Ok.... so after one and a half years of baby sitting my insert I think I have found the problem...bad Draft conditions. I have had troubles with burns with 15% Mc they always want to go out. So this fall on a dead calm evening the fire was burning great cold front came through at 9 pm and struggled till 11 and pretty much gave up. See the pictures for chimney set up. I ordered a vacustack today and think it will help my issues. The cedar trees are north and my house sits on top of a hill with it slope in the front yard and slope away in the backyard. On a reload or start up smoke will swirl around in the cap and come out and follow the roof down to my patio when there is a west or north wind component. I'll let ya all know how it goes. Open to other suggestions as well.
If you measure the height of that chimney, you no doubt will find the problem. If it is vertical all the way up (no elbows), it still has to be 13' or more. 15' is much better still. So methinks you have the right idea on your draft problem. Good luck.
Have you considered adding one more stick of pipe on the flue? My buddy had this same problem with his stove, I mean to tell you it was soo bad, he had to put a draft inducer on the stove.....but STILL had all kinds of creosote problems. His house was against the bottom of a steep hollow on the bottom of the mountain and he couldn't get a good draw no matter what he did.....he has since given up on wood and gotten a pellet furnace.
You're missing the point. Even though you followed the manufacturers guidelines to a T..................that may not be enough given certain situations. Don't go getting all bunged up and defensive about it...................it's a fact!!!
I'd try one more 30" section of chimney. Amazing what a little more height can do. Just a suggestion. Other thing to check is for a good airtight stove pipe. I had to go to double wall stove pipe & seal the joints to be able to burn well on low settings. Keep us posted
After a year and a half I'd be looking for an answer. 15% MC rules out wood. That leaves stove, chimney or location. Draft problems during calm conditions seems to rule out location. I don't know anything about the Heat N Glo stove but the chimney looks short, spec or not. Add a piece of cheap single wall to the top temporarily and see if it solves the problem. Burning wood should be a joy not a headache.
I added a 4' chunk of pipe to my exterior flue, to help with the similar conditions you're describing. It helped my draw, but didn't eliminate the smoke path completely. Down canyon wind will still cause the smoke to blow out to ground level or such. Cat engaged, it all goes away.
Well, I don't think anyone assumed that, but what minimum chimney height is specified in the manual? I think the problem arose when the front came through and the wind picked up. Yep, trying more pipe would be an easy thing to do. It's either got to be something with the stove itself or conditions around the stack. I'm wondering about the roof peak behind the stack; If we can see that from the camera perspective on the ground, it must be pretty tall. That would be to the NW of the chimney...that's where a lot of the wind comes from up there (I lived around Milw. for years.) There may be some wicked swirling wind or a big downdraft, with that other roof and the trees. Additional chimney height just might get you above the downdraft, if that's the problem.
My thought exactly. Usually, the manual calls for a "minimum" height. It's a guide....not an absolute. Mine says 15', and I think I have about 16. Still have some smoke rollout on a reload. It's a straight shot up through the ceiling and roof. I think Dennis has less than the minimum on his Fireview and has no problem with draft. Go figure. As fox said, try an inexpensive piece of HVAC pipe outside and see if it helps. It'll at least eliminate that as the problem so you can move on to another possible solution.
I have a lot of westerly winds hitting the stack, and get quite a bit of the swirling downflow of exhaust toward the other end of the house. Before I sealed up the windows at that end, I could smell the smoke in that room.
Guide lines are just that GUIDE lines, varying from that may very well be in order. Adding chimney length is what I would try first.
After seeing the setup from the pictures I automatically zoned in on what most of the following posts were saying. Despite the manufacturers guidelines, your home is a single story and some of the factors associated with it are still working against you. Try another section of pipe...
Will do fired it up this morning 32 with a south breeze and some of the best burns I have had....New door gaskets that I installed instead of the shop. Cold front coming Sunday night Monday with 40mph nw. Guess we'll see if it was a bad gasket. Currently 5 hours on 5 decent logs with active flame still and cleaner glass than when I started. Also no screwing around with the air controls needed
Nice that it seems to be something as simple as a gasket. Those are the best fixes. If that works, ignore everything else I said.
Confusing that a bad door gasket would cause the fire to die out, I can see control problems but you would think the fire would have ran hotter then normal.
