So I am sitting here in the living room enjoying the heat from my wood stove insert. All of a sudden, the winds pick up and my house is full of smoke! It normally drafts very well. I only have a problem in high winds. Any suggestions?
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Replies
Do you have a barometric damper on your flue pipe?
there are chimney caps specifically designed for high wind areas.
I don't think so. I don't even know what that is.
"May the forces of evil be confused on the way to your house." -George Carlin
not proper for a wood stove and they do not prevent this sort of downdraft. They are to prevent surge updraft from messing up the flame.
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There are a number of wood stoves that recommend barometric dampers (Daka, PSG for example). I was thinking he may not have enough of a draft developed in the chimney and if a damper is present and not calibrated correctly could be causing a problem. Recently ran into this at a friends installation that is why it was at the front of my mind. I too missed the insert reference in the first reading, and like your suggestion of the fireplace flue being too large for the wood stove insert draft requirement. Chimney height may also be a contributor, but first shot to fix the problem would be a 6" liner inside the existing chimney.
Yes - 6-7-8 - whatever is right for that particular insert
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Chicago Mike,
How high over the roof peak is your chiminey top?
The chimney is on the eave side of the roof and it extends approx 4 feet above the roof. But it is below the ridge.
"May the forces of evil be confused on the way to your house." -George Carlin
Chicago Mike,
There is your problem.. Build or buy something to extend it at least 3 feet above the ridge line and the problem won't happen again..
Air hits the roof bounces over and following the roof down causes a down draft.. I'll be it doesn't happen if the wind comes from the opposite direction does it?
Mike. The common standard for chimney height is top of chimney 2' above any part of the roof within 10'. On occasion the placement of the ridge, valley's or dormers will screw up draw.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
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Thank you all very much. I will look into a high wind chimney cap and see how that works.
A high wind chimney cap WILL NOT fix a thing if the chimney is too short
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Your problem is inadequate chimney height and location. It must be three feet above the ridge or two feet above any part of the roof or structure within ten feet. In some cases it needs to be more to create a good draft.
Another basic that is often forgotten is that a flue generally needs a minimum 14' high stack from the source of combustion. So if you have five feet in the room, two in the attic/ceiling, and four above the roof that gives me an estimated eleven foot tall chimney which could backdraft at times even if the roof were flat When the wind comes over your ridge it makes a downdraft vortex pushing that smokes right back atcha
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I just picked up on something else here, Mike.
the word 'insert' missed me the first time.
So you have a masonry fireplace and chimney with an insert installed in it, right?
Is the insert connected to a flue liner? or is it just fitted to a sealing plate to connect it to the existing masonry flue?
if the latter, that could also be a source of the problem. Fireplace and wood stove designs are different, they act in diffeernt ways and they exhaust combustion gasses differently. The size of a fireplace flue is determined by its height and the size of the FP opening.. A wood stove will always have a smaller need than a FP in flue size and a safe install means lining the flue with SS so the smoke can exhaust properly.
Letting the wood stove just dump into a too-large flue means that it will drift slowly and gradually towards the sky without ever really creating a good draft. It is very common for that sort of installation to do a lot of puffing smoke like you describe.
I will also see a LOT more creosote buildup and more likely chimney fires
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I have ChiMike's trouble even with my chimney well above the code height (I've never heard the 14' rule before) when the wind blows from the south, with the chimney on the south side of the house. The smoke rolls over the hip roof, the gets sucked down under the small porch roof on the north side, then drifts in opening available. Unfortunately the doggie door is there and i've have to figure out a better seal - or simply decide it's not that bad. But the smoke is definitely coming in on the opposite side of the house, which used to confuse me because at first i thought i was getting back-drafting, too, but that theory didn't match the strength of the smoke smell pattern.Perhaps an unnecessary two cents, but it wouldn't help to fix the wrong problem.
There are always ways smoke can get in even when everything is done just right. I have a two storey plus with about a 28' flue height and when wind is from north gently with a low pressure inversion, it can roll right over the edge and down to the basement pet dooranother option for this guy could be a power fan lid on the chimney to insure good draft, though he might still get excessive creosote to watch out for.
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Piffin, great call!
I too missed the insert completely!
Me too on the first read.
Insert was a sneaky little word inserted there.;)
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Piffin,
You are correct. It is inserted into a common masonry FP with no liner. When the
chimney gets cleaned, you can see evidence of swirling smoke at the top of the
masonry opening. I will definitely use a SS pipe to line the chimney and connect it
directly to the insert. It has a flange for this purpose. They should have done this
when it was installed. Thank you for your help.
great.I love solving problems
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