Need a little advise with draft

[doubletrouble]

I'm pretty sure I have more chimney draft then I need. Is there a sure sign that I have to much? My burn times are only about 4 hours. Lately it's been cold here so I've been burning a little harder than normal and end up with a very deep bed of red hot coals to the point that I cant put more than 2 pieces of wood in the fire box. Is this normal or a good thing? I have a Norseman 2500 wood furnace and love it so far but in the single digits it seems like I may be doing something wrong or just plain not doing something I should. Is there a way to hook up a gauge permanently to constantly measure draft? Should I consider a flu damper? Any advise is greatly appreciated.

 

[NorthernOntario]

I find I occasionally need to stir things up, and burn some small pieces while getting things nice and hot, to take down the deep coal bed. Usually a few small splits in there to heat up the firebox, then add more wood in once that's burnt down for 45-60 minutes (and knocked down the coal bed).

As for the short burn times... make sure your gaskets are tight.

In the really cold temps, I find I'm running my stove hotter, refilling more often, and having to deal with a deep bed of coals... because it never gets the chance to burn down.

 

[Jakers]

I'm pretty sure I have more chimney draft then I need. Is there a sure sign that I have to much? My burn times are only about 4 hours. Lately it's been cold here so I've been burning a little harder than normal and end up with a very deep bed of red hot coals to the point that I cant put more than 2 pieces of wood in the fire box. Is this normal or a good thing? I have a Norseman 2500 wood furnace and love it so far but in the single digits it seems like I may be doing something wrong or just plain not doing something I should. Is there a way to hook up a gauge permanently to constantly measure draft? Should I consider a flu damper? Any advise is greatly appreciated.

seems about normal from what ive seen. when its really cold here(-20*F) i only get about 2 hours of burn time before im left with a huge bed of coals. i just stir them around a bit to allow better air flow and toss one small piece in to keep the draft going up the chimney. after another 20 min or so the coals have burnt down enuf to get a decent load in again then 2 hours later when the fan kicks off its repeat all over again. i should mention that i have a non EPA stove and its not an air tight one at that.

 

[Mac88]

Do you have the owners manual? I thought that unit called for a flue damper. If you don't have the OM you can probably get one on-line from the manufacturer.

 

[brenndatomu]

A flue damper couldn't hurt, and likely will help a lot, only $8-10 to find out! I have a Dwyer Mark II manometer permanently installed on my flue via a small copper tube inserted into the flue pipe. You would have to check to see if Norseman gives a recommended draft setting. Some stoves can have draft as low as -0.03"WC, some as high as -0.08"WC. If you set it around -0.04" or -0.05" that would probably be close. Just an FYI, I have a barometric draft regulator, if I hold it closed, the draft will go clear up to -.15"WC with these cold temps we have now! That's 5 times the draft that Yukon calls for, if I didn't control that, I'd be going through TONS more wood!
As for the coals piling up, make sure they can get plenty of combustion air from underneath (clean the grates) they'll make some extreme heat and burn down to ash. Hope this helps.

 

[doubletrouble]

This has been very helpfull thank you all. I do have the manual. I dont recall it mentioning a flu damper but I will check again. I will also look into a manometer for it to try to keep it operating as efficient as possible. I believe the recomended draft for this unit is .05 Thanks again, I now have some direction in this.