I am thinking of getting a draft inducer for my stove. I am hoping to deal with the poor draft on the cold stove and the large amount of smoke spillage I get when reloading; and yes, I crack the door open and let it try to burn hotter before opening the door fully. I have routinely fill the lounge with smoke and set the smoke alarm off with this stove; so bad that I even remove the smoke detector. I did remove a small poplar at the corner of the house but that hasn't helped much. Before investing the money in the draft inducer, I wanted some feedback from the forum.
I’ve been considering the same. I found where BDF has a thread where he installed on. Pretty good read. Titled Electrical draft inducer Electrical draft inducer
Address the chimney height if you haven't already, and put 45's on you stove pipe in place of that 90 (again, unless already done) A draft inducer will need to be cleaned/maintained, and certainly don't come free! A hair dryer or propane torch up the flue before dropping the match can do wonders too...and the price is right.
The cost of an induced draft for the wood stove can easily eclipse the amount of money you have been wanting for shipping tractor parts from N.J. Is this really the solution? It would also make it easier to burn wood .... how should we say this.... wood that is not quite ready to be burned ....?? This will only add to increased amounts of creosote deposits. Now, add to this fact that the impeller of the draft fan will also get deposits....the same as the inside of the pipe....and how would those be able to be cleaned? It will also increase the wood consumption with a "forced burn". Do you really want a forge in your house? Didn't think so.... It's a crying shame that after asking for advice, you choose not to follow it and rather do nothing. If only you had installed that extra length of class A pipe years ago when so many members suggested it, no?
The chimney is tall enough according to several members on here and I did increase the height; it is above the stove manufacturer's specifications. The stove has a poor draft and that has been stated by many others who own the same stove (I think it is due to the air channel; what I think is the air channel, for the air wash system, that almost completely blocks the flue). One on here stated that any large door stove is going to spill smoke and this stove does spill smoke to a great degree.
yooperdave How dry should I get my wood? Should it be 0%? Is 8 to 10 percent moisture not dry enough? Do I need to build a wood drying kiln so I can get it down to zero? I do have a moisture meter. I don't mind your comments but they are often just snide remarks and not actually wanting to help. We have already been through this whole dry wood story; and I remember posting photos of the moisture meter stuck in the wood reading 10% and I remember that you did not apologise after I pointed out that yes, I do burn dry wood. Now, the only time I would want to turn on the draft inducer is when I need to load the stove to prevent filling the room with smoke. Or those times when it is hard to get a draft going on a cold stove. The main thing is not filling the house full of smoke. Your point on the impeller; however, is a point taken; I have wondered also about the impeller blocking the draft when it is not being used. That is the kind of advice I was looking for and that I do appreciate.
Yes, I know that the T through the wall decreases the height. Many on here think that the height of the chimney is fine. I did replace the 90 with two 45s; I had to order those from Home Depot as Lowe's and other sources; farm shops, didn't carry them. I didn't notice much difference if any when replacing the 90 with the 45s but I did think it looked neater and for that it was worth the cost of replacing the 90. The main issue for me for wanting a draft inducer is not filling the room full of smoke on loading. I make sure the draft is open and then crack the door to help but after you open the door, the draft drops so much that it will spill smoke. At some point I think I will replace the stove with a Drolet.
There's no set height a chimney should be. Its all relative to the adjoining roofline. 3 feet above the point it penetrates, and at least 2 feet above any point within 10 horizontal feet. Taller flues do generally draft better, but if height was everything no one with a ranch house and a 5 pitch roof would get a good draft. That just isn't reality. Plenty of shorter houses with shorter chimneys get decent drafts. If your chimney meets the 3-2-10 rule I'd rule out chimney height as the culprit. Is this a chimney on the exterior of the house? Also has the flue been cleaned and is in decent condition? Flues on the exterior can take a while to heat up. Cold flues can create smoke in the house. Once warmed up and a draft is created this shouldn't happen. You stated you're burning 10% MC wood, and you're getting smoke in the house after the fires been going awhile and the flue is warmed up. With that in mind, I'd guess the flue is likely not clean and has buildup on the walls, the stove pipe is dirty, or the thimble connecting the stovepipe to the flue is undersized or dirty. Even a thin layer of 1/16th-1/8th of an inch of creosote buildup can affect a stoves performance.
Plenty...but you aren't there, unless you have kiln dried it...that meter is a little optimistic. Pretty hard to air dry firewood to much below 15% MC in most places in the US. Except when the manufacturer specs a minimum height...and many do...15' is a very common minimum height...and that is straight up, no 90* tee at the bottom (and two 45*s) that takes "effective" height away from the chimney. But some stoves just spill smoke easier than others...and apparently this is one of them.
I've inspected dozens and dozens of woodstoves and read the installation manuals. I can't recall any saying a minimum height of 15 feet. Also the Building Code doesn't spell out minimum heights, only the 3-2-10 rule. I'm not saying your wrong, but I honestly don't think the height is her problem. Depending on the type of house she has (how tight it was constructed) and where the stove is located (how much air its getting), she could also consider introducing some outside air. How about Kimberly provide some pictures of the stove install and of the chimney. We're all guessing at this point.
Nah...this has been hashed over about 5-6 times already...there are pics of it around here somewhere already...
Oh. Well I'm unaware of the previous conversations about it. 5-6 times and the issues haven't been resolved???
Found it. I don't see a chimney height issue, and house and windows aren't new enough to have too tight of construction. Its either a dirty pipe and/or flue or wood is too wet. I know a lot of people clean the flue/have the flue cleaned, but don't do the stovepipe. It really should be taken apart AT LEAST once a year. That's if the wood is perfectly dry. If not much more often.
So I ran the big brother stove to the OP’s for a few months last year. I have an interior masonry chimney with an 8x12 flue about 25 feet tall. The wood that I was burning had about 1 year drying. Maple oak birch beach. The only time I had any smoke spillage is when I reloaded the stove before the end of the burn cycle. Like if I had loaded a couple hours before I had to leave the house so I topped it off. Load it up let it burn down repeat. Constantly opening and adding a split or two at a time you will get smoke.
