Draft Question

Hi. Sorry for hijacking this site with all these questions but I'm starting to believe my draft is not quite where it should be because my flames get lazy pretty quickly after I scrape the burnpot. Also, I'm getting a lot of ash in the burnpot with good quality pellets. At times, my flame gets so high and lazy that it touches the exchangers up top. Dark orange/black at the top of the flames. At times, the flame tries to push itself forward to the point where it almost hits the front glass. Why would that be? Also, the screw for the draft was all the way clockwise out of the box. How else can I increase draft if in fact that's the issue? Remember, no draft test was conducted on install a few days ago.

 

Kev the best thing you can do is call your dealer and ask them to come back out and see/hear everything you have going on. They will be able to get you sorted out. What you are describing does not sound normal, especially if you are burning somersets.

 

Also if you haven't done it already, try disconnecting your OAK for a while and see if that has any impact on the way the stove is burning. It's a simple thing you can do to rule out the OAK as a potential source of air flow problem.

 

Kevin please list every piece of vent input(OAK) and output (smoke) length and orientation a picture would help. By eye is questionable for most new burners. So that meter is important. Is your input flap open or is it sticking or stuck.

ETA: You must keep the output venting above the input and both exits well apart, need to know what you are using as critter screens on both if any.

 

Check the gaskets using the ol dollar bill tast.

 

We don't mind the questions, but you'll quickly discover you must provide more information than your description of the problem. We need to know precisely how that air pump is installed to help.

 

In another thread, Kev said this:

The 4" flue going up 33 feet does not seem like a concern, it's nearly the exact same setup as mine. 33 feet for an OAK however, raises a flag. Kev can you confirm that really is the case, and also what is your OAK pipe diameter? I think the max length recommendation for an OAK is ~12 feet? Take that with a grain of salt, but for me it's at least considered suspect until disconnected and ruled out.

 

The ends have to be well separated, you get a crap burn using combustion exhaust as input air. Guess what it looks like? yup, dirty burn.

 

Agreed, I have seen it myself. At this point we just need more info about his setup. Pictures are great too. I would like to see what the OAK and flue exit look like, seeing them both in a photo would be nice. We may be assuming this is duravent with a separate 2" or 3" OAK, when in reality it could be Selkirk DT. Need the info.

 

The OAK is 3 inch pipe and the guy who installed it said he put the pipes on opposite sides of the chimney specifically for that reason. To disconnect the OAK, just pull out the pipe from the stove and that's it?

 

Pics!! The first chimney pic you can vaguely see the OAK leaning sideways and the last one is the other side of the chimney where the chimney pipe is

 

Added pics in the last post of my setup!

 

No good yes

 

I hope that's black silicone tape on that vent.

That probably should have a clean out T on that.

 

OAK and exhaust should exit on the same side with the exhaust at least 2 feet above the OAK that horizontal portion is a no no both must be as free of bends as possible.

 

Now with them on opposite sides (wind related) the vacuum switch in the stove can cause a loss of fire, or in the case of a Harman a 6 blink shutdown or other vacuum related problem.

 

That is silicone tape

 

What's the down side of they are on opposite sides?

 

Would you recommend just taking the OAK off from the stove then?