Wood stove going out ..

ok guys im having another problem now to with my stove, it burns great somedays and somedays its a mofo to keep lit, what should i do ? should i extend my pipe ? its already 3ft over my roof, and i was thinking drastic drill a few more air holes ? of corse ide make it so its still controllable, but i dont know what to do. My flue is only about 7-8 ft i have two turns in it but there both 43 degree angels, but like i said some days it works so good and somedays just wont stay lit, i honestly think its my house isnt putting out enough air for the stove. I live in a small home . and from what i researched this stove should be good for us but its like its just not getting enough air. I am new to woodstoves though. it does keep the house very nicely warm the days it works. and its only been installed for about 2 months so it cant be pipe blockage ... i dont think . anyone want to chime in ? If i leave the door just cracked so slightly it burns great , but soon as i close it it dies out, the vents on the front are holes with a slide plate to open and close them, the holes are letting in a lot of air just seems its not enough.

 

Hey there thegreatpotato , welcome aboard.
First question......when did the firewood get split and stacked?
If the flue is only 7-8' with a couple 43s (45s?), you effectively have choked the ability of the stove to breath. Each of those elbows takes some length away (it's worse for 90s).

You'd be surprised how quickly a flue can get clogged if the stove isn't running well/is smoldering/or you're trying to burn wet wood.
What are your outdoor temps like when it doesn't burn well, and what are they when it does burn well?

 

warmer days it burns well seems like the colder days it wont burn, the wood isnt wet, i keep it tarpped and its been seasoned for i believe 16 months. I guess ill have to check my pipes, but like i said colder days and nights it just dont want to burn. days its like 50-40 degrees it burns, 30-20s it just dont want to keep going , thanks for your reply !!

 

What kind of stove do you have? When you say it burns well with the door cracked, are you talking about an exterior door to the house, or a door from the stove room into other parts of the house, or cracking open the stove door? You said it's a smaller size home, I wonder if the stove is heating and shutting down quickly because it has made the room sufficiently warm as opposed to the door cracked open which allows it to burn longer...kind of like short-cycling an air conditioner. If it's a cracked open stove door that makes it burn well, that's just like opening the damper all the way... wait a sec, have you checked the damper to see if maybe it's broken and not opening to allow air in the stove? And, what about the ash pan- if it's super full maybe you aren't getting any air circulation underneath, either..

 

Welcome to the club, thegreatpotato !
Thanks for joining up!
You found the best group of people on the planet!

16 months may or may not be enough.
Are you burning oak? It can take three or more years to dry oak in our area!

If you get out my way, I can give you some wood that's guaranteed to make you warm!

 

the guy i baught the wood off of has been in the wood game for many many years, he deff knows what hes doing, the logs were split long ago then he stacks it for many months. And i mean if i crack the front stove door the fire burns great.with the pipes there about 43 degree angels, they are adjustable pipes you can make them from 90 degree to state pipes, i had to take the pipe out a window and then seal the window off. all of the pipes go up, there is no pipes that are not angled upwards and the turn in the pipe is a section that is about 20 inches long the rest of the pipes are all directly upwards. the wood lights fast and burns good once its lit.

 

OK First welcome thegreatpotato
My first guess is your wood maybe wetter than you think..
what type of stove?
got a few pics..

I'm guessing something not quite right if wood lites fast and burn good why are you cracking door? I assume your stove is a front door type and your not fully closing door.. this effectively turns your stove into a blast furnace much like a blacksmith pushing more air into fire to get it hotter

check your chimneys jus to be safe... let us know.

 

yeah i think im going to get a chimny brush and give it a try, something was telling me that was the problem but being new to them i wasnt sure, and no i dont burn the stove if it decides not to stay lit, i light my kerosean heater on the days it does that, i wont burn it with the door open at all.

 

wow .. where to get a cheap brush ? looken at like 60 bucks and i dont need 18 + feet on the handle, i found one for a pallet stove would that work with a fluepipe brush?

 

cant get a pics right now so i did an internet search, my stove is just like this one but the door is different and mine dont have a blower

 

just took off some pipes and there is build up but nothing blocking the pipe up, im guessing cause its small pipe the little bit of build up might be enough to stop the airflow like it was? but im going to try and clean them since i have the pipe off. the pipes are only 4 inch .

 

What Woodstove only uses 4 inch pipe?

 

Now we definitely need pictures...that may be the culprit for why the fire chokes out and dies.

 

Yep, that was my thought too before the mention of 4".
That needs to be changed to 6". You'll continue to have problems if you don't.

 

just checked to voselgand woodstove BOTH require a 6 inch minimum flue! Not trying to be safety police..
Highly recommend get a manual and read and understand it before you light stove again!

 

this stove is small, i uped the pipe to 4 inch it was some strange pipe size 3.83 inch or something so i adapted it to 4 inch, its a small stove i actually have a powered subwoofer that is bigger than the stove, but it works great to keep my main 2 rooms at 70-74 degrees. I cleaned all the pipes and yeah was way more crud in them than i thought there would be. i couldn't get the hardbuild up off but its a very thin, the rest was like soot. this stove is very similar to mine ( in the pic) looks about the same size, just my door is different. and the legs on mine are thick steel legs not the lil pipe like this one.

 

my guess is the pipe crud was the problem, since i cleaned it out its burning beautifully , sucks ill have to do this every 2 months or so but hey better than freezing !!

 

It sounds like the wood you have isn't truly seasoned enough. You can verify if it's seasoned enough by getting a moisture meter and testing it on fresh splits.

 

Ok, now the 4" pipe makes more sense.
With this info, and all the rest, I'm still thinkin' the wood isn't quite dry yet. There are an awful lot of guys out there who've been in the firewood supply business for a long time and "know what they're doing". Unfortunately, what they know and have been doing for years is wrong, and most don't even know it. I know a few like that who live very close by and I've gotten wood from them. I no longer rely on them to do the drying though. That's on me.
What kind of firewood do you have?

 

????! Can you explain this a bit more?