Woodstock IS rear exhaust cold start draft issue

[pontiacgta2002]

Hello, was hoping to find other rear exhaust IS owners and see how their cold start draft establishment process is. My issue is a smoke filled room if I don't preheat the exhaust flue. This process is a pain as i need to remove the center burner, open the top lid, close the bypass, remove the cat shield and then point the hair dryer at the flue and run it on hot high for a few minutes. I exhaust into a 6" double wall pipe 2' long through a wall into a tee and up 21'.

Looking at the rear exhaust port the top is about an inch or so below the top of the stove. With the bypass open and a fire in there without warming the flue blows smoke back out the air intake. I have craked abslider left open the stove door all with the same results. If it exhausted out the top i think it wouldn't be an issue, however, not an option. It's hard for the smoke to fill the box travel horizontally 2' and them up all while pushing a cold air plug.

I could use a piece of cardboard and cut a whole into it then point the hair dryer in there.
This is a big inconvenience during shoulder season as every evening this process needs to be done. If I open the air intake in the morning to half open then I can sometimes keep a draft established.

Anyone else doing this same song and dance?

 

[JA600L]

Are you sure the chimney cap isn't plugged?
Does the chimney back draft when it's cold?

I have a top venting Ideal Steel but with two 90s in the pipe and it has never been an issue.

 

[pontiacgta2002]

Yes, the chimney cap is clear and the pipe is clean. Only issue I have is getting that cold plug out. No draft issues during normal operation just the cold start up.
Looking for some comments from another rear exhaust IS operator if their experience is similar.

Thanks for the reply back.

 

[zenoparadox]

I don't have an IS so maybe that disqualifies me right off the bat, but I have a VC Encore Defiant in the basement that is rear venting and has to go through over 4 feet of horizontal pipe before getting to the vertical. To get the draft going I absolutely must use the top down method of starting a fire and use generous amounts of paper and kindling.

 

[Woody Stover]

Only issue I have is getting that cold plug out.

Yep, going outside early like that is often problematic...

 

[fire_man]

21' of flue should be plenty of height for that stove. What is the layout of the house, is there a higher portion of the house that could be causing a "stack effect"? I have a rear vent WS Progress on the first floor and during shoulder season I can get a smoke filled room if there are windows open on the second floor.

 

[JA600L]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000AXFP1/?tag=hearthamazon-20

You could plumb in something like this to use in the shoulder season. It might provide a little extra draft till the stove warms up.

 

[pontiacgta2002]

21' of flue should be plenty of height for that stove. What is the layout of the house, is there a higher portion of the house that could be causing a "stack effect"? I have a rear vent WS Progress on the first floor and during shoulder season I can get a smoke filled room if there are windows open on the second floor.

I have a flat roof and the stove pipe extends 5' above it. Nothing around the stove pipe and its held up with a roof brace. This stove replaced a fisher mama bear, that steped up before going out the wall and up. It had no issue drafting on a cold start.
The IS where the smoke goes through the bypass and out the rear vent is level horizontally. It lacks the step to help the smoke go up before going out the back and horizontally 2'. The stove is as low to the ground as possible only giving me very little slant up on the horizontal run through the wall. In order to lower the stove I'd have to remove the brick hearth it sits on to get a 3" rise before hitting the horizontal run. The hearth sits on a concrete slap. I may do that in a few years or remove the brick wall and have it exit the top and make a new hole a few feet higher then out the wall. No plans for that work in the near future.

 

[pontiacgta2002]

I don't have an IS so maybe that disqualifies me right off the bat, but I have a VC Encore Defiant in the basement that is rear venting and has to go through over 4 feet of horizontal pipe before getting to the vertical. To get the draft going I absolutely must use the top down method of starting a fire and use generous amounts of paper and kindling.

I use the top down method on cold starts as well. With this stove its an easy 12 hours before i have to touch it again. And at that point the room is still warm enough not to require a reload.