New Feature from the Encore: Back puffing!

This is my fourth winter with the Encore. First time it has ever back puffed on me. Did it Saturday evening and this afternoon. Simple to correct, you open the air up, but still a pain to deal with.

Wood is pine. Split two to three years ago.

Loaded the stove, engaged the cat at about 450, let it rumble up to 600, cut the air back a bit, wait, then a bit more, wait, then a bit more.

Air was open at about 40% when it started back puffing.

 

Maybe the mild outdoor temps cause weaker draft? Ours used to backpuff but did alot less once we did the mods to it.

 

Don't know. I know this isn't the first time I ran it in mild weather (and milder weather at that).

 

I added 2 feet of pipe to my flue this year and so far so good - no more backpuffs even in the mild temps.

Gark what mods do you think fixed the IS backpuff?

 

Wasn't it you that "swapped" stoves??? If so, are your chimneys equivalent to each other??? Different sides/parts of the house???

 

I used to have a Fireview where the Progress is. It also used to backpuff a lot. The chimney for that setup is 15 feet and sometimes it's tricky to get a cold stove started without smoking out the house.

I have another chimney (24 feet tall) on the other side of the house - just installed the Palladian. So far not a hint of the Palladian backpuffing and the draft is always pulling even when its 70F outside. A lit match drew its smoke up the flue during the Summer. Amazing what a difference flue height makes.

 

I'm assuming you also burned Pine in it before? Probably just a fluke; Maybe a combination of things like, wind from an unusual direction, got a little more of the wood gassing than usual (easy with Pine, but seems like you ramped the air down slow enough,) not very cold out. Or too many stoves running, creating negative draft.

Huh. I had the Fireview on a 16' liner here, exterior masonry. Drafted great even when it was warm, like 50+. Never back-puffed that I can recall. I could get flash-over burns sometimes though, which is close to a back-puff. More than one person has reported the Fv working OK on 13'.

 

Had the same problem a couple weeks ago with the new IS. Since it was the first time it's happened to me I had no idea what was going on, the house had a distinct smoke odor. I posted here and most of the guys responding kinda knew. At least I know what to look for now.

 

I wonder if my real problem is not the 15' chimney, but the fact that it runs up the middle of the non-gable side of a cathedral ceiling room. I am pretty sure I meet the 2-3-10 rule but maybe not.

 

I'm at 25'.

 

Yep. Burned Pine in it the previous two winters.

It was in the 40s the first time, so, not too mild. Second time it was in the low 50s, which is mild, but combined with the backpusffing the previous day made me rule it out. I know you were joking about the multiple stoves, but I was only running the Encore at the time.

[/QUOTE]Huh. I had the Fireview on a 16' liner here, exterior masonry. Drafted great even when it was warm, like 50+. Never back-puffed that I can recall. I could get flash-over burns sometimes though, which is close to a back-puff. More than one person has reported the Fv working OK on 13'.[/QUOTE]
My lined chimney is sitting at about 25' for the Encore.

 

Kind of surprised that the IS would backpuff based on the design. I'm assuming the remedy is the same as it would be for the Encore; open the air up all the way. If it is still acting odd, disengage the cat and let it rumble for a while.

 

Maybe it doesn't like the chimney it is now on? Is it 8" or 6"?

 

6". The Encore wasn't moved. Same chimney it has always been attached to. The Defiant was the VC that was relocated.

 

Warm weather and a limited draft that night seem to be the culprits. I can't imagine seeing that too much more with the cooler weather on the way in.

 

That should be pulling well and preventing smoke build-up even if it's not too cold out, but maybe not in a down-draft design.

 

Yeah, you would think... but VC likes to keep you on your toes.

Can't complain for the price, but I will not be said to see them go in the next 12-24 months.

 

Probably learned a bit from them....maybe more than you wanted to know. A guy up the road had a Defiant for years. I don't see him much but whenever I did, he had another story about some part he needed to replace. I don't think he frequented any stove forums either...had to learn everything the hard way. Last time I was over there, he had a Liberty in there. Yeah, my Dutchwest is a VC, but it's fairly straightforward. For all of its quirks, the Defiant has maybe the coolest name in all of stovedom.

 

coolest and, oddly, appropriate.

 

Good one! And, it Defies all who attempt to operate it.