Hearthstone Starlet 8550-5120 assistance requested

[Obs]

My wife and I purchased a home in Atlantic Highlands, NJ (Zip 07716). The original owner had installed a Hearthstone Starlet 8550-5120 wood stove in the basement. Prior to our purchasing the house, there have been several owners over 20 years and the original owner is not available. The immediate prior owner indicated the wood stove worked but had a tendency to generate smoke inside the house. Admittedly I’m a “wood stove newbie” but I’ve had wood burning fireplaces all my life.

While testing the unit, I noticed smoke escaping from several vents including at the point where the chimney connects with the unit. The chimney has been inspected and is clean and working fine according to my chimney sweep. There is a bit of a cold down-draft through the chimney and I’ve tried all the tricks of heating the chimney without success.

I would really like to be able to make use of this stove safely and given that it is quite nice looking, I don’t want to have to replace it. Mostly I’d like to know whether the stove is operating properly and I understand how to operate it properly (most likely the issue is me not the stove).

I’ve emailed Hearthstone without response.

I am seeking the following information:

• Owner’s Manual
• Proper guidance on usage to reduce/eliminate internal smoke generation
• One or more locally qualified service technicians who know this unit and can provide a reliable inspection and/or repairs if necessary

Any help from this group in any of these three categories would be greatly appreciated.

 

[begreen]

Amazing, we don't hear much about this stove and then two show up within a short period. The Starlet is a fairly conventional design in a soapstone jacket. The firebox is fairly shallow so it is likely to want good draft in order to not spill out smoke when the door is opened. If the stove is hard to light then it could be a problem with the wood not being dry enough or the draft is weak. Describe the flue system that the stove is connected to in as much detail as you can.

Can you post some pictures of the installation and also of the chimney system it is connected to? The manual can be found here:

HEARTHSTONE STARLET OWNER'S MANUAL Pdf Download

View and Download HearthStone STARLET owner's manual online. Non-Catalytic Wood Stove. STARLET stove pdf manual download. Also for: 8550.

www.manualslib.com

 

[Obs]

Thanks so much for the manual. Here are several pictures of the installation from the inside. It pipes through the wall to an independent flu inside the chimney that runs outside the house (a common chimney with the fireplace but according to the chimney sweep an independent flu).

 

[Obs]

Amazing, we don't hear much about this stove and then two show up within a short period. The Starlet is a fairly conventional design in a soapstone jacket. The firebox is fairly shallow so it is likely to want good draft in order to not spill out smoke when the door is opened. If the stove is hard to light then it could be a problem with the wood not being dry enough or the draft is weak. Describe the flue system that the stove is connected to in as much detail as you can.

Can you post some pictures of the installation and also of the chimney system it is connected to? The manual can be found here:

HEARTHSTONE STARLET OWNER'S MANUAL Pdf Download

View and Download HearthStone STARLET owner's manual online. Non-Catalytic Wood Stove. STARLET stove pdf manual download. Also for: 8550.

www.manualslib.com

Thank you for the manual, I just posted several pictures in a separate reply.

 

[begreen]

The problem may not be with the stove. We hear about issues like this every week. It looks like the elbow could go into the wall thimble a bit more to snug it up, but I suspect the stove is in a negative pressure zone, with a cold exterior flue making things worse. And the Starlet has a shallow firebox which can make it more smoke spill prone.

Is this a basement installation? Did they put a stainless steel 6" liner in the chimney flue to connect the stove to? How tall is the chimney from the stove connection to the top?

 

[Obs]

The problem may not be with the stove. We hear about issues like this every week. It looks like the elbow could go into the wall thimble a bit more to snug it up, but I suspect the stove is in a negative pressure zone, with a cold exterior flue making things worse. And the Starlet has a shallow firebox which can make it more smoke spill prone.

Is this a basement installation? Did they put a stainless steel 6" liner in the chimney flue to connect the stove to? How tall is the chimney from the stove connection to the top?

