Vacu-stack chimney cap?

[charlesfarm]

Anybody using the vacu-stack chimney cap? And how well does it work?

When the wind is blowing hard at 20+ MPH, I get bad downdrafts that fill the house and my kids' poor lungs with plumes of smoke.

At 3:30 this morning, I woke up to a house filled with smoke when the winds were picking up. After fighting with the stove for an hour or so, I ended up having to pull all the wood out of the stove, throw it into a wash tub, pitch it outside, and turn on the propane furnace (there goes some $$$$)

Thanks!

God bless,
Chris

 

[mga]

for your current situation, you have to consider why you're getting such a severe back draft. the height of your chimney in realation to any roof peaks is a likely culprit.

adding one of those caps might help, but i'd find out the cause of that back draft first.

i might be wrong, but it should be above any peak within 10 feet of it.

 

[laynes69]

I have a baro on my wood furnace. And right now we are getting gusts up to 60 mph, and I haven't had a single puff of smoke in the home. They seem to help, but may not be required for your type of stove. There are too many things that come into play when backdrafting.

 

[AngelofDarkness]

I am getting backdrafts today, I get them once in awhile when a gust comes the wrong way but today is especially bad. Lighting the stove and getting the fire going was the hardest. once I got it going I have been keeping it hot and the backdrafts aren't nearly as bad. I watch it through the glass door, the fire dies for a second and then picks back up, no smoke leaves the stove as long as I have it going hot.

I know the culprit, I need another 2 feet on my chimney but haven't gotten around to it seeing as it is not a big problem unless it's really windy.

 

[charlesfarm]

laynes - sorry for the ignorance, but what is a "baro" and what does it do?

The stove is an Amish made Baker's Choice wood cookstove. The chimney is also made by the Amish and is double-wall solid-pack insulated stainless steel and is about 14' tall. The top is at least 10 feet horizontally from the closest peak -- the second story of the house, and there are no trees or other items within 10'.

When it is relatively calm (less than 20mph wind), the chimney drafts great -- even if it's 60 degrees outside. I believe that since our barn and a couple trees to the west and northwest of our house are less than 100 feet away, we get the downdrafts due to air turbulence during these winter storms as the air passes over the barn and trees (there are only open fields beyond the backyard).

This morning, in a vain attempt to stop the downdrafts, I removed the cap from the chimney, and stuck a 3' piece of single wall 7" stove pipe -- it did not help.

I am hoping that since the chimney otherwise drafts well, the vacu-stack would help improve draft during high wind.

Thanks!

God bless,
Chris

 

[laynes69]

A baro is short for a barometric damper. Its used for overdraft situations, or to help keep an even draft on a stove, or furnace. Whenever air goes in out out of the chimney when its windy, it will open or close and keep a constant draft on the furnace. If the wind outside pulls on the draft too hard, it will open up and keep the draft the same on the furnace. Its not for draft improvement, but for consistancy.

 

[charlesfarm]

Laynes -- thanks for the explanation. I don't think that would help my downdraft problem when it's windy, but it would probably help me keep a better overnight burn in the stove -- something I might need to install, but not until I get my bigger issue solved.

-Chris

 

[wildbio]

We installed a new woodstove this past summer with a vacu stack because the strong winds here (commonly 15-20mph and often 35mph gusts) coupled with our tall chimney created major back draft problems. The vacu stack works for us VERY well. The little trick we still have to do is, when very windy, open the stove door just a little bit for a moment or so and slowly the rest of the way.....hardly ever get any smoke in the house now.

 

[charlesfarm]

Wildbio,

I had searched the board before posting my question and found your thread about the house you bought in the middle of some pretty blustery country. You must have gotten a new chimney up with the cap since that post ... cograts!

Thanks for posting back here on the success you had with the vacu-stack. I just ordered me one from eBay.

Now I either hope the cap gets here soon ... or the winds die back some ... before I go through too much propane -- that stuff is expensive!!!

God bless,
Chris

 

[JeffHK454]

Vacu-stack is a great cap that does what it advertises , had one on my old insert.

I currently have a Draftmaster that actually promotes up-draft in cold flues and helps add a little heigth if your cutting it close with roof clearance.

My favorite feature of the Draftmaster is it has a very efficient spark arrestor design , for people like me who live "IN" the woods roof fires are a real concern with daily leaf build-up.

 

[wildbio]

here's a couple ofpics of our new chimneyw/ vacu stack
these pics were taken last summer....I would go out and take some better ones but it's snowing like crazy at the moment (can you say White Christmas?)
Because the stove had already been installed in the corner we had to go with a very tall chimney to get 2ft. clearance of the roof peak.
It has been working very well for us in this very windy location

 

[mga]

montana......my fantasy state.

i've been wishing i could move there for years.

problem is i can't get the old lady to move.

 

[wildbio]

montana......my fantasy state.

i've been wishing i could move there for years.

problem is i can't get the old lady to move.

lot's of people have been moving here lately....and I can't blame them.... it is changing fast and real estate prices are way above what they used to be.
We're off thread....have a great holiday!

