This may be a dumb question but Since this site is a wealth of knowledge, I’m wondering if anyone knows what the purpose of this is on the back of my stove? The small knob on there is moveable and can be set to keep the flap open or shut. When I first got the stove it would occasionally puff smoke out of it if I shut it down tight after getting a good fire going.
Is that on the back of the stove outlet where the pipe goes...like I think it is? Looks like a barometric damper, but I don’t see how it can be if the stove pipe goes there. Shouldn’t be a barometric damper as they’re typically frowned on for wood stoves and it wouldn’t go inside the pipe anyway, not like that anyway. My neighbor has two of these and I’ve never noticed them in his stoves and he’s never mentioned it. Can you show us some additional pictures of the stove, not so close up? That looks like a barometric damper but I don’t see how it can be and have a stove pipe go over top of it. A baro is designed to fit into a pipe and still remain exposed so it can be adjusted as well as use room air as part of its function. Is the stove hooked to an exit pipe now? Shouldn’t be because everyone I’ve ever seen were rear exhaust like that with a blower fan below the pipe outlet. That is one strange photo. Take some more pics of the stove please.
Yep the actual stovepipe goes out the top, here’s a pic of the back from further back. Guess I’ve never heard of a barometric damper.
Now that I think of it, I think I have seen some of these being top vent, but I don’t recall seeing the backs of the stoves and seeing one of those...and it does appear to be barometric damper, but I will refrain from calling it that because it’s in a very unusual spot. Hate to ask you to do this, but shine a light inside and show us the inside. I’ve seen numerous others inside, but like I said, they were all the same and unless I’m blind I missed seeing that on the others I’ve seen. It looks like it appears to be a factory install. Tap on it and see if it swivels. Has me wondering if that stove is double lined. Where’s the door handle?
Man...I can’t recall now if my neighbors two stoves exit out the top or the back. I’m going to send him a copy of that picture and see if his stove is like that.
Here was part of my neighbors reply: “The one in the barn has damper and pipe out top like the pics. One in our house does not have that damper. We tried the damper one in the house years ago. Switched the stoves when we bought the damper one but I could not get enough heat out of that one. So, put it in shop and brought the old one back to house.” In order to find out how the damper is to be adjusted you’d probably want to search online for a copy of a manual. Even then, if my neighbor had trouble getting heat from the stove you may run into the same issue. I’d still like to see if that runs completely inside the firebox. The stove is a double walled stove, at least partly, so it would be interesting to see it inside. All those I’ve seen inside did not have that and only had bricks along the bottom and one row of bricks on the sides...bricks turned on their sides which means they only went up about 4”-5”.
Never seen a setup like that before...barometric dampers are always on the stove pipe as far as I know...going into the firebox could be a bad deal I'd think...dunno what it is for sure. When I first clicked on this thread I thought the title was "vent on the back of Wonderwood stove"...I had one of those, so when I seen the pics I was thinking what the heck is that?!
I agree. I’m still not even sure it’s a barometric damper which is why I wanted to see inside the firebox. Surely it’s not designed to work between the two layers of steel??? I contacted my neighbor basically to try and eliminate someone adding that to the stove. Apparently we’ve succeeded in determining it is pure factory installed. I had to look twice as well because I thought it said Wonderwood. I also looked a second time because I’m familiar with these stoves also. They were made a short 25 minute ride from me. Been seeing a lot of these on CL, and none have had this feature. Now I know if two. Learn something new every day.
Still can’t see the door handles. Some only have one handle for some reason ... with two doors. That is unless someone has removed one handle.
I'll try and get a pic of the inside when I don't have a hot fire going (it was -4 this morning here so it's rolling now). It is definitely factory installed. I don't recall seeing the hole coming all the way through on the back of the stove (on the inside) but there is some heavy 'mesh' on the top so you can't put wood all the way to the top. I've been heating with this stove for probably 15 years, you can heat your self outta the house with it so there's no problem with that. The handle (not pictured) is a separate tool that locks in under the small round latches on the bottom of the doors. I've tried to find the manual online but no luck. Thanks for looking guys.
Anything you can contribute picture wise could help someone else, and could help someone else help you. I was suspecting it may not go through to the inside of the firebox. That still begs the question: What is it for and how does it work if it’s not a barometric damper? Even if it is a baro it will be interesting to see how it works where it’s located and to see a manual. Very interesting for sure.
