Thermal mass

Looks good

 

I did the exact same thing...then I threw that away and installed a Dwyer Mark ll model 25...you can buy them on eBay for $25-30 if you shop a bit....it is MUCH more accurate and easy to read than the homemade...chimney draft is such a low pressure (negative) that it takes an incline manometer to read it...that's the difference.
I'll see if I can find a link for you on one...
Edit, here's one, not a bad price...I seen a couple cheaper, but the one at least was missing the gauge oil...too much money to replace that and be any kind of deal.
Dwyer Model 25 Mark II Manometer, 0-3" Water P/N 100070-00 New in Sealed Box | eBay

 

But you don't really need a manometer (but they are cheap, and I personally like having gauges) because as I said before, a baro just sets/controls your chimney temp automatically, so you can set the baro by temp, except for at the beginning and end of the fire, and there is nothing you can do to change that really anyways.

 

Well said.

I'm not really interested in spending money at this point on a meter. I'm not planning on going around checking chimneys. I did the manometer to verify the issues / solutions in my mind. This is a simple direct reading "instrument" that I can see at a glance positive vs. negative draft and mainly want it there permanently so when I cold start the stove I can easily verify when I can move the torch from "warming mode" to "start the fire mode". The actual readings mean very little to me as I'm more interested in achieving longer burn times and it seems so far that lowering the chimney draft is working towards that end.

I still need (want) to play some more after this mild break in the weather passes before passing a final judgement on success / failure.

I will pass along what I find out in the hopes that it may assist others in improving the efficiency of their wood burning / heating experience. I'm just kinda pizzed at myself for being such a slow learner and just living with this situation for several years and not digging deeper into this sooner. I have been ok with the shorter high temp burns since the stove is in the basement and it has been keeping the house warm for the most part. But I'm a firm believer that there is "always a better way".

 

I'll keep an eye on this aspect of the install as well. I do have a chimney brush and can easily clean my chimney out side from the ground. Normally I get a couple cups of ash out of it every year when I clean it and NEVER any creosote with this stove cuz it burns so hot. I'm also curious to the amount of creosote that may start showing up at varying settings to get the draft down in searching for longer burn times.

 

We've had a couple days and nights of unseasonably warm weather. With the barometric damper in place it has reduced the draft SIGNIFICANTLY on this 30+ feet tall chimney. This has made my large firebox US steel / Vogelzang Ponderosa / TR007 tube stove behave much better in keeping this stove temperature lower and allowing longer burn times. I've been putting in 2 or 3 smaller splits about every 4 hours or so and after they are flaming well and the flue temp gets to 300 to 400 I close the primary air down and the secondary tubes provide the slow rolling dancing flames for about 3 hours (longer than ever before) and even with just coals it provides meaningful heat into the room and to the rest of the house (since the excessive draft isn't pulling the heat right up the chimney). This is way better performance than before.

I have tweaked the damper setting to try to get the draft so it pulls good when the stove controls are set to high, but slows it down to a flue temp of about 350* when set to the lowest setting, this varies with how big or small the load is. It may get some more fine tuning during the colder weather, but it's easy enough to change if I need to.

Right now I just pulled the nice bed of coals to the front of the stove, flue temp 18" above the stovetop is at 240* and the draft is measuring right near .05" water column. This is about 4 hours after a 3 split load was started (probably could have gotten 8 that size into the stove for a FULL load). Flue temp during the main high temp burn was about 300* for most of the time. The house is a pretty consistent 74* throughout thanks to the furnace fan moving the heated air.

According to the manual that came with this stove, it recommends a minimum draft of .05" wc. I see no upper limit recommendation, unless I missed it.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm looking forward to the cold snap to see how it performs at the lower outside temperatures. I'm anticipating good improvements.

I'll check back in after a couple days of teens and twenties. It's 40* out right now and I've put maybe 10 medium to small splits total in the stove all day and it's too toasty in here for me, but the wife is loving it. I'll probably only give it 1/2 a load tonight before bed since it will only get down to 30* tonight. I'll probably give it a full load in the morning and see how long it'll ride out on that tomorrow.

Dunmyer mowing llc , I feel like I've highjacked your thread... I'm sorry for that, but you inspired me to seek answers to my home heating idiosyncrasies with your quest for improvement. Thank you sir. I do tend to get carried away...


.

