# loud wind noise in fireplace insert



## matulo (Feb 3, 2007)

Hello,

i'm having troubles with my wood fireplace insert. I'm having a quite tall chimney (approx 40 feet) and from some reason, there's no top or bottom damper in the chimney. When's a windy weather, it makes very unpleasant noise in the fireplace itselt, i hear the wind very loud. And furthermore i see even ash flying in the insert during the windy weather. And of course, i dont have anything like slow burning wood, i have either wood placed into the fireplace or just ash. It burns so fast, that wood that should last for 2 hours is gone in 30 minutes.

How this can be solved please ? The house is totally new, built last year so its hard to make any big construction works there now.
Thanks for your input.

Matt


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## MountainStoveGuy (Feb 3, 2007)

wow, we have had a rash of overdrafting appliances latley. This is quite strange, its usuall poor draft thats the problem. Only one thing i know will help with a overdrafting stove, a inline damper somewhere, or a catalytic stove that has full air control. Secondary burn stoves always have the secondary air open, and when you ahve too tall of a chimney it pulls to much air through the unit.


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## matulo (Feb 3, 2007)

Thank you for a reply. When the wind is strong, sound from the insert is like starting aircraft engines.
Fireplace company is coming tomorrow, so i should insist on damper to be installed? Can they ask for money or should i keep it as a repair in warranty period?

Matt


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## MountainStoveGuy (Feb 3, 2007)

i would think they could ask for money. if your house had enought negative pressure it could help balance out the chimney, thats nothing that can realy be tested. Some tall chimneys work in tight homes. Some dont. Chimneys are unique to EVERY installation. The jet engine sound is the wind sucking through the stove in any possible crack or air intake.


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## Gooserider (Feb 3, 2007)

MountainStoveGuy said:
			
		

> i would think they could ask for money. if your house had enought negative pressure it could help balance out the chimney, thats nothing that can realy be tested. Some tall chimneys work in tight homes. Some dont. Chimneys are unique to EVERY installation. The jet engine sound is the wind sucking through the stove in any possible crack or air intake.



Just as a thought, is there any possibility that a different cap might help with the noise?  I would think that the "jet engine" sound might also be caused by wind blowing across the top of the chimney, just like the sounds you can make by blowing across the top of a beer bottle...  I was thinking of this because of the association of the noise with the wind, which might not be just a draft issue.   A different cap might break up or change that air flow enough to keep the noise down.

 Gooserider


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## matulo (Feb 3, 2007)

Update:

Fireplace guys were at my place. They placed a damper about the insert. Actually they solved problem with fast burning, now it burns wood like a charm, slowly and very nice looking. While there's flame in the insert, it's silent.

However when the insert is cold, its still very noisy, and wind make very silent noise, even in damper is closed.

Any other ideas to make it silent?

Matt


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## Roospike (Feb 3, 2007)

What kind / brand / model of insert is this stove ? Insert stove , not a fireplace cover correct ?
Did they put a cap on the chimney? Is this just a brick chimney or a linner within a chimney @ 40'?


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## Gooserider (Feb 4, 2007)

matulo said:
			
		

> Update:
> 
> Fireplace guys were at my place. They placed a damper about the insert. Actually they solved problem with fast burning, now it burns wood like a charm, slowly and very nice looking. While there's flame in the insert, it's silent.
> 
> ...



Ummm...  Unless you are Simon and Garfunkel, how do you have a "very silent noise" and how does that differ from just plain silent?  

I'm glad you are getting better burns, sound like the damper solved that problem nicely.  The other problem sounds (pun intended) like the "coke bottle" whistle problem I mentioned a couple of posts up.  Presumably to cure this will take some experimenting, you are going to have to either change the resonant frequency of the chimney (just like changing the liquid level in the coke bottle will change the note it makes) or disrupt the wind flow across it.  The second is probably far easier.  

What sort of cap do you have at present?  (You should definitely have some kind of cap for all sorts of reason besides the noise question...)  It might take some experimentation to find the most effective design, but I think playing with the cap design is probably the most simple cure.  Definitely talk to your stove guy about what he has, or possibly check some of the web dealers to see if any of them will work any kind of exchange deal to keep you from having to spend big bucks on a cap collection.

This is purely a wild guess, so don't hold it against me if I'm wrong, but I would suspect that either one of the styles that looks like a bunch of plates stacked up, or maybe the ones like a tall can with openings in the top and bottom might work best at breaking up the turbulence at the top of the top of the stack and thus cutting the noise.

Gooserider


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## matulo (Feb 5, 2007)

Of course i meant very LOUD noise  not very silent ... the problem is damper is in place and noise continues.
Guys told me, the problem is overdrafting and they can't to anything with it. Problem is in chimney (schiedel brand). its too tall. While there's fire in fireplace, warm air prevents these noises to occur. Only when there's cold air in chimney. 

matt


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## Gooserider (Feb 5, 2007)

matulo said:
			
		

> Of course i meant very LOUD noise  not very silent ... the problem is damper is in place and noise continues.
> Guys told me, the problem is overdrafting and they can't to anything with it. Problem is in chimney (schiedel brand). its too tall. While there's fire in fireplace, warm air prevents these noises to occur. Only when there's cold air in chimney.
> 
> matt



That's sort of what I figured, but I couldn't pass it up...  Is there any way to shorten the chimney, assuming that if you do, it will still be in compliance with the 2-3-10 rule?  Otherwise I think that all you could do is play with the cap as I suggested earlier.

 Gooserider


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