What might be my problem?

Methinks you are reading things wrongly. At least in my case I assumed nothing. I was looking at the chimney height above the roof and it does not appear to be 14' to me but I can easily be wrong. Point is, I was attempting to help, not find fault. If you want more, then how did you come up with 14 feet? Is that measured from the top of the stove or from floor or ground level? The only reason for asking is that many times I've seen folks quoting height and that was measured from ground level, which is wrong.

 

That stove in your new hearth is far too beautiful to change!! Keep us updated

 

Can I borrow your thread for a minute Madtown ? BS, is it possible to have too much draft with a 15' flue? It could be my perception of the amount of wood we have used is off, or possibly my expectations on burning less with a new EPA stove as opposed to the old smoke dragons I am accustomed to. I haven't kept track of how much he brings in but his armloads of splits seem to be going fast.

 

I would strongly recommended a draft test before you buy anything else if the problem persists. With wood stoves you can throw money away easily trying to figure it out. I think most people are suggesting the most common issue and it does sound as though they are on track.

The issue is if you had a bad gasket the moment the fire got hot and needed air it would suck in through the gasket as much as it could get and then rage out of control or at the very least very hot. With a new gasket there wouldn't be anything like a normal fire it would be smoke and smolder because it couldn't draft properly as the air leak would be fixed.

I had a major draft issue do to surrounding trees and buildings that lead me to buy an anti backdraft cap and now she runs with the big boys..... Our old stove needed 2' more pipe to fix it. The recommended is just that recommended for ideal installs with perfect install conditions. it's rare that it's perfect. My chimney is 19' tall the manual recommended was 16' tall and brother it wouldn't draft for the world at 16'.....

 

Depending upon conditions, yes! Usually it is high winds that can cause excessive draft and with this, about the best thing one can do is put a damper in the flue which is a cheap and easy fix. You just have to learn how to use them correctly. 99% of the time, they are not needed.

 

Madtown, thrilled you are having better luck. Dennis, I do believe I need a damper. Pellet stove is out of commission for a bit, and the brand new insert is blowing through 3-4 large splits every few hours with bypass shut down in an hour or two (when its windy, but its windy here often......) I might start a new thread on how to add a damper on a liner inside a fireplace insert.

Take Good Care!