Possible Reason For Last Night's "Reverse Draft" Situation?

[brazilbl]

Scenario:
Outdoor Temp: 48 degrees, no wind, clear.
Indoor temp: 68 degrees.
Chimney height: 25 feet. Usually drafts very well. Cap clean.

As soon as I get home, I like to start the fire asap to get the house warm before we go to bed. Opened door and noticed the cool air coming from the Chimney. OK - I thought to myself, get the torch and heat up the flue to reverse. Long story short - smoke partially fills the house, family retreat to "safe haven" down the hallway to the bedroom until the "issue clears". Really had a hard time getting heat up the flue, torch kept going out.

After getting the fire going and doing my best at smoke eradication efforts, I noticed that the dryer was running a load through during the time I started up the fire. I've calked around the house and consider our house to be somewhat "tight", not drafty. THEN I REALIZED that the Dryer was running a load.

Question: Could the dryer (which is approximately 20 feet away from the stove in the washer room) could have been the source of the "Reverse Draft"?

If so - then I'll add *that* to my informal pre-burn checklist!

Thanks in advance.

 

[kennyp2339]

Question: Could the dryer (which is approximately 20 feet away from the stove in the washer room) could have been the source of the "Reverse Draft"?

It sure can, you ever put your and near the exit of the vent while it was running, the air has to come from somewhere, also since the outside temp was in the upper 40's, the torch had a harder time heating the chimney to get the draft reversed and running properly.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Yep X2. My basement unfinished is not airtight whatsoever so when the dryer comes on just pulls air from around the two single layer wooden basement doors more than usual. Doesn't seem to effect the stove upstairs or very little. As was said the make up air has to come from somewhere. Kevin

 

[Corey]

It could. 20 degrees isn't a lot of 'delta T' to generate draft. Plus, some portion of your flue is outside... even if it's just the top few feet. That portion would be at ambient outside temp, so isn't contributing to the draft. If you have more flue exposed, then the 'effective height' would be even lower.

Caulking would also hurt (or certainly not help) in this situation. When running the dryer, that air has to get into the house somewhere. If the house were 'perfectly' tight, then the 'only' way in for that air may be back down through the flue. If the house were drafty, at least you could pull air in around doors, windows, etc.

Though the lesson here is - if you have reverse draft, you have to get it going forward BEFORE ever lighting the fire. If draft is reversed, then all the smoky fire can do is fill up the room. In most instances cracking a window slightly and applying some form of 'clean' heat (propane, hot air gun, etc) will work. Though in rare cases (house cooler than outside air) opening a window can actually allow the cold air to spill out of your house and make the reverse draft even worse. (I particularly have trouble with this due to a walk-out basement...open a window down there and the cooler air likes to pour out of the house...the easiest path for make-up air is down the flue pipe upstairs!)

 

[paulnlee]

Gas or electric dryer? Don't believe an electric would affect the draft.

 

[jetsam]

If you have an appliance sucking air through your woodstove flue, you have a potentially deadly CO hazard on your hands.

I would be scrambling for an outside air kit for the stove and working CO detectors for the house.

What if next time it's warm out, you have a stove full of coals, and somebody puts on the dryer and the bathroom exhaust fan?

 

[bholler]

Gas or electric dryer? Don't believe an electric would affect the draft.

Sure it would if it is vented outside it is drawing air out of the house. It doesn't matter what fuel it uses.

 

[paulnlee]

You're correct. I think of my own basement exhaust fan and when it runs it does influence the draft.

 

[brazilbl]

Thank you for the replies.

The dryer is electric and vents through the roof. Will be having it turned off as I start the fire. Once it's rolling, then I can restart the dryer. Once I got the fire to go, the dryer was still running and I couldn't detect it affecting the fire once it's going. It *sure* affected the initial start-up!

I do indeed have a CO detector 5 ft away from hearth and my chimney does have some OAK provision (perhaps from the zero-clearance fireplace that was there before the wood stove). I asked the wood stove installer about hooking it up to the wood stove and he felt that it was not needed. When he comes for his scheduled cleaning, I intend to revisit the OAK, citing this experience.

 

[bholler]

Thank you for the replies.

The dryer is electric and vents through the roof. Will be having it turned off as I start the fire. Once it's rolling, then I can restart the dryer. Once I got the fire to go, the dryer was still running and I couldn't detect it affecting the fire once it's going. It *sure* affected the initial start-up!

I do indeed have a CO detector 5 ft away from hearth and my chimney does have some OAK provision (perhaps from the zero-clearance fireplace that was there before the wood stove). I asked the wood stove installer about hooking it up to the wood stove and he felt that it was not needed. When he comes for his scheduled cleaning, I intend to revisit the OAK, citing this experience.

What stove is this?

 

[MissMac]

Scenario:
Outdoor Temp: 48 degrees, no wind, clear.
Indoor temp: 68 degrees.
Chimney height: 25 feet. Usually drafts very well. Cap clean.

As soon as I get home, I like to start the fire asap to get the house warm before we go to bed. Opened door and noticed the cool air coming from the Chimney. OK - I thought to myself, get the torch and heat up the flue to reverse. Long story short - smoke partially fills the house, family retreat to "safe haven" down the hallway to the bedroom until the "issue clears". Really had a hard time getting heat up the flue, torch kept going out.

After getting the fire going and doing my best at smoke eradication efforts, I noticed that the dryer was running a load through during the time I started up the fire. I've calked around the house and consider our house to be somewhat "tight", not drafty. THEN I REALIZED that the Dryer was running a load.

Question: Could the dryer (which is approximately 20 feet away from the stove in the washer room) could have been the source of the "Reverse Draft"?

If so - then I'll add *that* to my informal pre-burn checklist!

Thanks in advance.

Absolutely


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[vwmike]

Been there done that. In a basement where your sharing a space with a furnace, dryer, etc you can’t beat a oak.