Smokey wood burner help

[DANOCHEESE]

Permitt to install a wood stove??

I did'nt have to get a permit to build my house. Well I did have to pay the electrical inspector $35.

Do the smoke test, I have a ICF house and they are air tight. I needed to add make up air for the fireplace.

 

[Egon]

My guess is the house is just too tight, and the HVAC being on didn't help. I'll update later.

Sounds like you may have it figured out.

The masonry chimney may be slightly oversize too which does not make for good draft.

 

[Boiler74]

The blown out candle tells me I don't have much of a draft. So does this mean I can't use it at all, or do you think it would work with a cracked window and no HVAC or Dryer pulling air back in to the house. Remember, this is only used in power outage situations.

Josh

 

[Egon]

Try it with a window open and no HVAC on.

It almost sounds like the chimney is too large a diameter to get proper draft velocities but that is only a guess.

 

[mbohuntr]

Just because the chimney is capped, doesn't mean bees could not get in there and block it., You may also have an internal damper that's closed.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Sounds like you have too many 90 degree bends.

Vermont casting recommends(highly) no more than 2 bend for installation of their stoves...

Lloyd

 

[MossRoad]

Just because the chimney is capped, doesn't mean bees could not get in there and block it., You may also have an internal damper that's closed.

Hey, that thing about the damper is a good one. But I have only seen a damper in a fireplace chimney.

 

[MikeD74T]

Boiler74, Get a ladder & lower a weight down the chinmey. In an unused chimney cobwebs that you can see through will actually stop enough airflow to get a draft started. Then light a sheet of newspaper directly in the chimney cleanout to start the draft. These old stoves have worked successfully for a couple hundred years now, yours should work as well despite the authority of the EPA. MikeD74T

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

here we go again, having to ask big brother for permission to do somethin!

like has been said, open a window and if you can stick a wadded up pc of paper light it and put it through your wood stove in to the flu (if you can reach it)

my coal stove in my garage does this sometimes and suddenly it'll reverse directions but i usually just stick a loosely wadded pc of paper in the flu and light it....

 

[MikeD74T]

Boiler74, Since you appear to have made a single attempt so far, another chimney oddity can be weather related. Sometimes when the weather suddenly turns warm & wet the draft will reverse & flow down in a cold chimney. Have had smoke going up one flue & down another in multiflue chimneys. What was your weather during that attempt? MikeD74T