1. Is this a basement installation: Yes, basement is semi-above ground in front and inground in back (house is set into hill). Stove is against lateral wall about midway between front and back.
2. I have no idea whether they put a stainless steel liner in the chimney flu to connect the stove to. That said, the chimney sweep we use is extremely knowledgeable and reliable and I suspect if the liner was not sufficient he would have pointed it out. I will ask him though.
3. The house is two stories above ground so the chimney is 2.5-3 floors above the stove.

PS: I suspect you are right that the problem is not likely the stove ... I'd put "rookie operator" at the top of the list ... followed by the other more common issues

 

[begreen]

I wouldn't blame yourself too much. It can be an uphill battle if the stove is vented into a cold exterior chimney from a basement. I suspect that you don't have a properly sized and insulated liner in the chimney as well. Add to this a shallow bodied stove and it becomes a hard start for anyone. You can try putting in some candles in the stove 30 minutes ahead of time to try to warm up the flue. Top-down lighting can also help. Be sure the wood and kindling is dry.

A non-commercial service in support of responsible home heating with wood - Top-Down Fires Step-by-Step

The Wood Heat Organization was formed to support the public in the responsible use of wood energy in the home. We fulfill our mandate by providing reliable information, by conducting research into wood heating-related issues and by representing the public interest in discussions of policies that...

www.woodheat.org

 

[Obs]

I wouldn't blame yourself too much. It can be an uphill battle if the stove is vented into a cold exterior chimney from a basement. I suspect that you don't have a properly sized and insulated liner in the chimney as well. Add to this a shallow bodied stove and it becomes a hard start for anyone. You can try putting in some candles in the stove 30 minutes ahead of time to try to warm up the flue. Top-down lighting can also help. Be sure the wood and kindling is dry.

A non-commercial service in support of responsible home heating with wood - Top-Down Fires Step-by-Step

The Wood Heat Organization was formed to support the public in the responsible use of wood energy in the home. We fulfill our mandate by providing reliable information, by conducting research into wood heating-related issues and by representing the public interest in discussions of policies that...

www.woodheat.org

I have what may be a silly rookie question but in all the years of using a fireplace I never had to worry about this particular item.

Once the fire is good and hot and the flu is operating the way it should be (let's assume that all the equipment is proper for this hypothetical), does the air pressure created by the hot fire literally push the smoke up the chimney? I ask because I noted something interesting on another post I recently read ... that even if there are slight leaky areas around the joints connecting the chimney that there would be a negative pressure and the chimney would draw air through the leaky areas into the chimney from the ambient air (rather than leaking smoke out).

I'm trying to figure out the veracity of the statements I read.

One of the other items I'm beginning to realize is that my tests may have been faulty tests in that I was trying to use small pieces of cardboard to test the unit (figuring that if it didn't work, I wouldn't have too much of a mess on my hands). I'm wondering if I created an unintentionally cool, smokey fire and that I might have been better off with kiln dry wood.

 

[begreen]

This should be helpful:

A non-commercial service in support of responsible home heating with wood - All About Chimneys

The Wood Heat Organization was formed to support the public in the responsible use of wood energy in the home. We fulfill our mandate by providing reliable information, by conducting research into wood heating-related issues and by representing the public interest in discussions of policies that...

www.woodheat.org

 

[kennyp2339]

One of the other items I'm beginning to realize is that my tests may have been faulty tests in that I was trying to use small pieces of cardboard to test the unit (figuring that if it didn't work, I wouldn't have too much of a mess on my hands). I'm wondering if I created an unintentionally cool, smokey fire and that I might have been better off with kiln dry wood.

Next time your at home depot or Lowes pick up some compressed wood fuel bricks, they will specifically say there made with no wax binders.

 

[begreen]

I forgot to mention, also, try cracking open a nearby window an inch when starting the stove.