2:40 am awakened to a house full of smoke

[JackD_ME]

It was pretty windy in the north/east the past few nights and was most likely just more pressure at the top of the chimney than in the house.

My stove was "puffing" smoke into the house a few days ago due to the 40 mph winds outside. I just ran it a bit more open, still "puffed" once in a while but it was better than before.

Lots of good info in this thread, but most likely just the wind.

 

[LumberjkChamp]

Mike, while reading your post two things caught my attention.
1) You said you closed the pipe damper all the way while 2) you had loaded it full of wood.
If the exhaust gases can't go up the chimney (because the damper is closed) they have to go somewhere -your house was the "somewhere."
Before you tear your hair out trying different methods through trial and error you should try leaving the pipe damper open a little bit to make sure smoke is exhausted like it should be -up the chimney.

 

[Zodiac45]

We had that same Shenandoah r77 and never closed the inline pipe damper more than 45*...

...in other words it always ran partially open.

Open damper fully to load stove, load, close door and position damper 45* closed.

If you're looking to hold an overnight fire you can load up with rounds but you'll have to shake the ash grate in the morning.

If it's heat you're after plan on loading up splits every 4-5 hrs or so.

Bingo! I never close the pipe damper all the way as the stove will visibly smoke. 45 degree is about as far as I'll go too. If it's really windy, the damper will sometimes get sucked closed so I leave it a bit less than 45 degrees. In my case, I close it till I see the smoke then back off till it stops and then a hair more.

 

[Marshy]

I see this is a really old post but thought I would add some input on this in case anyone reads this in the future... I have the same Shenandoah woodstove and have had the same issue in the past when I didnt know any better. Im sure the dynamics of how a flue works has been beat to death already on other topics but one thing I have not seen here is what I like to call the gasification effect.

Basically what you can have is a buildup of combustible gases in your firebox that spontaneously ignites. This will blow a good amount of smoke and unburnt gasses out of the tightest of cracks in your stove and pipe, and a whole h*ll of a lot back through the inlet of your stove. It will happen even if the flue dampener is wide open. It largely due to the lack of draft up through the stack and partially due to loading a lot of wood on a cold bed of coals. The wood will smolder a long time building up cold combustible gasses then then once the embers get hot enough to make a flame the entire firebox explodes like a bomb. If you dont get some draft going it will reload and ignite again in a few minutes. You really need to keep the flue dampener wide open until the wood has caught well before closing it down. Even then I only close mine about 50% on average and up to 75% once the gasses have burnt out of the wood.

Anyone who says the flue dampener is unnecessary has never had flue fire. Like someone else said, better to have it and not need it rather than to need it and not have it.

 

[turnkey4099]

Warnings need to be repeated. Put in CO2 and smoke detectors if you are toing to heat with wood!!

People waking up to smoke in the house can also wake up dead someday.

Hary K

 

[Marshy]

Warnings need to be repeated. Put in CO2 and smoke detectors if you are toing to heat with wood!!

People waking up to smoke in the house can also wake up dead someday.

Hary K

Can you explain this to me?opcorn: lol j/k, point taken, I have 2 of each on all levels of the house.

 

[PLAYINWOOD]

if all else fails... and everything is as it should be.
Go to the top of the chimney and inspect the cap. I had mine replaced 4 years ago for insurance reasons and went from ICI (?) to simpson double wall pipe.
This last month I have woken to smoke in the house 3 times always on windy days from the west After a total cleaning, calling every sweep in town and even the furnace manufacturer, a wise old sweep told me to check the chimney cap on a Simpson.
After 2 hours of standing on my roof with a garden hose connected to laundry sink hot water tap, I melted a path to the chimney. Upon inspection , in behind the louvers in the cap Simpson installs chicken wire mesh for extra varmit protection. The mesh was clogged on the north an east side so a side or direct wind would allow smoke out, a west wind would push the smoke against the clogged east wind and then down the chimney.
One swipe of my leather gloved hand and it crumbled to the ground, done, but what a headache.
Come spring that mesh is getting snipped.
Use binoculars from the ground or in my case the deck and see what you can see.
Thank you Cookie the sweep Inc.

 

[cre10]

Good info here.

 

[Brushwacker]

Not mentioned, down drafts from the wind going over tree tops can cause the problem also. Leaving the dampener open, will be less likely a problem in my experience, but trees taller then your chimney with high winds going over them towards the chimney are sometimes a problem.