You know...if that is a barometric damper, then where it is located those guys could have been onto something with putting it where it is. It is certainly less likely to creosote up where it is located. I’m running a Hitzer 354 wood/coal stove burning anthracite, nut size, coal. Now my stove runs off of a bi-metallic thermostat at the top right rear corner of the stove. The thermostat is hooked to a ball chain that opens and closes a flapper over the air intake on the stove that is located down in the right rear corner of the stove. When a get gusting winds and possible down drafts in the chimney that flap will open and shut with pressure changes in the chimney if the changes are hard enough. It functions very similarly to how a baro would work in a stove pipe or in your stove...only difference between the two stoved is your air is controlled manually and my stove is controlled by the bi-metallic spring controlling the heat output of the stove. That means that if that is a baro in your stove then it very could likely function just the same to maintain a given draft and to protect from over draft...and where it is located it may not cake up with creosote. I will ask my neighbor if he ever messed with adjusting his.
How do you figure? That's gonna cool the firebox and there goes your clean burn. But if you burn clean, cooling the stovepipe/chimney somewhat is no big deal. Talk to anyone with a Kuuma furnace...clean pipe/chimney with a baro, no problem...but cooling the firebox, no bueno...to this point, Lamppa Mfg says they can't even use a glass door on the firebox due to too much cooling of the fire. And some people even feed the baro make up air direct from OAK, no problems (you'd never get away with that on anything that burns less clean though)
I highly doubt that getting a cleaner burn back then was as important as extending the burn. Again, at this point we are not sure if it’s a baro or not. It may have been designed not as a baro but something else. Maybe it was designed to open slightly at a set temperature to let in some secondary air rather than a manual control such as those on old double door Lopi stoves with the slide control above the door. In that regard, air doesn’t care 2nd air doesn’t care where it comes in from, front or back. Who knows until we find out more. All speculation at this point. Just look at it. Aren’t most baro’s designed to open/close in an top to bottom fashion...swing up and down? That appears to open sideways, so maybe it isn’t a baro. All speculation at this point.
For those who have never seen a Barometric Stove, here is the Fisher Grandma Barometric. They use an air box inside that connects the intake from damper to outlet allowing indoor air to cool pipe and chimney. The back opening is intake for chimney, the front opening is stove outlet. This is the air box inside firebox. You can see how it feeds the cooler dilution air up chimney. This type damper should only be used on a coal stove where no creosote is formed or on a forced air furnace that can't be turned down by reducing air to create creosote. Most coal stoves require them since they need more controlled draft for precise air control through firebed. There should be a tube on yours leading from damper intake to exhaust outlet. I believe this one had a screen over it inside to prevent any sparks from coming out the damper intake. The UL Listing required it. Fisher had no screen and was not the UL approved version. When the flap is OPEN, the damper is considered closed. Like a manual damper would be closed across the pipe slowing draft. A CLOSED flap is a cool chimney not requiring any dilution air to cool it, so the damper is "open". The flap opens to allow indoor air up chimney, cooling flue to slow draft. It is adjustable by the weight and needs to be set with a water column gauge at stove collar to adjust draft. This works fine until the fire is in the chimney burning creosote instead of in the stove. The fire needs to be below a barometric damper. During a chimney fire, the damper opens to slow the draft. This now gives the chimney fire oxygen. Barometric dampers should never be used when burning wood in any appliance that can produce creosote for good reason. This one my have been rotated to keep it closed all the time when burning wood. Is there a grate for coal use as well? That is normally what the Barometric is for in combination solid fuel burning stoves. For wood burning, they are set, or locked closed. The calibration is leveling the axis points on the damper flap so it is level. Notice there is a second mounting slot for the weight facing upward on yours. Notice on your first picture the slot without the weight is marked (upside-down) Hor, for Horizontal mount and lo and hi for draft setting.This is a universal damper for mounting on a vertical pipe run or horizontal pipe run using the other slot. The weight is moved back and forth in the slot to set correct draft. Your weight would be mounted in the vertical run position slot, since it is controlling a vertical draft compared to being installed on a horizontal pipe run. (the air tube bends upward in the stove just like installing the damper in a Tee on a vertical pipe) Some antique stoves (upright furnaces) have an intake on the back with a manually controlled damper or a weighted affair which is actually a vent leading into chimney. The old Heatrolla had that type damper system. They are also coal stoves that produce no creosote.
Hey thanks for the info! I had no idea it was a dual fuel stove, it did not have any sort of grate at all when I got the stove. It came from my uncles garage (not hooked up or in use). That must be what the "solid fuel room heater" means on the back of the stove? Would you recommend putting some heavy foil of some sort over the 'damper' to assure it never opens? When I first got the stove I adjusted it so it didn't open because of the occasional puff of smoke that would come out of the 'damper' (and the front draft) if I shut it down too fast with a roaring fire. I'm not aware of it ever opening since. (you could hear it 'click' before when it would open and close) Thanks again for the info!
Let me ask you something about barometric dampers...why the "vertical" "horizontal" slots on the weight adjustment? This would be on a Field RC type baro...see pic. Mine is installed in a pipe that is closer to horizontal than vertical, but moving the weight to either the H or V side seemed to make no difference...
