Do you have the required clearance from the outside of the masonry structure to combustible materials? This is 1" for an external chimney and 2" for an internal one.
According to the town building inspector, I have the required spacing.
Regardless looking at your liner you need insulation.
Not questioning, but asking why you are stating I need insulation. The reason why I am asking is because the town building inspector stated I did not have to insulate the SS liner, HY-C also stated the insulation was not required and my neighbor just had a local stove shop install an EPA rated wood stove at the same time and they did not insulate his SS liner (same 6" setup). So are you suggesting for safety or to keep the stack temps?
I was planning on using vermiculite concrete around the SS liner vs the blanket style. The reason is so I don't have to break apart the clay liner, which about 2" away from my pellet stove clay liner and run the risk of breaking that clay liner.
Also did you clean the chimney completely before installing the liner? It looks really dirty which is extremly dangerous.
I had it cleaned by On Duty Chimney Service on February 14th for $185. The top-outside of the chimney needs to be cleaned this summer as the old wood stove was a creosol machine.
In addition you need a stainless extension added to the tee snout that is riveted fast and extends atleast 1.5" out of the wall.
I did order the extension (I think I read about the 1.5" last week), it arrived the other day. Will install and rivet in place. Thanks for the info!
As far as the puffback problem all of your symptoms sound like the typical wet wood problems. How long has your wood been cut split and top covered? When you test with a moisture meter is the split at room temp? Have you checked your moisture meter.
This year I burned 2 different stacks of wood. I first started using this stove around Feb 18th and up until around the March 16th, I was burning wood that had been covered in a wood shed and was split/stacked 2 years ago. Since around March 16, I have been burning wood that was purchased from a local fire wood supplier. They claimed it was seasoned, however from my past dealings with them, that just means it needs to sit for another year. So those splits were stacked last spring in my other covered wood shed. I try to bring in wood so it can reach room temperature before burning. This very long thread contains a couple photos of the different wood I was burning, including a photo of a fresh split with a moisture content measure at ~22%.
So, since I have had the issue with both stacks of wood, I was ruling out wet wood.
Another possible issue is the fact that you have no cold air duct hooked up. That means your distribution blower is sucking all of its air from right behind the stove. That can cause the stove to starve for air which can cause your issues.
So, yes I don't have a cold air duct return, however I keep the basement door wide opened. I have also had the basement window open and the bulkhead door opened and still had the same outcome. Also the way this stove is constructed, there is a plate attached to the bottom of this stove. In the front center, the plate does not have a screw and when the blower is running, you can feel the air from the blower coming from this air gap. While I highly doubt this is by design, I can assure anyone that there is a ton of fresh air leaking from this small gap, directly feeding the draft blower.
I truly appreciate all the suggestions/feedback and safety red flags as I have learned a ton from this forum. So please keep keep commenting. I will keep posting to this thread so I have a time line of what happened when.
I know I am not the only one with this stove that is having this issue, however it seems I am the only one with the cresol build up.
Better zip my lip before I give the EPA ideas...
