My canadian wood stove with little draft.

[moresnow]

But it has worked well this way for about 10 years, without a problem.

If this is the case it would seemingly indicate that you need to identify something else that has changed in the stove's environment.

Have you purchased a moisture meter yet ?

Have you made any changes to your home since successfully using the stove last? For example. New windows, doors, siding, weather sealing, addition?

Have you added any venting fans to the home? Stove hood vent? Bathroom vent? Dryer?, New HVAC components, appliance's ?

Have you tried starting the stove with the nearest door or window open?

Add a pic of your chimney termination in relation to the house roof.

Your stove looks like a Century product to me. A better pic of the tag may identify the exact model.



Good luck!

 

[begreen]

Your stove looks like a Century product to me. A better pic of the tag may identify it.

Yes, it looks like a Haugh (Century) S244.

 

[moresnow]

Yes, it looks like a Haugh or Century S244.

The 244 is smaller and has a upper right primary control slide. Very similar otherwise.

 

[oldbeaver]

Yes. I understand. I was thinking you may have crud blocking (exhausting) air flow on top of the baffle, but you can take it out and look into the pipe up to the cap, I think. That's where my confusion came from.
But that's not it.

Regarding air intake (that you seem to point to as possible cause): does the stove burn "normally" when the door is closed? Same flames/action in the stove?

If so, it's not the air intake imo.

After a while, I think when the stove is hot, it burns "normally", no smoke even out of the cup. But when starting it produces a lot of smoke, out the cup or the door (if I open it). Even with newspaper.

To discard high humidity fuelwoood as a cause, I will light the fire with saw wood next time, to see if it burns better and faster.

In relation to the airflow intake, my daughter made a video from the bottom, where it is, to see if the draft regulation mechanism is working right. And it is working right (video atached). And now I know how and where the airflow comes into the burning chamber. Very clever design to avoid it from clogging with ash or soot. Makes it almost impossible.

Thank you.

 

[stoveliker]

Ok, good to know (about the air intake) - and good to have learned something about your stove

Are you now burning during warmer weather than before? (Warmer weather causes a decrease in draft, i.e. the "sucking" action of a chimney that is effectively the engine of the stove - and if that is lower, one could have smoke roll out more easily.)

The questions by moresnow are also very pertinent.
Start a fire with a window nearby cracked open. If that works much better, it tells us that there is trouble with air coming into the home to make up for the air the chimney sucks out of the home through the air intake.

 

[oldbeaver]

The 244 is smaller and has a upper right primary control slide. Very similar otherwise.

Yes, could be a Haugh, I assume now the name is "Century", isn't it? Anyway it is a double chamber, or double combustion, or such.

 

[oldbeaver]

If this is the case it would seemingly indicate that you need to identify something else that has changed in the stove's environment.

Have you purchased a moisture meter yet ?

Have you made any changes to your home since successfully using the stove last? For example. New windows, doors, siding, weather sealing, addition?

Have you added any venting fans to the home? Stove hood vent? Bathroom vent? Dryer?, New HVAC components, appliance's ?

Have you tried starting the stove with the nearest door or window open?

Add a pic of your chimney termination in relation to the house roof.

Your stove looks like a Century product to me. A better pic of the tag may identify the exact model.



Good luck!

Thank you much for yr ideas and questions. I will try to get a better picture of the tag. And, I am attaching pictures of the top of the flue and cup. One shows the top from the other side of the street (marked in red). It looks tiny. The other shows the detail, picture taken standing on the roof. Yes, house is on a hillside.

Well, in fact we haven't make any main mod to the house since last winter. Moreover, our house has several vertical ventilation windows that are almost always open. They are 1,5 m long and 15 cm wide. It is difficult we have them all shut. But I will make the test you suggest anyway.

One difference is present: normally at this season (down) we used to have rain and wind. It was heavy sometimes. However, this year we have not rain nor wind.

Thank you. Best

 

[bholler]

Thank you much for yr ideas and questions. I will try to get a better picture of the tag. And, I am attaching pictures of the top of the flue and cup. One shows the top from the other side of the street (marked in red). It looks tiny. The other shows the detail, picture taken standing on the roof. Yes, house is on a hillside.

Well, in fact we haven't make any main mod to the house since last winter. Moreover, our house has several vertical ventilation windows that are almost always open. They are 1,5 m long and 15 cm wide. It is difficult we have them all shut. But I will make the test you suggest anyway.

One difference is present: normally at this season (down) we used to have rain and wind. It was heavy sometimes. However, this year we have not rain nor wind.

Thank you. Best

View attachment 294979 View attachment 294980

What are the outside temps when you are having these problems?

 

[oldbeaver]

What are the outside temps when you are having these problems?

Well, climate here is variable, from 12 degrees centigrades in the early morning, to 25 degrees today afternoon. But my problem is SOLVED!

What was causing this problem was the cup. It was sitting too close to the top of the flue, leaving only 1 cm of distance. The three legs it has were supposed to be attached to a piece of pipe on top of the flue, kind of a "collar", leaving a free flow space of 5-8 cm for the gases to get out. But, at some moment these three legs become loose and the cup fell down on the collar. I will screw tomorrow.

Originally, the legs were welded to the collar. Maybe the heating and the weather changes took off the welding.

I made a test lifting a little the cup and started a fire. The stove worked perfectly well, with a lot of draft, as it used to do.

Mistery solved, thank you much for all yr help. Sorry for making you think so much and for all your advice. Looking this from a positive side, this cause of lack of draft may serve as new experience for all.

Best

 

[stoveliker]

Great to hear about a good end to a captivating puzzle!

(And glad it was indeed the exhaust side of things that was the trouble, otherwise I'd have to rethink my understanding of these stove systematics ).

 

[oldbeaver]

Great to hear about a good end to a captivating puzzle!

(And glad it was indeed the exhaust side of things that was the trouble, otherwise I'd have to rethink my understanding of these stove systematics ).

Yes, indeed! hahaha, something has to be making this trouble. By the way the "puzzle" gave me the opportunity to meet nice helping guys and learn a lot about my stove. I never imagined so abundance of responses and I am glad to see the good will of you people of the forum.

Thank you all again.

Best,
Oldbeaver

 

[begreen]

That's great news. I was certain that the issue was not the air intake. To repair the legs on the cap, drill holes and either screw or pop-rivet the legs in place. Use stainless steel screws or pop-rivets.