Wood Stove Direct Connection vs. positive

[CJK440]

Forgive me if I am just not understanding it but I did look in the FAQ and still have some questions/concerns.

I've got an Avalon Pendelton insert in the basement of my raised ranch. The home was built in the mid 70's and features a clay lined exterior chimney. If I had to guess on the dimensions, perhaps 7x11 rectangular?? I installed the stove a couple years back by simply removing the damper and bolted a blanking plate in place. It has a cutout for a section of stove pipe to protrude thru and past the plate by a little amount. This is exactly as per the stoves owners manual as a Direct Masonary connection.

Last year before the burning season I peered down the chimney. After one year of this setup there was only a light powdery soot on the inside with some patches of exposed clay tile. No heavy buildup at all, nothing shiny. But again, this is only peering down from the top with a flashlight. As for draft issues, the only problems I experience is early on in the season when it is not that cold, other than that everything seems great.

From what I read, direct connections are prone to poor drafting and quicker creosote buildup. But if I don't seem to suffer either, what is the motivation to spend ~$600 on a liner?

I'm going to purchase a sooteater rotary cleaner and give it a good cleaning myself, perhaps there is more creosote than I think.

 

[begreen]

Often basement installs have to deal with negative pressure and are not so successful. You are one of the lucky ones. Perhaps this is because it is a ranch? A liner often solves the issue for these cases.

One thing I wonder about is when you clean the chimney, how do you clean out all the creosote that has fallen on top of the blocking plate? Do you remove the stove and plate?

 

[CJK440]

Thats a good question. I've never done it myself but will find out soon. Just bought a Sooteater and am sure the proper way to do it is to remove the plate. Its just a sheet steel plate with bolts and fender washers pinching the damper lip.

 

[budman]

Now if you had a liner u would not have to pull the stove and remove the block off plate to
do a simple cleaning.It would draft better and stay cleaner to.

 

[CJK440]

Now if you had a liner u would not have to pull the stove and remove the block off plate to
do a simple cleaning.It would draft better and stay cleaner to.

That is true. We'll see what a PITA it is this go around when I clean it myself but if its not too bad, I'd rather keep the $5-600 for liner in exchange for a little elbow grease or soot.

But explain "draft better". Other than starting a fire in the warmer times at the ends of the seasons, I don't notice any draft issues. I open the door light off a starter with a little cut up skid wood to get it started, then it takes off from there. Is there a performance/efficiency thing I am missing out on that a newbie like me is not noticing???

 

[begreen]

Low temps can be a sign of poor draft, especially if there is little or no secondary combustion. Another sign might be a constantly dirty door glass. Do you have a thermometer on the stove? If so, what temperature does it normally burn at when cruising?

 

[CJK440]

No thermometer (but will have one soon) and I was cleaning glass every 1 - 2 weeks. It wasn't completely blacked out, but needed a cleaning to get the view.

 

[begreen]

That's not too bad. Hard to say if there is weak draft or not. Did you see good secondary burning after a reload when the air was closed down? It might be just fine or perhaps the wood was not ideal? How well seasoned was last year's wood?

 

[agartner]

Your house sounds just about the same as mine - basement stove and exterior chimney.

For the last several years, I've been burning my freestanding stove with a flexliner running up into the first flue tile with a good airtight blockoff plate. Every year, I would disassemble everything and have the sweep come clean and inspect. I burned either good seasoned wood or biobricks. Never had a problem with creosote, but if weather conditions really sucked (low barometric pressure, rain, shoulder season) I would have draft issues. Either I had to prime the flue (heating it up by sticking a burning newspaper in the stove), or open a window, or stand on my head and cluck like a chicken. Once I appeased the draft gods, things would be ok and the stove would burn allright.

I finally broke down and drank the full liner kool-aid. So far, the results seem to be really positive. Season's early yet, but the few small burns I've had so far seemed to be stronger and hotter while using less primary air. I won't be able to tell if things will be truly more efficient until 24x7 time rolls around, but at this point, it seems to have been a good decision.

 

[CJK440]

One thing I wonder about is when you clean the chimney, how do you clean out all the creosote that has fallen on top of the blocking plate? Do you remove the stove and plate?

Well I finally had some time to play with my sooteater. I pulled the stove out and disconnected the elbow stove pipe and dropped the short section of flex pipe out. The cleanout on that had a good collection of debris and the top of my blanking plate had a ton too, almost like sand. The soot eater cleaned the clay liner like a champ, the whole way to the top is no that ruddy clay color, so no real baked on creosote depsoits. The only area where I couldn't get the deposits off was in the smoke chamber but I assume thats a different construction than clay liner right?

When I was done I simply snaked a shop vac hose up the oval hole in the blanking plate and back down again and cleaned it all. No need to remove the plate.

Now I just need colder weather to fire it up.