# Barometric Damper vs Draft Regulator



## Armaton (Sep 12, 2013)

Have been reading about these for a couple hours! Are they just different names for the same thing? Or is there a significant difference that I'm just not seeing?


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## maple1 (Sep 12, 2013)

What's a 'draft regulator'?

I know what a barometric damper is, and it regulates draft.


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## Tinder (Sep 12, 2013)

A barometric damper is one style of draft regulator.


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## flyingcow (Sep 14, 2013)

FWIW, I had good draft and did not install a baro. Seems to work fine, I figured if it didn't i would install later.


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## BoilerMan (Sep 14, 2013)

There was some discussion (debate) on the use of baro's on wood appliances a few years ago.  Personally with a gasser and a draft inducer (suction fan) I'd think unless the fire burns out of control the more natural draft you have the less the fans need to work to keep the fire going.  And I'm not concerned about the fans shutting down and the boiler going into idle...........STORAGE.  

Cold air introduced into the flue could be bad, or if there were a chimney fire the air from the baro will feed the rocket fire.  

All interesting points.

TS


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## brenndatomu (Sep 14, 2013)

Yes, a barometric draft regulator is basically just an "automatic" type of draft regulator.
There has been several raging debates about "baros" over on the AS firewood forum. I can only offer my experience and maybe add a little information that is not commonly known or misunderstood about baros. When I put my Yukon Big Jack wood furnace in, the manual required a baro installed and set at -.03 to -.04" W.C. draft pressure.
I questioned the need for it for some of the same reasons mentioned above and more. I went ahead and put it in because Yukon STRESSED the need for it.
I quickly found out that it works well and makes a big difference. No more cutting the air intake down to almost nothing to try to control a raging hot fire due to extra high draft during a cold snap or high winds (a baro is the bees knees during high, fluctuating winds!). Plus it seems that the furnace put off more heat too. Which makes sense, because with the baro regulating the draft, it slows (or regulates) the speed of the the hot combustion gasses leaving the furnace to a manufacturer specified rate, which under most circumstances, it is allowing more time for heat transfer to take place.

One argument commonly made against them is that they will cool off the chimney too much. Nope, if the chimney cools, the draft pressure rises (notice, I said pressure not vacuum) the baro door closes and the chimney heats back up. Of course this is occurring seamlessly, not in an up and down, fluctuating manner (referring to the draft, not the baro door).
Next argument, they're creosote makers. Now this one I felt would likely be true. My experience has been no.
I was baffled why I was not getting creosote buildup (as long as I was following good wood burning practices) when the flue temp downstream from the baro was running 2-250*. My research led me to this factoid (don't remember where I found this), the flue gasses downstream of the baro are diluted to the point that the creosote doesn't build up. I dunno, but it seems to make sense, as I get more soot buildup upstream of the baro than downstream.
Now as for the chimney fire argument, well, yeah it probably would melt my SS liner into a puddle something akin to spilled mercury, if there were creosote buildup. But, remember, I get no creosote buildup, so no chimney fire risk!

They do flow a lot of air up the chimney, so since I have an 8" flue on the Yukon, I went ahead and put in the recommended outside air makeup pipe into my furnace room.
I'm on my second Yukon furnace now (went whole house wood furnace w/ oil backup) and that means my second baro too, and they just plain work.
I know, I know, way more than anybody asked for...but where else can us wood heat techno geeks spout off!?


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## maple1 (Sep 15, 2013)

On creosote, I'll add from my experience that they might build some crosote up, but that build up is right inside and at the damper opening, and can be scraped out through the damper opening quite easily with a scraper the right shape. So a baro damper also makes for a very convenient & handy cleanout and inspection spot. No need to unscrew anything or take anything apart - just tip the flap in & have a look. I also think that it might serve as a sort of 'creosote sink', and a lot of the buildup will occur at the easy to clean damper opening rather than further up the chimney where it might be harder to clean out.


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## taxidermist (Sep 15, 2013)

I was one of the first ones to use one on my EKO 60. The reason I did this is because they want you to tune your boiler to run its best using 2 things.

Wood moisture%
draft .
I could control the wood moisture but not the draft. I would fine tune it one day and then the next it was running different. Well if its cold and windy the draft would suck the hot air past the HX and my chim temps were sky high. thus meaning i was losing BTU to the sky.

When i installed my baro It always runs in its sweet spot and i see steady chim temps.

Here is a vid i made to prove it works. I say I have a 80 but really its a 60


Rob


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## maple1 (Sep 15, 2013)

I've got the same guage as Rob. It's hooked up all the time. Once I get a fire going & things get drafting good (takes a little bit with the natural draft) I get a steady 0.1" draft. If it's windy out & I hold the damper closed, it can go up to 0.3" with each wind gust. Sure makes the fire roar, but it also pulls heat out the chimney.


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## brenndatomu (Sep 15, 2013)

Yup, I have the Dwyer II permanently hooked up and mounted on the cold air return side of the Yukon Husky.

Wow, you can pull a -.3" reading! I thought my -.15" was good...

I was just doing a lil shopping on fleabay for another one (Dwyer). I need it for my old Yukon Big Jack, which I just installed at my sisters place.

It really surprises me how high of a draft some mfgs call for, -.06" to -.08", man, the Yukon will go nuclear at those numbers! The -.03" to -.04" that Yukon calls for seems to be a more reasonable draft speed to me. JMO I guess there are a lot of variables to this equasion...


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## maple1 (Sep 16, 2013)

Mine calls for 0.08". Think that's a minimum - it works darn good at 0.1".

I'm on a windy open hill top, with 30 feet of 7" chimney straight up. When the wind gusts, the flap on the damper is flopping all over the place.


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## taxidermist (Sep 19, 2013)

Mine Dances like Miley Cirus on speed when the winds blowing.


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## brenndatomu (Sep 19, 2013)




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