Yet another newb looking for help with his 1557 Hot Blast......

[southbound]

Ok let me start off by saying hello.. I need some input please.


I have a Hot Blast 1557 that has been giving me fits since it's so called install..Please let me start from the beginning this all started about this time last year. My wife and I got a piece of land and we had a double wide trailer (yes we live in a mobile home) set up on it. When I saw how many trees that the folks clearing the lot had pushed down and how many that TVA cut down I thought I need a wood stove!! Then my wife says not in the house. She said she grew up with nothing but wood heat and she did not want the stink of wood in the house. Now I know that a properly installed wood stove gives off very little stink but she has never been around a wood stove that was installed correctly. Around here it is pick a window to put a piece of sheet metal in then run to the local hardware store for their $150 cast stove and some black pipe to run out the window. O I forgot you have to cut the carpet out around where the stove is gonna go. Well not how I wanted to do it but she wins. So we talked to her folks and some friends and they all tell us that we need to go to the Tractor Supply in the next county. That is where everyone goes for outside wood stoves. So I go and they sell me a 1557 telling me that this is what everyone is putting outside. I get it home and call my heat and air guy to come and shoot me a price for the install and he just laughs at me. Nope that's a inside stove talking about cold air returns and all. So we then talked to the guys who set up trailers here in town and one says his brother in law is the best being a good friend to my dad I took his word. That is when the drunk guy comes in. He comes out shoots me a price to do the install on it and a heat pump in the house. He told me he had it all under control and the stove would work great outside. He is right it does now no thanks to him.
I made a concrete pad for the stove he said he would do the rest. What he did is as follows wired up the stove to power,removed the thermodisc and ran it off a thermostat, used black pipe for the chimney a 90 and five sticks of 6 inch. They were upside down and all the gunk ran down the pipe onto the ground. Man that stuff smells so bad. He left it uncovered told me that was the way it was supposed to be. Well I wasted a lot of wood and every time it got real cold out no matter how big the fire was it just blew cold air in the house..

So over the summer and again here lately I have been trying to fix his mistakes. I have in closed the three sides of the unit.I also added the draft kit,installed a real chimney. O and yes when I installed the draft kit it came with the Honeywell set up. I have been reading all I can about these Hot Blast warm air furnaces. I have done some of the modifications suggested by members here on this site.Fist thing I have done was to readjust the feed door so that it closes tighter. I also went ahead and closed off the drat in the feed door. So now it should be getting all it's air from under the wood through the spin draft in the ash pan door.Next I ground off the three standoffs on the spin draft it's self so I can now close it all the way.

Ok so now we are all up to date. Tomorrow after tonight's fire goes out I will be replacing the 90 and the one piece of black stove pipe that is left. This time I'm going to use a clean out tee instead of the 90.

Now down to the question's..

I have a hard time getting a kindling fire to start. Smoke just bellows out the feed door. Is this caused by to little draw up the chimney?
When this happens dew to the fact that the blower motors are open to the in side of the enclosure the house fills with smoke because the draft motor if not running lets the enclosure fill with smoke.

Once I do get a good bed of hot coals ready for a good long burn I rake them to the front and fill it up. I just let a little of the first layer of logs tuch the coals the rest get pushed back.
Never fail 10 min. later I have a inferno on my hands! I shut the spin damper all the way and it still runs out of control. Most nights with everything dampened all the way down the house stays at or around 85. Now that is with the window's open also and 18 outside. What more do I need to do to be able to control the fire??

Should I install a barometric damper with the new clean out tee? Will that help with the smoke?

Also should I install a damper in the new piece of stove pipe? I have one now but I have it in the wide open position.

Well here she sits..

I have been burning more on then off for about a month now and that wood pile is about gone

Any help that anyone can offer will be greatly appreciated thanks..

 

[southbound]

Things seemed better until tonight. The temps went up 20 degrees to 60. The wind picked up real strong and so did the fire.
So I am thinking more about a barometric damper.

Will it be safe to let the barometric damper vent into the little shed I have around the stove???

Also I guess I will go ahead and install the a solid damper. Now the stove company says to put the barometric damper by the stove and the solid damper above it but the barometric damper people say the opposite. Who do I go by???

Thanks!!

 

[jdew1920]

The barometric damper doesn't "vent" out. It'll only let air into the flue - not the other way. Only issue I see is that the baro damper should be exposed to the same pressure as the intake of the furnace - if the shed could become pressureized (like the inside of your house) but your air intake is outdoors, I don't think that makes too much sense. If it's open enough that it would always maintain the same pressure than it should work.

