Hi all, I recently found a wood stove that was about to be thrown away and decided to take it, repair it, and install it in my living room. All pretty good until the moment I open the door to put logs in it, the smoke comes back, a lot of smoke. And since is a small house I cant open the door without smoking everything. Does anybody have suggestions? Since is an old thing also the brand of the stove is no longer visible, so I dont know if I even miss some internel pieces. Here are some photos of the before and after
When you open the door, are you opening the dampener all the way first, giving it a minute, then VERY slowly opening the door? Welcome to FHC by the way.
Crack the door of the stove briefly before actually opening it. Are you sure chimney is clean, and clear of obstacles? Is the chimney tall enough for a good draft?
Thanks for the replies, and thank you for the welcome! Yes, I open the dampener before opening the door. And yes I am sure the chimney is clear, I just installed it, is new. One thing I notice is that if I slightly open the door, like 3cm. There is a lot of smoke inside that goes from upside down but is not coming outside. It comes out once I fully open it to put logs in it
The chimney unfortunately is not very tall. But should be enoug, it passes the highes point of the roof. The part on the photo (around 2mt) plus the roof (a bit more than 1mt)
Another thing that'll effect draft is the outside air temperature. If it's 45-50 degrees outside, I tend to get a little more smoke rolling back into the room than I do if it's 15 degrees outdoors.
Welcome to the FHC Luca If it’s real bothersome you could always put a fan in the pipe to suck smoke up.
Are you in Florence SC? I live in NC in the woods on a N slope. At this time of year it is often warmer outside than in my house. The stove in my basement has a stronger draft than the main floor. The main floor stove has 2 doors and I can only open one without having smoke boil out. In the basement both doors can be wide open no problem. It is also a shallower stove. I figured the basement is better because more chimney has better draft. A friend a little further N of me recently had an issue with the wind jamming smoke back into his house. His stove is in the basement. Good luck figuring her out and welcome.
First, Welcome to the FHC group! Good to have you here. Now, Are there (Any) restrictions in/on and around your pipe cap? I had a good friend flood his house with smoke and all it was/ was a restricted cap. My suggestion is remove the cap if you can, then start a fire. See what happens. You may need to change the style of the cap.
Open your house door or window before opening the stove door. If this helps, then your house is too "tight" and is inhibiting the draft. . You might need an outside air kit if this is the case. If it doesn't help, you have a mis-match between your stove and chimney setup, which can be fixed. Just need to know which is the problem to focus on.
Here is 18'. That said we have one masonry exterior chimney, even though lined and insulated we have to pre heat it to get the draft going the right direction.
Lazy smoke lingering in the top of the firebox with that flu damper open all the way sounds like not enough chimney and/or a really air tight room. If you still have the "clouds" in the top of the firebox with a window or door open a crack it really sounds like not enough chimney/draft. One rule of thumb for some stoves is 3 meters or more past the last bend. Some stoves is 3.3 meters as long as there are no ninety degree bends.
It looks like you have about 8' of pipe inside...you need at least another 8' of chimney outside... anything less will be trouble with most stoves...some need even more too. And yes, if you have a screen on your cap, make double sure it's not dirty/plugged...that'll cause draft issues for sure!
Eric is right the colder outside the better the draft Another thing that effects draft is a heavy fog
I would be interested in seeing what the rest of the chimney looks like, and where the chimney ends in relation to the roof/house walls. I see there is an angled section in the chimney and I don’t like to see that. First shop stove chimney I built I ran up, then angled out the wall far enough to miss the roof eve, then up again. I had some trouble with the chimney not drafting adequately if the wind blew against that side of the building. Once I was convinced the system otherwise worked well, I rebuilt the chimney to go straight up from the stove. That drafted well regardless of the wind direction. Drawing from that experience my current shop stove chimney also goes straight up and it also never has poor drafting once there is any significant heat in the stove. Double wall insulated pipe for any portion of the chimney where heat loss is not a virtue is beneficial to promote better drafting. On both stoves I would close the air intake before opening the wood door.
Welcome to the forum Luca. Good advice has been given. The only other things I might add is to open that draft wide open and leave it fot a full minute the open the firebox door very slowly. Another is to ask if there is something causing a reverse draft, like fans over stove or oven or fan in bathroom or even a clothes drier? Only one more, is the outside chimney 6" or 8"? I've seen problems when both sizes are used together; It doesn't work well at all. Of course those outdoor temps aren't helping. Good luck and I hope you get this figured out.
All good advice. I’m not a stove expert by far but I know some models have a tin flapper on the inside on top of doorway. Sole purpose is to stop smoke from rolling out. Usually one of the first parts that falls out or degrades on a well used stove. Maybe you’re missing one on this rebuild? Look for a couple slots/holes/pivot points etc inside the top of firebox,
