Why are you thinking about a flue damper. You've only got 16' of flue so there's no way it's overdrafting. The manual say 13' minimum so you are almost at the the minimum. If you are using a lot more wood than you think you should be you need to reduce the primary air.
Hearhstone Equinox Newbie
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You can certainly overdraft on a 16' flue. Refer to the Florida Bungalow Syndrome. 16' of nice warm flue and temps of 40 below temps will suck much harder than 13' of cold flue at 50 degree outside temps.
Plus, a flue damper allows you to control the operation of the stove beyond what the EPA thinks you should be able to. That has value on even a 13' flue in Florida.
Plus, a flue damper allows you to control the operation of the stove beyond what the EPA thinks you should be able to. That has value on even a 13' flue in Florida.
I will be doing this Saturday. Still not sure how far from stove to put it. Also, air intake got screwed up yesterday after I removed some ash and moved it around. Did I block anything?
jlow said:
Can you elaborate? What "moved around"? Does it no longer work? Did the handle get stuck, fall off, or start moving "differently"? or did you cram some ashes/coals into the little opening port on the inside front/bottom of the firebox?
Oh. I thought you meant the primary lever broke or something.
There's a little hole - it's about 1/2" dia on the Heritage, and I'm presuming the Eq is similar - bottom front center inside - that's where primary air enters the firebox. That needs to be kept clear. So go ahead and rake your coals forward, spread your ashes around, but last thing before adding any new wood should be to make sure that outlet port is able to blow unrestricted.
In short, if your airflow died as a result of something you did? then yeah - you did it wrong
There's a little hole - it's about 1/2" dia on the Heritage, and I'm presuming the Eq is similar - bottom front center inside - that's where primary air enters the firebox. That needs to be kept clear. So go ahead and rake your coals forward, spread your ashes around, but last thing before adding any new wood should be to make sure that outlet port is able to blow unrestricted.
In short, if your airflow died as a result of something you did? then yeah - you did it wrong
Also jlow, most of your primary air comes in at the top of the glass through the air-wash system. The doghouse vent is a pretty small hole compared to the huge inlet above the door. No air comes up from the firebox floor. In fact, you want a good layer of ashes spread out over the whole floor.
Highbeam said:
Ah but on the Equinox there are 4 little air feed holes, all of which need to be clear of ash. Mine get ashed over regularly and I check them every day.
Jlow, any luck slowing your burns by closing primary air to near shut?
The manual say only add a pipe damper if the draft is greater than 0.1"w.c.Highbeam said:
Anyway, a pipe damper is not a proper cure for a leaky door gasket (or whatever is causing the whistling noise). Also is the stove being run properly for overnight burn? Is it being run with the air open, or just loaded with kindling, or half full?
Jlow, myself and doug60 had a proplem with the primary air control leaver on our stoves he is still having a problem with his, mine seems to have been fixed.Hearthstone is aware of the problem and are looking into the fix. Look under doug60's post "hearthstone?" He was able to talk to someone at Hearthstone Good luck, Darren
Thanks for the information. I will be shutting down the stove tonight and install the damper. When I did my first burn on 1-14, the front door gasket stuck to the stove and pulled out of the door. It was hot so I used a screwdriver to put it back in place. I was given a tube of gasket adhesive by my salesman and will also fix that. Could this have caused a problem? He also gave me spray paint for the stovepipe as it got scratched during installation. Is there anything tricky about that? My burns are getting a little better. It is more than likely due to all the helpful comments from all of you. I will look at the issue with the air intake and look for the little holes on the bed. I am 99% sure that the whistling noise in from the stovepipe where it connects to the stove. I will carefully pound it down into the sleeve and see it it eliminates the problem. If not I will caulk it.
Door gasket sounds like it could definitely be an issue. You could also have damaged/compressed it using the screwdriver. Re-seal it, then close the door on a dollar bill, and see if there is resistance when trying to pull it out. Do this all around the door gasket, paying special attention to the spot where it pulled off. If you don't feel any resistance, or if there is a leak where you compressed it with the screwdriver, it might be worth it to get a new gasket. You very well may be able to buy some higher density from a stove/hardware shop that will be better than the OEM gasket. The gasket material is extremely cheap; I believe I bought 6 feet of either 1/2" or 3/4" for well under $10.
A leaky door gasket will definitely cause the exact performance you are describing.
A leaky door gasket will definitely cause the exact performance you are describing.
jlow said:
I use Rutland black furnace cement in all my stove pipe seams. They have it in the caulk type tubes and is rated for over 2000 degrees.
jlow said:
You reminded me of when I installed my Equinox, I used a section of adustable length type single wall stovepipe to be able to match my 90 back thru the wall and when installing the pipe in the stock stove collar (top one) it did not just slide right in. In fact I had to drive the pipe down into the collar with a piece of 2x4 and a hammer in order to seat the pipe far enough down for the pipe to get past the pre drilled holes in the collar. I almost had to cut some slits in the pipe to get it far enough in. You may want to check and see if the screws in your collar are actually going thru the stove pipe, they may be there but not doing anything.
Also someone noted that the early EQ's had problems with primary air dampers, I would definately check into this as the damper may be stuck open and this would lead to over fire which is something you don't want to do. This would also explain your short hot burns.
Any luck dampering the thing down..... I burned a full load of locust from 6:30 am to 6
m on Tuesday with outdoor temps in the teens, my 2000 sf was at 70 when I got home. I cleaned ashes (using the ash pan) and had plenty of coals to get regular size splits going in no time, no kindling required. My stove will cruise along for 4-5 hours on low damper settings at 450 then slowly come down to 300 and stay there for hours more as the big chunks in the back of the box burn off.
Just got off the phone with my salesman and explained to him about the damper install. He asked me what happens when I open the front door. When I open the door slowly it will blow out the flame on my front logs and the embers will glow brighter They will re-ignite as I get the door fully opened. He tells me that I definitely am getting too much draft. The length from the top of my stove to the top of the chase is 21ft. Has anyone had the same issue?
jlow,
Good to hear you got a good response from your dealer. If you're headed down there, why not pick up the furnace cement, and run the dollar bill test through your gasket and grab that if you need it?
Good to hear you got a good response from your dealer. If you're headed down there, why not pick up the furnace cement, and run the dollar bill test through your gasket and grab that if you need it?
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