Hi all, I have a Woodstock ideal steel and every time I open the door smoke back drafts into the room. I have a through the wall Duravent system. I thought maybe my draft was weak which was causing the back draft my chimney has the clean out T as the only 90 besides the stove pipe 90 which is double wall Duravent into the thimble. Chimney height including stove pipe from flue vertical is 21ft. 4 feet above roof peak which is the highest point in 10ft area the outside vertical not including the T is 18’. I’m just curious if anybody else has this issue it’s not a ton of smoke but reloading definitely gets some spillage. Is this just the nature of a front loading stove? I have a fireview also and do not have any smoke spillage from that woodstove. wood is a mix of ash and oak that has been css in the woodshed for 3 years moisture meter is reading around 18% after split and measure in center. thanks for any help in advance
I have the same. Fireview upstairs and ideal steal in the walk out basement. Fireview has a straight up through the roof chimney and I never have any smoke issues. Ideal steel with through the wall pipe is a different story. I have a walkout door close to our ideal steel and every time I load it with wood I crack the door open. It’s habit anymore and don’t even think about it. Doing that has takin care of my smoke issues. By the way my ideal steel does 95% of the heating in our house. Crack a door or window open when your loading to see if it helps.
Thanks slocum. I thought I was losing my mind thinking I was doing something wrong but am glad that I am not the only one experiencing it. I’ll give the door a crack and see if that helps as I have a walk out as well.
If it’s bothersome get a draft inducer think small fan in pipe . real problem is IS door is 10 times bigger than exhaust 6 inch pipe
Through the wall chimneys are draft killers in my experience. My home is really tite and insulated. Outside air kits are an option for me but I really don’t want to put a hole in the wall. Hope you figure your setup out.
I too have an Ideal Steel in our walkout basement. Our chimney is the same almost, as it goes straight up for 36" then I have 2, 45° elbows and it next goes almost horizontal out the cinder block wall to a T. At the T it goes straight up along the outside of the house for 22 feet. Drafts ok but I know with an exterior chimney, a T, 2 45° elbows and being in a basement, PLUS the huge door our stoves have I expected a little smoke spillage. The ways I've combated it were get a good amount of heat going up the chimney with my small butane torch on cold starts, open the exterior door for a few minutes to bring the negative pressure down to basement floor level, and use the metal door flap. I still get a little spillage but not nearly as much as I did when I first got the stove 8 years ago and didn't know poo about it.
We have a Jotul 300 and we crack the side door for 30 seconds or so before opening it to load. That eliminates what little smoke comes into the house. Our install is similar, about 3 ft up from the stove turns 90* into the thimble, then to the T and straight up from there.
I also have a 3” rise to a 90 to a clean out tee then 28 feet up. Have exceptional draft but still can get smoke spillage on re loads
Thanks everybody for the insight. Seems like a little spillage is normal which is good news. I did crack the slider today and use the butane torch to get the draft going from a cold start. Seemed like less smoke which is a plus. I’m still learning this stove so I think it’s going to take me a couple years to get it down.
Ok I might be only one that noticed 1985ew but your avatar pic is not an Ideal Steel; Smoke spillage, Think it mathematically 6” round pipe is about 19 inches of exhaust. The front door is about 20 by 20 or 400 inches or opening.. the smoke is taking easier route
That’s some solid math which makes a lot of sense. Good eye I have a fireview and just recently added an ideal steel this winter.
Mine is in the basement with more horizontal pipe than ideal going into the chimney. I have 30 feet of chimney after the thimble though so it sucks pretty hard. When I'm reloading the stove I always make sure I have all the wood I need within arms reach. If I pack the stove quickly there's very little smoke to spill. The big door does make it easy to dump smoke though of you aren't careful. I've also found that unless it's burnt down to coals, I don't even try to add any wood hot.
28.26 sq in...but your point is still valid. Getting rid of as many 90* elbows as possible helps with spillage too...
Thanks brendy Was supposed to say 29 fat fingers on small phone my maths are better than typing and proofreading skills
I also run the Ideal wood stove and when I reload I always open the air up and let it set for 30-40 seconds, then it creates the drafty so it doesn't back draft. Seems to help and also depends on the wind out side. Sometimes when the wind is kicking it takes little bit more time to create thdraft needed. Also as the stove coals It isn't creating a draft and needs Time to start that process again. I have been running the Ideal for 5 years. Can run it for about 12 hrs on a half load, But only burn oak and less than 15% moisture. Good luck wit the smoke and hope my thoughts assist a little in the Delia you have, Been there and had the same issue for some time, then made some adjustments and working like a charm, REGARDS, Best to all
Yup. 90-degree bends are draft chokers. I've got two 90-degree bends, one in the stove pipe and then another in the through-wall thimble. Being a rocket surgeon, I purchased stove pipe to convert the 90-degree into two 45-degree bends. In the middle of winter. With no way to spray paint the black stove pipe to match the charcoal gray finish on the Ideal Steel. It's cold as bleep now and a strong draft is limiting smoke spillage. But I'm kicking myself for not doing this project during the summer. Oh well, in five minutes it will be July 4 and I'll be witching about the heat.......
One more itty addition to this discussion - even though I moved away from that Ideal Steel a year ago (man - I miss that comfy warm stove) is to open the door REALLY SLOWLY for a reload. And use the smoke flapper. All the other ideas are valid, too. It took awhile to figure out what makes the IS work (mine also in the basement) but the payoff was heat with little smoke >
