Hopper Fire last night
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The masonry chimney runs down the outside of the house through the garage so it's cold all the time.
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It's a duravent cap just like this the twist on to the 4" pipe. I just check all the pipe & it has some ash but it's nothing that would restrict flow. There was also a lot of ash on this cap. The night it happened it was clear with no wind.
hyfire
Minister of Fire
I think you have a neg air problem, you need to get a magnehelic gauge and make sure its within spec of the stove manufacturer. Your comment got me thinking..
"When I ran a wood stove I often had negative draft issues but that was just 6" pipe off the stove and into the wall thimble the dumped into the clay lined chimney."
"When I ran a wood stove I often had negative draft issues but that was just 6" pipe off the stove and into the wall thimble the dumped into the clay lined chimney."
You would think the combustion fan and the warm air from the igniting pellets would eventually overcome the slug of cold air in the flue.
hyfire
Minister of Fire
The OP already mentioned that there is anther burning device in a separate chimney that automatically can cycle and that this end of the basement isn't all that well sealed form the other.
I still have some questions that deal with the gaskets on the pellet stove, if there has ever been any visible warp-age along the door or stove frame due to heat, and if there are any signs of air leakage along the feed system (shows up as v shaped areas pointing to the leak), then there is the ever popular area at the top of the auger flight where there is an end cap that the flight cover sits upon..
I still have some questions that deal with the gaskets on the pellet stove, if there has ever been any visible warp-age along the door or stove frame due to heat, and if there are any signs of air leakage along the feed system (shows up as v shaped areas pointing to the leak), then there is the ever popular area at the top of the auger flight where there is an end cap that the flight cover sits upon..
In my place, on the first floor or the basement, if the flue gets totally cold there is a downdraft. I might get a bit of a whiff from the basement pellet boiler, but so far so good. I also have to crack a window on the first floor and light a little newspaper for the wood insert if things get totally cold. Does your stove get totally cold? Did it work okay other times from a cold start (and downdraft-can you feel the draft with your hand?)?
Blaming it on the downdraft may be premature, no?
On a side note, my boiler has a little water reservoir that dumps water in the auger tube if things get hot in there.
Blaming it on the downdraft may be premature, no?
On a side note, my boiler has a little water reservoir that dumps water in the auger tube if things get hot in there.
Did the draft issue when you had your wood insert go away once it got warmed up a little, or was it a constant thing where you always had to crack open a window? I've never experienced it that bad-just a matter of initially reversing the draft.
The OP already had the stove running and had turned it up prior to leaving and the stove wasn't under the control of a t-stat.
So what changed, if it was drafting well when he left? It was a cold day, maybe the oil burner came on? Have they ever both been firing before?
The wood stove before worked fine after it was going you could shut the window and I never had a problem even when the fire was burning out. The oil boiler also heats our hot water so it's always on and cycles when it gets low enough. We have never had a problem before but this was the coldest night since the pellet stove has been run. Right now I have the stove pipe capped & when you remove the cap you get cold air coming into the basement. Its upper 30s out today.
Well I'm just dotting i s and crossing t s.
I want to make sure that the OP can get things back in operation.
Things that separate pressure differences are seals of one variety or another (like gaskets).
Things that lead to pressure differences are differences in altitude between intake and termination and other air handling devices.
Things that interfere with air flow are ash and reductions in the vent system as you get closer to the stove.
As you burn the ash load goes up in the venting this occurs quicker in horizontal runs and elbows adding to the restriction.
What you might not think is a lot of ash can in the right places be a major issue.
I want to make sure that the OP can get things back in operation.
Things that separate pressure differences are seals of one variety or another (like gaskets).
Things that lead to pressure differences are differences in altitude between intake and termination and other air handling devices.
Things that interfere with air flow are ash and reductions in the vent system as you get closer to the stove.
As you burn the ash load goes up in the venting this occurs quicker in horizontal runs and elbows adding to the restriction.
What you might not think is a lot of ash can in the right places be a major issue.
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I do plan to replace the 3" pipe with 4" so it's 4" right from the increaser T on the back of the stove. I also noticed where the shoot meets the back of the fire box the silicone sealant was done poorly. I added some high temp sealant to fix that.
LordmetalZ28
Minister of Fire
Was it windy. Thats the only time ive ever seen a chimney down draft in my 10 years in hvac and usually have a draft regulator on there.ive seen wind blow out an oil burner while running with no draft regulator.Wind or another appliance Maybe attic fan can cause this
No there was no wind just cold about 7 degrees. That's the weird part. Only thing that could of been running was oil burner but that always kicks on every so often & never had an issue. Right now I am getting a good down draft out of the pipe but the clothes dryer is running & boiler in basement plus bathroom fan upstairs. We have a ranch with partially finished basement.
LordmetalZ28
Minister of Fire
LordmetalZ28
Minister of Fire
How many feet in total is your vent run. And have you done the conversion propertys on this run.
LordmetalZ28
Minister of Fire
For instance I have 13ft of vertical run and the manufactures table converts it to 7.5 feet with the tee and 16inch horizontal. If your manufactures recommended 4inch you should think about trying that. You may just have to much back pressure with the denser air and its having a hard time moving it
hyfire
Minister of Fire
Polar Bear
Feeling the Heat
He has an equivalent vent length of 15 in just the 90 degree bends alone and 9 in the vertical portion he is definately in 4" vent territory and creeping up on the overall limit.
If he has access to the flue at pellet stove exhaust vent level he would be better off entering the flue that way and 90 degrees and then up. That might even put him in 3" territory.
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