 

[smokinj]

barometric damper helps me in high winds with out it i seem to burn alot of wood without getting that much heat.When the winds are calm i have no issues.Even with the barometric damper in high winds i need to damper down also! (this is for over draw) not sure if thats the problem.With the smoke issues i would think its under draw problem.May want to go taller with the stack.I would also turn your low limit setting up 5 to 10 degree hotter will take care of the smoke going inside the house.And if your getting to much heat damper down!you can also thake the knob damper and grind the ridges off to get a tighter seal there.Now on your draft inducer do yo have the flap or is it closed? I would also use silcone (high heat) on the seems in the front where its expose to the cold air.

 

[matt701]

I think you would want the top of your chimney a little higher than the peak of your house to help with the draft and wind issues.

 

[JustWood]

You're loosing most of your heat outside. That unit needs to be in a fully enclosed and insulated shed. The reason smoke is pouring out the door when starting is because your chimney hasn't warmed up yet and its not drawing good.

 

[smokinj]

You're loosing most of your heat outside. That unit needs to be in a fully enclosed and insulated shed. The reason smoke is pouring out the door when starting is because your chimney hasn't warmed up yet and its not drawing good.

I was thinking that as well but he says the house is to hot

 

[JustWood]

He's overfiring the sheet out of it to get those kind of temps (in the house) with the uninsulated front of that unit exposed to the cold. You can see by the firebox ring on the front that it has been overfired. That stove isn't going to last long under those conditions.

 

[smokinj]

He's overfiring the sheet out of it to get those kind of temps (in the house) with the uninsulated front of that unit exposed to the cold. You can see by the firebox ring on the front that it has been overfired. That stove isn't going to last long under those conditions.

good call you got a good set of eyes or i need a new screen! (even after you told me its hard to see on this screen)

 

[laynes69]

Most units like that have that same ring. Thats normal. I would worry more if the paint was burnt off the airjacket. Seen that alot. I wouldn't use a baro outside. I would worry that a baro would allow ice cold air into that flue, creating a buildup and a chimney fire. Wouldn't want that right beside the house. Does you cold air supply from the outside? It can get 80 in here, without overfiring our furnace. They can pump the heat, especially of you don't heat a lot of square feet.

 

[southbound]

Thanks for the help!

I guess I need to clarify some stuff tho.

The unit is two years old. The rust came last winter soon after we got it. As for over firing I hope not. Most of the time I have two or three splits in it and it is enough to run us out. Last night the wind was really up and with just a slight bed of coal less then 2 inch's thick it was 85 or so inside the house.I put in the average load about 30 minutes ago and just took 2 pic's..

with flash

and without

I do need some high temp paint.

The temp in here right now is 77 inside and 32 outside. For me that is just about right.

I do agree that the smoke at start up is from a cold chimney.

I did close the flap on the side of the draft motor when I replaced the stove pipe over the weekend. It is not a tight seal but it has helped a little ..

Also I have ground off the 3 standoffs on the spin draft. This did make a difference for me.

There is no wind tonight and it is burning just fine. I am still wanting to install the barometric damper and solid damper. The barometric damper will not be pulling in cold air it will be warm from the inside of the shed. What I have done do to the lack of a cold air return was to in case the stove. I did this so the two 8 inch ducts along with the 3 foot of single wall black stove pipe could build up heat for the blower motors to draw from. It works far better than I hoped for. No matter how cold out it is the shed is warm to the touch not hot but warm. It was funny when I first got it going this year instead of smelling the paint burn off the stove pipe it was off the shed.

This thing really does to good of a job heating the house and it runs out to my shop. I don't think I am over firing the stove. I just don't have good control over the fire and I bet that will change when I install a solid damper may even help with the wind too.

Thanks for the reply's!!

 

[JustWood]

Top pic. Is that square carriage bolt hole going into the firebox?? If so that is part of the draft problem.

 

[southbound]

Top pic. Is that square carriage bolt hole going into the firebox?? If so that is part of the draft problem.

Yes it is and yes it is..
I noticed it was loose Sunday when I was replacing some other bolts so I tried to tighten it up and it broke off. I will have to wait till this weekend to go find a new one.

 

[laynes69]

If you are trying to regulate it a little better, stack the wood in the firebox tightly. It makes one hell of a difference. I always load mine uniformly. If I throw a few splits random, the wood would be gone in no time at all. Another thing with wood consumption. Our house is old, but well insulated. Yours should be too. Try letting the fire almost go out, or wait for the temps in the house to drop before loading anymore wood. We can feed and keep it hot, but I find if I have a coal bed, and the blowers still kick on an off. I won't load. It saves a ton of wood that way. You shouldn't have a huge heating load with a new home.