Worst weather conditions for draft ?

[NextEndeavor]

It's been extremely foggy here all night and still now in the middle of the afternoon. The house was cooling down (nearly a chilly 68 inside!) so thought I'd warm things up a bit. Besides that, I have too much seasoned wood anyway (according to family/friends who don't realize you can't have too much). This was really just a test to see about draft. Some here have posted about problems when too warm outside. Well it's 50 degrees out there, real foggy heavy air. I lit up the Lopi (from cold start) and wow, not a bit of trouble taking off. A couple stack checks from the outside indicated no more than 5 minutes of heavier smoke that settled in the back yard for a short. Then at 10 minutes, little visible smoke till the 15 minute mark where I couldn't see any. I've got to account the success to my recently insulated flue liner within an outside masonry chimney. First two seasons the liner was not insulated, did ok, but that was before I knew how much better it could be.

 

[davmor]

Fog will affect the draft. My stove will just roar when it is real cold and dry outside.

 

[Swedishchef]

I believe that fog is normally associated with low pressure systems (rain, etc). Low pressure systems will do that to your stack effect especially when it is mild outside...I could be totally wrong but that's my 2 cents worth.

A

 

[corey21]

Leaving near a lake i get a lot of morning fog never gave it much thought about fog and draft til now.

 

[milliburner]

Those warm, foggy, damp days and nights slow my draft as well. Snowed an inch last night with the temps in the teens and stove was running great. Raining and foggy now and 44 degreees, stove just wants to burn slow. Good thing I guess, its 80 in here now!

 

[Swedishchef]

Wait until it hits -20..the stove will want to roar!
A

 

[etiger2007]

Fog for sure

 

[Wood Duck]

Fog or damp, rainy, not-too-cold weather is the worst condition here.

 

[ScotO]

The worst conditions for draft that I have found is when the temperature on the inside of your home is close to the temperature of the outside of you home. Heat rises in a cold environment. In other words, when its mild outside you will get a lousy draft. When its downright frigid out, fantastic draft. As others have stated fog is usually a sign of a drop in pressure, which will effect the draft as well.

 

[tcassavaugh]

Wait until it hits -20..the stove will want to roar!
A

i don't miss those days at all......10-15 degrees is enough for me these days.

cass

 

[mellow]

Then you have the other side of the spectrum, high winds. If you don't have a proper cap your draft will go crazy.

 

[corey21]

Then you have the other side of the spectrum, high winds. If you don't have a proper cap your draft will go crazy.

When the wind picks up my draft becomes super draft.

I would rather have that rather then down drafts.

 

[wkpoor]

I agree its both temp differential and baro. Wth 41' from stove to cap I really never see a draft issue, but on cold days with high pressure in control I get the best burns.

 

[etiger2007]

I never gave my cap a thought, I used the one that came with the liner. So is there caps that do different things?

 

[corey21]

I never gave my cap a thought, I used the one that came with the liner. So is there caps that do different things?

I have seen caps that have flaps that move witch ever direction the wind blows.

 

[mellow]

(broken link removed to http://www.rockfordchimneysupply.com/chimney-caps.php)

 

[Sprinter]

Fog occurs when air temp meets dew point. But it also needs nearly calm air. It may be the calm air that makes the draft seem worse than usual. Normally there is a little air movement to help.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

In addition to foggy days and warm temperatures, during the colder part of winter and the temperature climbs into the 30's, whenever a storm is coming, many times then we notice a big difference in the draft. I have to set the draft a little higher then. Nothing serious though; just a little.