Baro damper question

[Iaff113]

Ok I have a 1557m hotblast. In my basement below grade. Hooked up to a through the wall and 20 feet of triple wall. The chimney is well above anything with in 20 feet. I always have to open a window in the basement when starting this furnace up to stop the down drafts on it. Would a baro damper stop this from happening?


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[Del_]

No.

 

[Marshy]

Sounds like you need a air inlet for combustion air. Also call an outside air kit. That way you dont pull negative draft in the house.

 

[spyder62]

Agree! negative pressure in the house. Air coming in the easiest way possible

 

[Del_]

If the stove has been off for any time when trying to start, it is probably that the triple wall chimney has gotten extremely cold. And the cold air in the chimney falls down the chimney into the house. Outside air kit have been shown to be based on faulty science. A house to be healthy should already have more air exchange then required buy a wood stove.

 

[NSMaple1]

My boiler is in my basement. There is a window right behind it that I leave open a crack all winter, with some fiberglass insulation stuffed into the crack to keep snow & strong drafts from coming in.

I start a fire in it when it is cold every day, no issues. I also put a loose ball of newspaper on top of the fuel when I light, and light that first. Starts a good draft going up the chimney. Don't think I have ever witnessed a down draft - but maybe it's luck. I'm also on top of an exposed hill - maybe good for firestarting, but not so good for heat loss.

 

[Iaff113]

My boiler is in my basement. There is a window right behind it that I leave open a crack all winter, with some fiberglass insulation stuffed into the crack to keep snow & strong drafts from coming in.

I start a fire in it when it is cold every day, no issues. I also put a loose ball of newspaper on top of the fuel when I light, and light that first. Starts a good draft going up the chimney. Don't think I have ever witnessed a down draft - but maybe it's luck. I'm also on top of an exposed hill - maybe good for firestarting, but not so good for heat loss.

Yeah I have been just cracking a window as soon as it pulls a draft it is fine. Just the initial start.


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[Iaff113]

If the stove has been off for any time when trying to start, it is probably that the triple wall chimney has gotten extremely cold. And the cold air in the chimney falls down the chimney into the house. Outside air kit have been shown to be based on faulty science. A house to be healthy should already have more air exchange then required buy a wood stove.

Yeah I am just wondering if the problem is the entire basement below ground with no openings other then the window. I do not have central air in the house so not much air movement other then the wood furnace. And the other wood stove I have on the first floor.


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[Marshy]

Yeah I am just wondering if the problem is the entire basement below ground with no openings other then the window. I do not have central air in the house so not much air movement other then the wood furnace. And the other wood stove I have on the first floor.


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Open any window in the house when you start it. How old is your home? The newer the tighter. If you already have one woodstove going then try to start a second one it's might be too much draw.

 

[Iaff113]

House was built in the 60s. Would the wood stove upstairs draw that much that the down stairs furnace wont draw until warm. Started it again last night and could feel the cold air pushing down the chimney.

 

[Del_]

House was built in the 60s. Would the wood stove upstairs draw that much that the down stairs furnace wont draw until warm. Started it again last night and could feel the cold air pushing down the chimney.

That plus triple wall chimney is not very well insulated so once a cold column of air is in the chimney it falls down into the basement.

Do you have a gas water heater or any gas appliances running?

Down drafts on them can bring carbon monoxide into the house.

If all it takes is opening a window to get a stove started and then the window can be closed after the stove is running that is not such a bad thing.

Also a small fan to push warm house air up the chimney to start the 'chimney effect' could be used before the stove is started. Once draft is created newspaper can keep it going until the fire takes over on it's own.

Another problem you may run into is if you let the basement stove die out before it dies completely you may get wood stove smells in the basement as the chimney effect stops working with a still smouldering stove.

Something else to consider is that air leaking out of a two story house can result in a house creating it's own chimney effect competing with appliances that require natural draft to operate. Look for air leaks in upstairs ceiling light fixtures, plumbing air vent run, wiring, chimney chases, stair wells, etc. These kinds of leaks put the interior of the heated space under lower than ambient air pressure which then messes with natural drafts. The also increase heating loads.

 

[Iaff113]

Thanks for the info, nothing gas is running in the house, yeah opening a window isn't bad thats what I've been doing for a year. I will try the fan i have plenty of box fans sitting around.

 

[Marshy]

You might want to load a whole bunch of cardboard in the stove and light it and shut the door completely until it burns out. That should put some heat into the chimney to get a upward draft going. Then start your wood fire.

Like Del said though, if you have a down draft in your cold chimney then the house is losing heat so much that it's pulling a draft down through that chimney.

You have two choices, open a window which will become the new air inlet for the draft effect the house is going through, or stop the air leak. The latter is the right choice because you must be losing a lot of heat and two, if the stove smokers out and the chimney draft reverses it's going to blow smoke into the living space when the flue gas is too cold to over comb the negative draft.

 

[Mustang71]

My basement is above ground and I get back drafts a lot of the time then I get the chimney warm and good to go. Just because it's an insulated chimney doesn't mean it won't get cold and back draft. You need a steady heat source going up the chimney at all times or it can back draft.

If you open a window and it suddenly drafts then you may need a make up air. We used to get back draft dampers and pipe them into a vent going outside on new homes. When the house goes negative the back draft damper opens. But that's new houses with real good insulation sealed tight.

 

[HadleyPA]

I have almost the identical setup and experienced the same problems when I put it in a little over 10 yrs ago. My furnace is a johnson energy systems that I put in the basement. I ran it through the wall and into a insulated double wall stainless chimney, supervent I think is the brand. Mine did the same thing on initial start ups. What I learned through experimentation is the best way to light mine is to ball up some newspaper and put on grates, then add kindling on top. Then take one more piece of newspaper and light it in your hand and throw it to the back of the stove. After doing that light the paper that I balled up under the kindling and close the door. When I do this I have the bottom draft door open to maximize air intake. After about 5-10 seconds of newpaper burning and making heat it will reverse direction of cold air backdraft in chimney and then I can shut bottom door and allow kindling to get rolling. After a couple minutes I then add a few small splits and give it about 5 minutes, then add some big splits and walk away. This process has worked for me for over 10 yrs now.
I also had mine draft back into the house on one occasion. I thought it was out one morning so before leaving for work I closed the draft on furnace thinking that way it would not get cold and backdraft cold air into the house. When I got home the whole house was full of smoke because it was not completely out when I shut off air that morning I allowed it to smolder at such a low temp that eventually the chimney got cold and stopped drafting so all remaining smoke went into the basement and up into the house. That was shortly after install so lets just say the wife was not impressed with our new heat source!