Baro damper. Need help.

[Mustang71]

So I added one this year and so far I use a lot less wood. I looked in the baro today and it looked like I had a lot of creosote buildup. This was never an issue before. Flue temp about a foot after the furnace is 400 degrees then under 200 after the baro. Is there some burning maintenance should be doing? Should I block the damper off a couple times a week to burn the creosote out? I don't want to have to brush my chimney every month I never had to do that before. You used to see the soot all the snow in the winter currently there is no snow and I have not gone on the roof yet to look at the chimney so I'm not positive about the buildup condition. It's a triple wall stainless chimney.

 

[Mustang71]

I threw some foil over it and now temp at the furnace is 400 and about 300 to 350 after the covered up damper. That's 200 degrees warmer than with the baro open.

 

[NSMaple1]

As with any wood burner, if it's dirty in there then you have to clean it.

First thing to do is determine if the baro is adjusted right. Have you checked draft with a manometer? Could be a chance it wasn't needed in the first place and is only serving to make creosote.

 

[Mustang71]

The manual says I need it so I figured I'd try it. It burns a lot less wood and stops the flames from going up the chimney. I did not test the draft on it. I have it set right at .06. It's a field control model not one of the real cheap ones. I know some people use them and some refuse to. Now I'm on the fence

 

[Mustang71]

I clean my chimney every fall just as a precaution and never get much out maybe a pie plate full. This is a red flag to me that something is not right.

 

[NSMaple1]

Not necessarily. With a baro on a wood furnace, where the air thru it hits the smoke pipe will usually become the point of first creosting. With my old one i just knocked loose then vacuumed out the buildup thru the baro opening. Was a quick easy job. Also made for an easy inspection point. I would want to inspect the whole thing though until you get a handle on what it's doing inside. I had a cheapie, any adjustment marks on it couldn't be relied on. I think I would still want to verify proper adjustment with a manometer.

 

[Mustang71]

I was up on the roof a couple weeks ago cleaning the gutters and I looked at the chimney quick and it looked normal. So it's possible it may only be bad at the baro. My wife left for work this morning and I'm here with my 2 young kids so I couldn't go on the roof.

After the usual smoke from starting a fire it doesn't smoke until I throw another log in. It's pretty clean burning.

 

[super3]

Yep, what NSMaple1 said above.

I've had a FC damper for going on 11 yrs now. Build up on the back of the flap is normal once or twice thru the burning season.

 

[Mustang71]

This is on the opposite side of the tee. There is none right below the tee and I have not gone on the roof but a couple weeks ago it looked fine.

I do believe I need the damper and i like the burn time with it in. I'l have to check this more because today as usual about 20 min after starting the fire I was burning with no smoke coming out of the chimney. I may also once a week cover the damper for about half an hour and get the chimney nice and hot as a maintenance thing.