Sounds like a de-cap-itation is in short-term order....
I pulled the cap off.
I shut the boiler off at 7am because there was no need for heat today.
The use of the DHW brought the water temp in the WG down to 110*
At 7:30pm I relight the small amount of coals left from the last burn.
I added some oak kindling and she was gasifing almost immediately.
There was no visible smoke or smell. I went right up to the stack and it just smelled like hot air, if that can even smell.
About 15 mins into the burn I added a dozen solid wood pallet blocks. They are a little bigger then a rubix cube.
Still no smoke or smell.
About 25 mins into the burn I added some of the oak scraps from splitting. You know the stuff that is created when splitting.
It's all thin shavings and splits.
Also threw in 8 more blocks.
Here's where the problem began.
Even though there was a good bed of coals and she was gasifing, there was to much dry wood and it began to produce a light grey smoke and a slight smell.
Removing the cap made no visible difference in the dispersion of the smoke.
The light breeze moved it any which way it wanted.
I cracked open the fire box door which would be like having a primary air adjustment and the chamber was full of smoke and kind of dark. But in seconds, with introduction of more O2, the fire began to roar like thunder and the smoke in the firebox began to disappear as did the stack smoke.
AHS said they are in the experimental stages of primary/secondary air controls.
Since I can't sit around with the door open, I closed it and the stack smoke increased again, but was gone in less then 10 mins.
By this time I had a need for DHW and turned the zones back on to bring the house back to temp also.
She burned clean and some what odor free for another 20 mins untill she reached the high limit and shut down.
All that to say that removing the cap didn't make a difference.
I think that adding 10' more stack MAY help.
But I think that careful and slow loading will help even more.
