Yesterday was the first much warmer day of the past 2 months - I noticed an immediate change in my draft - had to leave the air open for much longer to get the load burning well. I'm guessing you did have a weak draft, since you are closer to me and probably had warmer temps too. But, cap/flue is also telling a story about wood quality/burning temps. Cheers!
Today the magnet temp gauge on the stove reads on the upper end of the perfect zone. Is that zone set for the stove or for the flue?
What Thermometer did you get a Rutland maybe ? What's the temperature 400,500,600 stove top? Most important is the pipe temp , it should be 300 or higher on SW pipe
My stove in the basement (with an outer wall chimney) will do exactly what you mentioned when the temps outside reach 35 degrees or higher and I choke the fire down prematurely. To stop it from happening, I make sure my secondary burn is going well before I close the air off. And then wait a few minutes with the air off to be sure the secondaries are burning strong enough on their own so I can go to bed. I don't know how your stove operates, but I suspect your wife may have closed the air down early. And yes, the missing outside cap was probably the cause of the low draft.
Yes that is a component of buildup, but allowing very dry wood to smoulder will contribute as well. I am very sensitive to secondary burn in my stove. It will start out strong, but after a while it will become less so. At that point, if I increase the air slightly, it allows the secondary to kick in strong again. This typically carries the stove until there are no wood gasses remaining and the wood is just coals. Obviously that means you have to be home to tend it which isn't always the case with me. But when I am home, I do try to manage it better.
Not as much as I thought I'd get. It's clean now. The cap had a great deal more than the vertical pipe itself.
Not dryer wood. These are Envi 8 bio bricks. They are very dry. It's from burning them at too low of a setting.
The missing cap could have been causing most of the problem- cool chimney and lack of draft. Now that its clean and complete, it may burn fine at the same draft settings. You'll find out.
I stand corrected. Get some dry wood! Don't shut draft down as far as you do; learn the stove's sweet spot. Glad all is well.
