Cold Stove, Wood Smoke Leaking into Home
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Just swept the chimney before the stove was installed and have hardly used it. There's of course some creosote; there always is. But it is by no means dirty if we're thinking in terms of chimney fire potential. It's nowhere near needing to be swept again.
Do you still have the extra lengths of chimney pipe that were removed?
Was a magnahelic put on this flue with the BK to measure draft strength?
Was a magnahelic put on this flue with the BK to measure draft strength?
At some point they did measurements but I have no idea what they were. I do have the removed length but getting it back up there would be anything but easy. There's really no place to stand and there's no room for a cherry picker. The first time, it took two guys and was super challenging. One guy got it back down but I was scared just watching him, as he had to lay a ladder against the chimney from my steep roof. It was kind of him to be willing to risk his neck like that. The solution cannot be putting that thing back up.
Here's a photo of the chimney AFTER it was shortened. Imagine that thing with one more section.
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A slight smoky smell is almost inevitable, I get it sometimes in Summer as a front passes though, it's all about pressure. I modified my air inlet to allow me to close it more completely when not in use but the best defense is burning cleanly so that creosote is minimized and not leaving it choked down at the end of a burn. If that picture was taken any more than a few minutes after lighting or reloading, you may not be burning cleanly, no smoke should be visible for 90+% of your burn time. Also it's odd that blocking the outside air didn't make it much worse, we've heard stories here of knock-outs inside the stove not being removed when an OAK was fitted, is that possible?
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As much as I hate to admit it, that is possible. When I return from my trip, I'll check.
A friend of mine recommended something that sits on top your stove pipe and rotates away from the wind. I know that it is not temperature but it may increase your draft a little bit.
We get more than enough draft when we burn. Almost too much. This stove is easy to run. The problem is when everything sits cold.
Returned home last night. My wife had cracked the window for a day or so and the smell is gone. I just ran the bathroom fan so I'm going to go down and see if the smell is back.
Here's an update. In pulling the hose off the Cold Air Intake to see if it was blocked, I noticed that it wasn't tightened to the stove all the way. Now it's tightened but I haven't determined if it made a significant difference. There's still a smell when I turn on all the fans upstairs. But if I can run one fan without getting a smell, that would be great. Not running any fans, I'm not smelling a thing. So I think there's an improvement.
Sounds like the other recommendation of using some sort of smoke stick might be a good experiment. When all the fans are running it would be interesting to know if smoke tries to enter home through some sort of gap somewhere . I wonder if there is something that creates room temperature smoke instead of something that has to be ignited. I think fire marshals use can smoke for testing. That might keep you from creating a draft upward with a heated stick.
I tried lighting off a bunch of newspaper and there was no spill. So I think it would be a good idea to try some sort of cold smoke. Do you have any idea where one gets canned smoke?
This one perhaps:
Just wondering how I'd get it to make smoke inside the stove with the door closed, as it's activated by a push button on top of the can.
Just wondering how I'd get it to make smoke inside the stove with the door closed, as it's activated by a push button on top of the can.
The idea would be to run exhaust fans and see the patterns. Where the leaks are, whether anything could be done to stop them, and whether they could be abated by running the fans less or cracking windows in those rooms. It might be easier to discover the specifics with our eyes than our noses.
Modern stoves are not air tight. With reverse draft, the stove will be leaky via the secondary, boost, and primary air supply. If cracking a nearby window helps, then an outside air kit should do something similar.
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