air wood stoves

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Those with the type of wood stove that have the air tubes at the top of the firebox allowing for secondary burning, I have a question. If I do not have the draft moving up the chimney, my ws of this type begins to smoke out the bottom. So I understand this happening with a poor draft and a just started fire. Smoke must be going thru the air tubes and back into the bottom air chamber until it is visible. My question is this: is anyone smelling wood smoke after the fire is going and hot. Sometimes I get this smell. It is the same smell one gets when opening the wood stove door and a bit of smoke wafts out of the stove if you open the door to fast. I've checked for all kinds of leaks in both stove and flue pipe. Also, wouldn't air always want to come into the wood stove with a hot fire? I would think I should not be getting this smell at all and was wondering if anyone else was experiencing the same with this kind of tubed wood stove.

 

[dfkrug]

I have Regency stove like that, with the secondary-burn tubes.

Now and then even after I have a good burn going, I would get a bit
of smoke coming in when I open the door for more fuel. I blame it on
a buildup of ash on top of the two large flat fire bricks that are at the
top of the fire box and just below the flue.

This season, I have cleaned out the flue and fire box extra-well. A
once-every-season cleaning is recommended, esp if you ever damp
down on the combustion air intake. I never do that because it leads to
inefficient burning.

 

[clemsonfor]

its a wood stove i would think that you will always have a slight smell. Heck i can smell my fire place right now and i havent had a fire in probably 6.5 months now.

 

[RonMar]

How tight is your house? a well weather sealed home can restrict draft. othe pressure change from opening and closing a door might even reverse the flow a little and suck some smoke/smell back into the room. Best install would have an independent low restriction air source from outside feeding directly to the wood stoves air inlet port...

 

[dmccarty]

Does this happen when you run the clothes dryer?

The clothes dryer dumps quite a bit of air out of the house. Our hold city house was built in 1977 so I would not say it was a tight house at all. Trying to start the fire with the clothes dryer running was not a good idea.

Our house has a 6 inch PVC pipe that supplies outside combustion air to the back area of the stove. If the stove is out or mainly out and very cold outside we can have a problem drafting the fire at start up. The smoke can leak out of the ash pan at the bottom of the stove. I try to leave a thin layer of ash when I clean out the stove to stop that leakage. It does not happen often though.

Later,
Dan

 

[dfkrug]

You guys (Ron and Dan) are totally correct.

My house is all concrete and very tight, so my stove has a combustion
air intake below it and thru the slab. Stove makers call this a "mobile
home kit".

I also have a make-up air intake on my forced-air furnace for added fresh
air.

When starting a fire in my wood stove, I have to let air in the door until
it is hot enough. When doing that, I have to make sure the vent fans
in my bathrooms, or over my range are off.

Furthermore, if my woodstove fire dies down and goes cold, leaving any
unburned wood, I can invite smells into the house when running an
exhaust fan.

 

[Chilly807]

Yep, I'll second what the rest of the guys said. We've got a Regency 1100, never a sniff of smoke out of it, except for starting a fire with the dryer running. It has the outside air supply piping, our house is new and pretty tight.

I'd say you MAY have a problem with the stove, once it's up and running hot there should never be smoke out the bottom, unless you have draft or chimney problems. The flue should be sized to the stove as well, ours has a 6 inch flue. Try opening a window the next time it smokes. If it goes away you've got an air imbalance in the house, i.e. low pressure situation.

In fact, with dry wood, all we get out the chimney is heat waves, not a sign of smoke. You can actually see the secondary combustion taking place as the gases go past the air tubes.

Sean

 

[arrow]

Yep, I'll second what the rest of the guys said. We've got a Regency 1100, never a sniff of smoke out of it, except for starting a fire with the dryer running. It has the outside air supply piping, our house is new and pretty tight.

I'd say you MAY have a problem with the stove, once it's up and running hot there should never be smoke out the bottom, unless you have draft or chimney problems. The flue should be sized to the stove as well, ours has a 6 inch flue. Try opening a window the next time it smokes. If it goes away you've got an air imbalance in the house, i.e. low pressure situation.

In fact, with dry wood, all we get out the chimney is heat waves, not a sign of smoke. You can actually see the secondary combustion taking place as the gases go past the air tubes.

Sean

No, I cannot see smoke coming out the bottom when the fire is going, just at start up. My house is not that tight. I will take up the notice of when this smoke smell starts happening if the dryer is on. It happens out of the blue. Fire is going great, no smell for hours and then I get a smoke smell. No blow back down the chimney is needed to get this smell. I did call the company (Quadrafire) and was rather dismissed with the "If you burn wood , you're gonna get a smoke smell" reasoning which is an utter crock in my mind. I had to tell the guy I am not talking about the obvious. I am talking about an all of a sudden situation of no smell then smell so I never did find out about any aberration of the stove itself. As far as what I am reading about outside air intake, the advantages seem to have divided camps as to whether this helps. Nothing like from the horses mouth however which I take much stock in. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

 

[Chilly807]

No, I cannot see smoke coming out the bottom when the fire is going, just at start up. My house is not that tight. I will take up the notice of when this smoke smell starts happening if the dryer is on. It happens out of the blue. Fire is going great, no smell for hours and then I get a smoke smell. No blow back down the chimney is needed to get this smell. I did call the company (Quadrafire) and was rather dismissed with the "If you burn wood , you're gonna get a smoke smell" reasoning which is an utter crock in my mind. I had to tell the guy I am not talking about the obvious. I am talking about an all of a sudden situation of no smell then smell so I never did find out about any aberration of the stove itself. As far as what I am reading about outside air intake, the advantages seem to have divided camps as to whether this helps. Nothing like from the horses mouth however which I take much stock in. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

The outside air definitely is conducive to better combustion, otherwise the stove is struggling to get fresh air from inside the house. Tight is relative, my house isn't R2000 rated, but it has to be close. Starting the dryer with the stove and chimney hot is no problem, although I expect it does have some effect.

An air exchanger shouldn't cause a problem, they are "balanced" in that exhaust should equal intake if it's set up correctly.

Some stoves are fussier than others, mine likes nice dry wood, if not the fire is lazy. I do run it wide open (draft) most times, unless we have a windy day outside. I'd sooner go through a bit more wood than have creosote buildup..

Sean

 

[Highbeam]

It is not normal for a properly installed stove to ever smell of smoke unless you have the door open.