Our stove is a Napoleon fireplace insert we had installed 4 years ago. It has never drafted perfect and seems a little worse, but could be just that we've used it so much more and it's been colder and windier this year. We've never been able to leave the doors open all the time, especially when it's breezy at all, smoke comes inside when we start the fire and when we open the doors to add wood. Just looking for some ideas to try.
Some details are, at least 25' of 8" stove pipe as specified by the manufacturer. The pipe terminates about 2' above the chimney chase which is right at the peak of our roof. It is installed inside the chimney chase and I think the chase is insulated and lined with cement board all around but can't remember for sure. No trees within 100 feet.
This model also has an outdoor intake. We've had the chimney cleaned and it still is just as bad. Sometimes if it's especially windy smoke will go thru door gasket where it doesn't seal as tight, like at the center where there is not gasket.
I tend to think with the very steep pitch on our roof the wind might be blowing out of the north and right up the roof pitch and creating some forceful down drafts at the peak. When there's no fire I can sometimes open the doors and feel cold gusts of wind blowing down. It's also so tall that it's probably always windy up there. And it's Oklahoma where we almost always have some strong breeze.
We have a common spark arresting chimney cap. I've considered getting one of those vacu-stack caps. Or a directional wind cap.
Any other ideas would be appreciated.
Some details are, at least 25' of 8" stove pipe as specified by the manufacturer. The pipe terminates about 2' above the chimney chase which is right at the peak of our roof. It is installed inside the chimney chase and I think the chase is insulated and lined with cement board all around but can't remember for sure. No trees within 100 feet.
This model also has an outdoor intake. We've had the chimney cleaned and it still is just as bad. Sometimes if it's especially windy smoke will go thru door gasket where it doesn't seal as tight, like at the center where there is not gasket.
I tend to think with the very steep pitch on our roof the wind might be blowing out of the north and right up the roof pitch and creating some forceful down drafts at the peak. When there's no fire I can sometimes open the doors and feel cold gusts of wind blowing down. It's also so tall that it's probably always windy up there. And it's Oklahoma where we almost always have some strong breeze.
We have a common spark arresting chimney cap. I've considered getting one of those vacu-stack caps. Or a directional wind cap.
Any other ideas would be appreciated.