 

-0.04" to -0.06" is the range that almost everyone uses...the lowest I've ever seen was my old Yukon Husky furnace at -0.02" to -0.03"...most companies tell you to limit things to -0.08" as an absolute high end draft.

 

Man I'm so happy that your setup is working.
I'm also happy you got involved in this thread.
Because hearing from you that your stove doesn't run away got me to start fiddling with my secondary system again.
I'm now running about 40% of the factory secondary air.
I have an extra baffle welded inside top of stove to help slow down exhaust.
My stove is much more efficient now so thank you

 

So far, so good.
Put in a full load this morning and let it get up to 600 then closed the primary air. At 1 hour into the burn, the baro damper is working as it should holding the draft right at .05" wc. The secondary air tubes are fully on burning wood gas while the wood at the bottom of the stove is mostly just smoldering producing smoke. The manual flue damper is open and flue temp about 18" above the stove is holding at 460* or so. It's 29* outside.

Last night I had put in 4 medium sized splits, right about 5/8 of a full load and it held pretty well over night. The heat pump had just kicked on as I was going to the basement this morning to load it for the day. I ended up just pulling the coals forward and putting a small short split on top of them at the front of the stove to burn down the coals. The heat pump kicked off right after that and hasn't run since. The heat pump is set at 72* per orders from headquarters. She does NOT like being chilly. Happy wife, happy life...

https://youtube.com/shorts/HDUAh52OE

 

Sounds great.
Also check outside what's coming out of the chimney a few times during the burn to see that's still agreeable.

 

+++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++

No visible smoke
No noticeable smell downwind
A little visible heat ripple
Flue temp at wall thimble above the stove is 175*

If I notice any creosote build up, my first item will be to remove the water pan that is directly under the Barometric damper. I'll do a chimney sweep at the next warm day. It's pretty easy to do quickly with the setup that I have here.

 

3 hours into the burn from post #89 above.
Secondary flames are out. Mostly coals and charcoal at this point. flue temp is just under 300*.

I opened the primary air about 1" to extend the hold time at 300*.

This stove still isn't a Blaze King... LOL But it's better than before. This load had about half Cherry, some Red Maple, and one stick of Honey Locust.

 

4 hours into the burn from post #89 above.
I raked the coals to the front, flue temp is just under 300* and went to a little over 300* five minutes after moving the coals up by the air box. I left the primary air about 1" to extend the hold time at 300*. Outdoors is 27* and brisk.


And yes, the stovepipe thermometer is probably 40 years old...



Furnace / Heat pump controller. 1st floor temp is 72* and second floor temp is 73*. Basement stove room is toasty...

 

Perfect!

 

I reloaded the stove with a full load of Cherry, Ash, Sugar Maple this time at 7 hours after this mornings load. Flue temp was at 200* and there were still coals for a nice 2" thick bed to stack the new load on.

I turned the draft down from .05 to .04 (these are ish numbers) and let it get up to temp before closing the primary air. I'll see how this evening goes. It's supposed to get into the mid teens tonight so the bedtime load will be all the best out of the rack tonight.

 

I spend the vast majority of the winter with the Kuuma set run with a -0.04" draft.

 

I haven't yet checked the chimney for creosote, but I can't imagine it's loading up a lot. Everything is burning nice and I can run it at lower temps now, but being a non cat I still don't get llloooonnnnngggg burn times. I am getting a little longer burn times than before, but it still isn't a Blaze King...

I am loading it a little differently than before which is OK since I work from home and can go down to the stove and throw in 2 splits every two hours and let it run with the primary air handle 1" from fully closed during the day. I couldn't really run it with the primary open at all before with more that a single small split as it would be too hot. It has much more control of the fire now with the draft set where it should be... At bedtime I fill it up with 6 to 8 large splits, get it up to 450 flue temp and close it down for the overnight run. I usually only sleep 6 hours or so and when I get up I go down and start the 2 medium splits every 2 hours or so depending on the outdoor temp.

Glad I ran into this thread and learned a lot more about my stove and chimneys in general (tall chimneys in particular). I knew I was probably pulling too much draft but never realized that it could be controlled by adding a barometric damper like this.

 

You need a cat stove or hybrid.
Quit messing with blocks.

 

Not in the budget right now

 

There are quite a few nice used stoves on facebook marketplace in my area. Have you tried that yet?