Wind Direction Cap?

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kbcarolina

Member
Jan 27, 2015
25
Western NC
I have posted before that my PE Alderlea T6 seems to overdraft. It's not so bad that we can't control it but it can be an issue when it's cold and we want to pack it full and not wake up to refill it overnight. It's worrisome to think that it might overfire while we're sleeping.

I have a HUGE chimney (~23 feet inside + ~13 feet outside). We have tried all the recommendations here on this forum. We plugged up the ash drain pit with a bunch of ash and no air draws through it. We put a little piece of metal to fully close the hole that isn't quite closed when you slide the lever all the way to the right (see here: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/reducing-alderlea-t5-combustion-air.102027/). We also put a blast gate on our OAK to control the amount of air that draws through the OAK. The door gasket looks fine. There appear to be no leaks or entry points for air that we can see.

The last thing seems to be to do something to the chimney.

I am having the dealer come out for a chimney cleaning and to replace the chimney cap because I've had now 2 birds and 1 squirrel in the last 3ish years that we've had the stove. We discussed my issue and they recommended 2 things:

1. Wind direction cap that should help with the draft and will certainly keep critters out of my firebox.
2. 4 extra feet of chimney.

They say we can't put a flue damper in because of the chimney design (double wall, class A).

We're thinking we'd try the wind direction cap for round 1 and see if that helps. If not, we can add the 4' section later. Our reluctance to add 4 more feet is that we don't have a visible chimney from the street and 4 more feet would stick up. Not a huge deal, but we'd prefer to avoid that if possible. I'd like to see what you experts here think.

I've done some searching and I can't find much about how either of these suggestions this might help our situation. We don't have odor, smoke or any issues starting our fires. The main problem is that we seem to have virtually no control of our flames by moving the lever on the bottom. Even fully closed with the metal bit to restrict all the air flow, it behaves not much differently than with it fully open. We can tell the difference in small fires.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
 
I have posted before that my PE Alderlea T6 seems to overdraft. It's not so bad that we can't control it but it can be an issue when it's cold and we want to pack it full and not wake up to refill it overnight. It's worrisome to think that it might overfire while we're sleeping.

I have a HUGE chimney (~23 feet inside + ~13 feet outside). We have tried all the recommendations here on this forum. We plugged up the ash drain pit with a bunch of ash and no air draws through it. We put a little piece of metal to fully close the hole that isn't quite closed when you slide the lever all the way to the right (see here: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/reducing-alderlea-t5-combustion-air.102027/). We also put a blast gate on our OAK to control the amount of air that draws through the OAK. The door gasket looks fine. There appear to be no leaks or entry points for air that we can see.

The last thing seems to be to do something to the chimney.

I am having the dealer come out for a chimney cleaning and to replace the chimney cap because I've had now 2 birds and 1 squirrel in the last 3ish years that we've had the stove. We discussed my issue and they recommended 2 things:

1. Wind direction cap that should help with the draft and will certainly keep critters out of my firebox.
2. 4 extra feet of chimney.

They say we can't put a flue damper in because of the chimney design (double wall, class A).

We're thinking we'd try the wind direction cap for round 1 and see if that helps. If not, we can add the 4' section later. Our reluctance to add 4 more feet is that we don't have a visible chimney from the street and 4 more feet would stick up. Not a huge deal, but we'd prefer to avoid that if possible. I'd like to see what you experts here think.

I've done some searching and I can't find much about how either of these suggestions this might help our situation. We don't have odor, smoke or any issues starting our fires. The main problem is that we seem to have virtually no control of our flames by moving the lever on the bottom. Even fully closed with the metal bit to restrict all the air flow, it behaves not much differently than with it fully open. We can tell the difference in small fires.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
So do you always have excessive draft or only with wind?
 
So do you always have excessive draft or only with wind?

We're not sure, honestly.

Certainly, the problem doesn't occur "always."

Coldest nights when we want to fill the firebox are when we notice it the most and cold and wind usually go together where we live. We can get pretty aggressive gusts on cold nights.
 
Not understanding why one would add more chimney to a 36' flue system. Is there a key damper in the smoke pipe? If not, that is what I would try first.
 
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Not understanding why one would add more chimney to a 36' flue system. Is there a key damper in the smoke pipe? If not, that is what I would try first.

No key damper. The dealer told me I couldn't have a damper because of the kind of chimney I have (double wall, class A).

I am also skeptical about adding more chimney, which is why I posted here before agreeing to anything.

Thanks!
 
Yes adding more pipe makes no sense at all. A key damper would be the first thing i did. Wind caps can work in some situations but only if the problem is caused by wind. And they are a pita to clean especially ontop of a 36' chimney.
 
No key damper. The dealer told me I couldn't have a damper because of the kind of chimney I have (double wall, class A).

I am also skeptical about adding more chimney, which is why I posted here before agreeing to anything.

Thanks!
So do you have class a starting at the top of the stove? A pic might help.
 
I'd be putting in a key damper too.

Between the stove and class A chimney, do you have single wall or double wall pipe?
 
I'd be putting in a key damper too.

Between the stove and class A chimney, do you have single wall or double wall pipe?

Double wall. I'm going to call the dealer tomorrow... stand by for updates!

I spent about 3 minutes on YouTube looking at key dampers and it looks like even we can install one. I have to figure out why they told me I couldn't have one. I believe I asked for a flue damper not key damper when I started this 2 weeks ago with the dealer. I really hope that just the wrong word isn't the culprit here... I did describe my problem in detail, however.

Stand by for more... I appreciate all the input so far! :D
 
No key damper. The dealer told me I couldn't have a damper because of the kind of chimney I have (double wall, class A).

I am also skeptical about adding more chimney, which is why I posted here before agreeing to anything.

Thanks!
The key damper goes in the connector pipe, usually about 12-18" above the stove, not the chimney pipe. With single wall stove pipe it's an easy retrofit. If double-wall, the stove pipe mfg. makes them in a 6" section of stove pipe.