getting smoke out

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A brick 'n' mortar chimney on an outside wall has always caused problems for me. Once cold, they flat take forever to warm up... and in windy sub-zero weather they sometimes never do. Backdrafts, downdrafts, poor draft, plugged flues, and smoke in the house... I've even seen ash get blown across the room when opening the door on a cold firebox.
 
I lit a cold stove yesterday morning with my usual fire starter and splits and the whole box filled with smoke.

I went outside and looked at the stack and there was no smoke at all coming out, by the time I got back in, the smoke was coming out around the joints.

Figured something done got in the chimney.

So opened the door to a big cloud of smoke and pulled out the wood. Left the fire starter in there and pulled the stove pipe apart to find it was all clear.

Restacked the wood in there and all was normal. Guess the burning fire starter was enough to get the draft going.

Never had that happen with my old stove, course never had the heat I do now either. :)





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Thanks Blade There is no structures close 6" dia. insulated 2 ply flex Horizontal run I stated earlier it was about 40" I measured yesterday it is 34 and I have 1" of fall toward the furnace.

Haveawoody can you buy a solid 45 or have to you the adjustable 90 to make the 45 ?


It going to be warm this week perfect time to tear apart and fix
 
740jsmayle,

You can buy 45's at TSC, they usually have a good selection of woodstove bits at decent prices.
Once you change out the 90's for 45's almost a guarantee you will need either less or more connector pipe between them also.
Only way to get an exact measure of that is after the 45's are in place but not permanently connected and either cut or add pipe as needed then connect them all up permanent.

Maybe a 1hr job to convert the 90's and pipe to 45's and pipe and similar to plumbing a 90 restricts flow quite a bit and 2 45's very little.
If that fix doesn't resolve a smokey beast then a 6' addition to the double wall insulated chimney height will be the next thing to try.

If you do both and it persists then it's chimney inspector time to hunt out for a (t) in the system, cracked pipe, obstructed pipe etc.
Much cheaper than a fire :)
 
I'll keep looking. Everywhere I went today all had adjustable 90's . They even gave me a demonstration on how to use them after saying "that's not what I'm looking for"
Flex liner is a new install I checked everything out today no obstructions ????
 
I lit a cold stove yesterday morning with my usual fire starter and splits and the whole box filled with smoke.

I went outside and looked at the stack and there was no smoke at all coming out, by the time I got back in, the smoke was coming out around the joints.

Figured something done got in the chimney.

So opened the door to a big cloud of smoke and pulled out the wood. Left the fire starter in there and pulled the stove pipe apart to find it was all clear.

Restacked the wood in there and all was normal. Guess the burning fire starter was enough to get the draft going.

Never had that happen with my old stove, course never had the heat I do now either. :)





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Your flue pipe is clogged. You need to clean out the creosote.
 
Well, I did think so, especially when there was no smoke out the chimney top..

However, its a straight run of pipe 8' from stove to the ceiling, then 9' of Class A triple wall, so I was able to look all the way to the cap. There was some creosote, which I did brush out today, but wouldn't think enough to completely shut off the draft.

I'm guessing it just wasn't drafting.....

Wasn't surprised at the creosote though. There was just a thin layer, but I don't burn in this stove daily, maybe had 12 fires since late Oct.

I never did need a supply of dry wood with the Warm Morning 520 because I had to run 'er pretty hot most all the time. I could go all year without brushing it out, and when I took it out this year, the chimney was clean as a whistle.

Old timer used to tell me I wasn't heatin' unless she was red to the ceiling.. :)

He wasn't stretching it too much either, as he tells about in his childhood seeing the stove and at least a joint or two glowing red....

Unfortunately, with the lower flue temperatures of the Englander 30, along with having to mix in some wetter wood with my little bit of dry stuff, gonna have to clean it more often now....

And while it's not quite glowing red, she does throw out the heat..
 
Is there a clean out at the bottom of the chimney? If so make sure it is closed all the way.

Make sure the chimney is clear.

When I start a fire in my non-EPA stove I start it hot and run it hot for a good while. Crumble newspaper, kindling on top of that, slightly larger split wood on top of that, sprinkled with a bit of kerosene. It starts quick and gets hot quick.

The only time I've had a smokey basement problem is when my chimney clean out door has come open for one reason or another.
 
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