Hi guys,
I'm new to the forum, but have been looking around for a while. I'm in Tasmania Australia and my only source of heat is a wood heater. I've got a small house up on a hill with an 80 acre bush block. My heater is an old Saxon freestanding radiant heater. I've got a flat roof with the flue going about 2.2m from the top of the box to the roof, then about 1.7m above the roof with a chinaman hat style cowling on top. I try and only burn dry eluclyptus wood and run it hot. I also keep the flue cleen. The heater is the type with holes above the door that open and close to regulate air flow in, no baffle in the flue, and the plate in the top of the box is pushed to the back, so exhause exits from the front then up the flue which is more towards the back.
I have 2 issues that i can't seem to solve, and i have had it all apart and cleaned the air inlet and flue, and on top of the plate, but can't figure it out.
1: The left hand side of the fire box always burns slower than the right, and the glass always gets dirty on that side with heaps of soot. Soot/creosote even ends up in the left hand side of the air intake and when the fire is out i can put my finger or a stick in there and break off big chips of creosote, like what gets in the flue. I've tried getting the fire nice and hot and then shutting the inlet and using smoke to see if there is a leak in the door seal, but douldn't find one - and i thought more air would mean that side burns more not less.
2: pretty much no matter how well the fire is burning, there just doesn't seem to be a good draw up the flue. The fire can be raging and when i upen the door smoke will exit through the door. it's the same no matter how hot the flue is, how clean the flue is, or how big/small, hot/cold the fire is. opening the door means smoke in the house.. sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. The cowling is basically the same as this https://www.ebay.com.au/i/174049526181 and when i first installed it, it got clogged up fairly easily, so i cut every second leg off it to make the holes bigger. but even when that's completely clean the draw up the flue is terrible.
Any assistance with these issues would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks heaps!
Adam
I'm new to the forum, but have been looking around for a while. I'm in Tasmania Australia and my only source of heat is a wood heater. I've got a small house up on a hill with an 80 acre bush block. My heater is an old Saxon freestanding radiant heater. I've got a flat roof with the flue going about 2.2m from the top of the box to the roof, then about 1.7m above the roof with a chinaman hat style cowling on top. I try and only burn dry eluclyptus wood and run it hot. I also keep the flue cleen. The heater is the type with holes above the door that open and close to regulate air flow in, no baffle in the flue, and the plate in the top of the box is pushed to the back, so exhause exits from the front then up the flue which is more towards the back.
I have 2 issues that i can't seem to solve, and i have had it all apart and cleaned the air inlet and flue, and on top of the plate, but can't figure it out.
1: The left hand side of the fire box always burns slower than the right, and the glass always gets dirty on that side with heaps of soot. Soot/creosote even ends up in the left hand side of the air intake and when the fire is out i can put my finger or a stick in there and break off big chips of creosote, like what gets in the flue. I've tried getting the fire nice and hot and then shutting the inlet and using smoke to see if there is a leak in the door seal, but douldn't find one - and i thought more air would mean that side burns more not less.
2: pretty much no matter how well the fire is burning, there just doesn't seem to be a good draw up the flue. The fire can be raging and when i upen the door smoke will exit through the door. it's the same no matter how hot the flue is, how clean the flue is, or how big/small, hot/cold the fire is. opening the door means smoke in the house.. sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. The cowling is basically the same as this https://www.ebay.com.au/i/174049526181 and when i first installed it, it got clogged up fairly easily, so i cut every second leg off it to make the holes bigger. but even when that's completely clean the draw up the flue is terrible.
Any assistance with these issues would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks heaps!
Adam