 

[Texas33]

lot's of people have been moving here lately....and I can't blame them.... it is changing fast and real estate prices are way above what they used to be.
We're off thread....have a great holiday!

Now that you've had your vacu stac for several years, how do you feel about it now?

 

[smokey310]

Hey people. I have been battling high wind back drafts since stove was installed by professional installers in new house a few years ago. I have no other stove problems what so ever. Installer is not much help. House is tight, has typical exhaust fans, and fresh air fan. Stove has fresh air duct threw floor, chimney is 2' above any point of roof 10' away but not above roof peek. Has wind directional cap on top. Installer added extra 2' to chimney at one point but that didn't help back drafts. Again back drafts are only under very high wind gusts. I have tried opening misc. Windows, not much change, some windows in house have little vents in them and they are open. Have ran stove with lower dampener wide open and that was minimal change, just burned a lot of wood. I do have large trees in area but not to bad. Stove is on sw wall and winter winds blow right against that wall/roof. The roof is a 6-12 pitch(steep) and chimney is right on edge of sw wall. When wind gusts I can hear dampener flapper banging in cook stove/range hood exhaust pipe in the kitchen, so it appears wind is pulling some sort of vaccum when it blows over roof? So after all of that info I am trying to figure out if vacu stack will fix problem or if I need some kind of fresh air dampener or fan or something to reduce negative pressure in house without bringing cold air into house. Love wood stove and heat, no other problems but the high wind gust back drafts???? Any positive help will be appreciated.

 

[mga]

Hey people. I have been battling high wind back drafts since stove was installed by professional installers in new house a few years ago. I have no other stove problems what so ever. Installer is not much help. House is tight, has typical exhaust fans, and fresh air fan. Stove has fresh air duct threw floor, chimney is 2' above any point of roof 10' away but not above roof peek. Has wind directional cap on top. Installer added extra 2' to chimney at one point but that didn't help back drafts. Again back drafts are only under very high wind gusts. I have tried opening misc. Windows, not much change, some windows in house have little vents in them and they are open. Have ran stove with lower dampener wide open and that was minimal change, just burned a lot of wood. I do have large trees in area but not to bad. Stove is on sw wall and winter winds blow right against that wall/roof. The roof is a 6-12 pitch(steep) and chimney is right on edge of sw wall. When wind gusts I can hear dampener flapper banging in cook stove/range hood exhaust pipe in the kitchen, so it appears wind is pulling some sort of vaccum when it blows over roof? So after all of that info I am trying to figure out if vacu stack will fix problem or if I need some kind of fresh air dampener or fan or something to reduce negative pressure in house without bringing cold air into house. Love wood stove and heat, no other problems but the high wind gust back drafts???? Any positive help will be appreciated.

they get a 5 star review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GdXC0AyAMIs

 

[tla100]

Do you have a fresh air intake for the stove? I had problems the first year, added a 4" duct to mine. It helped a lot. I do not get backdrafts now when it is lit.

When carbon monoxide deterctor went off at about 3 am, I added it the next day.

I did have trouble today getting a draft going. I did not stoke fire last night, was warm when went to bed. Took about a half hour to get drafting. I light 1 lb propane tank with torch on it and let it blow in stove until I light a match and can see it is drafting up. It was rather windy again, typical where I am on a hill.

 

[smokey310]

Do you have a fresh air intake for the stove? I had problems the first year, added a 4" duct to mine. It helped a lot. I do not get backdrafts now when it is lit.

When carbon monoxide deterctor went off at about 3 am, I added it the next day.

I did have trouble today getting a draft going. I did not stoke fire last night, was warm when went to bed. Took about a half hour to get drafting. I light 1 lb propane tank with torch on it and let it blow in stove until I light a match and can see it is drafting up. It was rather windy again, typical where I am on a hill.

Yes it has fresh air vent supply to bottom of stove. It come up from under the house. It is only 3", I wish the darn installer would of used the 4" but I had know control of that at the time and didn't realize it was the smaller one for a long time. Don't know if it would make a difference to enlarge it to next size??? Again I don't have any other problems with stove. It lights fine and etc.

 

[GVS]

Anybody using the vacu-stack chimney cap? And how well does it work?

When the wind is blowing hard at 20+ MPH, I get bad downdrafts that fill the house and my kids' poor lungs with plumes of smoke.

At 3:30 this morning, I woke up to a house filled with smoke when the winds were picking up. After fighting with the stove for an hour or so, I ended up having to pull all the wood out of the stove, throw it into a wash tub, pitch it outside, and turn on the propane furnace (there goes some $$$$)

Thanks!

God bless,
Chris

I've no doubt that that monstrosity will eliminate or at least cut way down a backdraft situation.But as I've said before most of those chimney caps are creosote traps.How are you going to clean that thing?

 

[smokey310]

I don't disagree with u on creosote issue