25min to re-establish draft this morning normal?

[Ajcoxen]

I have the Nova 2. I have to leave door open forever to get good fire going before shutting door. Fire can be ripping, I’ll shut the door and it will die right out.
Are you getting lots of smoke roll out when reloading wood with fire going?

I did with a chimney cap. No cap and not much smoke. But it’s been tougher to get a good draft and big fire without the cap.

This morning I put a big bundle of split 2x4, 2x6, and slab wood and 4 sawdust bricks. Went to bed with it packed as full of 20” splits as I could. And had a good coal bed to start that.
Excellent draft once they lit. Wind does seem to be from the north more than NW.

My firewood must not be dry enough.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

The slab wood should dry fast. Bring some inside for a bit and then try burning that.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Above 20% is not dry enough. Some of those pics looked like they were not on fresh splits at room temp though.

 

[bigealta]

Good job finding the wet wood. So many others refuse to believe that wood needs to be "very" dry and seasoned to burn well in woodstoves, ESPECIALLY EPA Stoves as their draft is more restrictive than the Old stoves.

If there is lots of Smoke, Black sticky tar on glass, poor draft, stove not getting hot, etc, Then Always Start at measuring the moisture content on freshly split face of room temp wood before anything else.

95-99% chance those are "wet" wood problems.

 

[ct_administrator]

I have a very similar setup, similar length pipe, and my chimney pipe exits my lower level into stainless double insulated with a run up the house to the cap, and I have similar problems.

I've had the same issues getting puff-back into the house and not getting a positive draft up the pipe when I'm restacking the stove over coals in the am, or afternoon.
What Begreen said is probably the biggest issue. You have to overcome the heavier, dense, negative pressure of the cold air to get a good draft. The air is cold, the stainless chimney is cold, and it's tough. After a while of testing different solutions I've adapted to how I relight and get my stove going. It's just what has worked for me. I've done away with crumpled newspaper and cardboard, and fire starters. I have my wood ready, and prepare kindling with a tool I made, then quickly stack and fire up just the kindling with a propane torch. I adjust and keep the door open just a crack to create turbulent air-flow till I have a good fire. It works really well, and no more lazy starts and bad drafts. You also have to be sure to open the door slowly, to maintain that good draft when opening to reload or add wood.

 

[Ajcoxen]

I have a very similar setup, similar length pipe, and my chimney pipe exits my lower level into stainless double insulated with a run up the house to the cap, and I have similar problems.

I've had the same issues getting puff-back into the house and not getting a positive draft up the pipe when I'm restacking the stove over coals in the am, or afternoon.
What Begreen said is probably the biggest issue. You have to overcome the heavier, dense, negative pressure of the cold air to get a good draft. The air is cold, the stainless chimney is cold, and it's tough. After a while of testing different solutions I've adapted to how I relight and get my stove going. It's just what has worked for me. I've done away with crumpled newspaper and cardboard, and fire starters. I have my wood ready, and prepare kindling with a tool I made, then quickly stack and fire up just the kindling with a propane torch. I adjust and keep the door open just a crack to create turbulent air-flow till I have a good fire. It works really well, and no more lazy starts and bad drafts. You also have to be sure to open the door slowly, to maintain that good draft when opening to reload or add wood.

View attachment 308598 View attachment 308599 View attachment 308600 View attachment 308601 View attachment 308602

So you’ll burn the kindling before a reload then put the bigger splits in?

 

[ct_administrator]

So you’ll burn the kindling before a reload then put the bigger splits in?

Yes, with the way I load, and how my stove reacts best to is adding one or two pieces after the stove is up to temp. The picture I added is from tonight.

I stack east - west on the bottom row, and north - south on top of that. Get the kindling going with small to medium size pieces, then in about an hour, add to the top. My stove gets up to temp in no time, and I'll adjust the air intake and flue with the initial load. The east - west wood on the bottom will turn to coals and last all night for me, and the stove is still plenty hot in the morning.

 

[Ajcoxen]

Tonight I noticed an audible air leak on the tee cleanout. So I siliconed it up.

Any way this could be related to my problems?

 

[cahaak]

Suspect it's your stove. I have the same class A from Menards, same cap, but chimney in chase on exterior of the house. I running a drolet myriad and I can start a draft with not much more than a match and I don't use the bypass. I do have an OAK.

 

[bholler]

Tonight I noticed an audible air leak on the tee cleanout. So I siliconed it up.

Any way this could be related to my problems?

If your tee cap was leaking that would seriously reduce draft

 

[Ajcoxen]

If your tee cap was leaking that would seriously reduce draft

It was enough to whistle. I couldn’t tell the volume of the leak but I got it sealed up. Silicone in 15° weather might not stick to well.

I am going to borrow a different stove to try.

 

[Ajcoxen]

Suspect it's your stove. I have the same class A from Menards, same cap, but chimney in chase on exterior of the house. I running a drolet myriad and I can start a draft with not much more than a match and I don't use the bypass. I do have an OAK.

Do you live in Minnesota? We don’t get the same winters here in WV.

 

[bholler]

Suspect it's your stove. I have the same class A from Menards, same cap, but chimney in chase on exterior of the house. I running a drolet myriad and I can start a draft with not much more than a match and I don't use the bypass. I do have an OAK.

Different stove different height chimney different house different climate etc. Really no way to compare

 

[begreen]

( My opinion ) you would need an atmospheric pressure gauge, external, but I notice with dismay that there are no gizmos on amazon. The air when cloudy is less dense and probably the smoke has some similarity and does not escape, way up easily, like when there are no clouds, maybe some scholar can explain better, but only I noticed this? 😇

This might be more a factor of low atmospheric pressure which is often accompanied with cloudiness.

 

[begreen]

I did with a chimney cap. No cap and not much smoke. But it’s been tougher to get a good draft and big fire without the cap.

This morning I put a big bundle of split 2x4, 2x6, and slab wood and 4 sawdust bricks. Went to bed with it packed as full of 20” splits as I could. And had a good coal bed to start that.
Excellent draft once they lit. Wind does seem to be from the north more than NW.

My firewood must not be dry enough.

View attachment 308440 View attachment 308441 View attachment 308442 View attachment 308443 View attachment 308444 View attachment 308445

Some of these tests don't look like they are on the freshly exposed face of the wood.