04" to .1".

 

[electrathon]

Thanks for the input. I have a different gauge ordered.

 

[electrathon]

New easier to read gauge. The reading looks similar, about .2

 

[begreen]

That's very high. Is there a damper on the stovepipe?

 

[electrathon]

I have a damper that is installed. It really does not seem to make much/any difference open or closed. It is tough to reach behind the stove and turn it. When I installed it I was going to make a rod with a couple u-joints so I can turn it from the outside without searing my arm, never hooked it fully up. Tonight once I got a stable draft (when the fire is low it dropped to about .15 down from .2 which is about as high as I see it). I opened the damper, waited a bit and didn't see any real difference.
The instructions do say to hook the gauge up using a pitot tube (I don't have one, just have a fitting installed into the pipe behind the stove) but it should just get a higher reading with a pitot further into the air stream.

 

[brenndatomu]

Sorry to say, that is the wrong gauge...the one I posted above is much more sensitive, and uses the lighter red gauge oil instead of blue...you should be well under 0.1...not 0.2...you are running probably 4 times the draft you should be....might need to plug the holes in your damper to do the job...

 

[electrathon]

Plugging damper holes is doable, there is no space for a second damper. For now I will stick with the less sensitive gauge. Looks like if the gauge was more sensitive it may suck the oil out of it.

 

[kennyp2339]

FYI all draft reading should be taken when the stove is going at full throttle.

 

[bholler]

Plugging damper holes is doable, there is no space for a second damper. For now I will stick with the less sensitive gauge. Looks like if the gauge was more sensitive it may suck the oil out of it.

If you are measuring past the damper that doesn't work either

 

[brenndatomu]

Looks like if the gauge was more sensitive it may suck the oil out of it.

No, if you look at the gauge I posted, it goes up to 3...not 0.03, not .3, 3.
Once you get things under control this gauge will be of no use really...can't tell the difference between 0.04 and 0.08 really...not accurately.

 

[Highbeam]

If you are measuring past the damper that doesn't work either

Good point, the draft sensing tube needs to be between the stove and the damper.