woke up to smoke smell in house

[Tesen]

I had same problems with backdrafting, I have a very old house and the stack effect was coming in to play since my only flue option was an outside triple wall. To be honest, I was committed to heating with wood and combustion air kit was not 100% solution and my basement leaks more than the Titanic! It was not getting hot enough during the initial startup and add a weather inversion or low pressure outside, back draft city!

My solution was an Exhausto flue fan, I use the RS009 on low, I’ve had ZERO issues with back drafting since and my flue stays extremely clean! Add some backup batteries to that sucker and furnace blowers, smoke detector for additional protection and I can sleep easy knowing I am safe if the electricity goes out.

It probably causes me to eat a little more wood, but it works and it has paid for itself, so even if I have to replace it in 5 years time, i am still way ahead of the game it and takes a season to get a pay off.

Tes

 

[CrappieKeith]

It looks like you guys have this one covered.
4" of makeup air is not what the manual calls for.You should have the same amount of pipe coming in as going out. The SJ125 has a 7" flue not a 4" flue.

Operating your flue gas temps so low with the BDR set to .02" of W.C. is too low. We know wood will burn ,but the oppertunity tro make excessive creoste is much greater.
The manual calls for .03" or greater. Keeping your flue brushed although a chore is part of the work involved in this payback we will get by winters end.
If your flue is too short ,winds can cause issue there too.
We do have wind directional caps if needed. They sell for 65$ part # 10150700.

I'm also wondering why your letting your fires go out all of the time?
The smell is not smoke.
It's the cresote in your pipe your smelling.

There's a new manual that is twice as long as the older manuals to meet UL's requirements.
You can go to this link to review all of the installation .
http://www.yukon-eagle.com/Portals/0/manuals/JackLineManual.pdf
Glad to see you are burning dry wood.

 

[walexa07]

You should have the same amount of pipe coming in as going out.

Hey Keith,

I don't understand this........my stove is an Englander NC30 and the outlet to flue is 6" and the inlet is 4". I thought the inlet was always smaller since the products of combustion expand, thus requiring a larger exit.

Waylan

 

[vwboomer]

I'm also wondering why your letting your fires go out all of the time?

If I can only get about 4 or 5 hours of blower-on heat from a load of wood, it's going to go out by the time I get up or get home from work. Of course it tapers off before that 4 hour mark anyway.
I'm certainly not the type to wake up in the middle of the night to get the fire going again. For me it's usually 63-65 when I wake up so it's still comfortable.

 

[kielbasa]

I let my fire go out because I can't sleep when it 88~90 degrees......

 

[CrappieKeith]

I let my fire go out because I can't sleep when it 88~90 degrees......

Are you closing the disc on the draft motor so that it's almost shut and are you closing the disc on the door shuting off the air almost and are you opening your secondary heat exchanger allowing the furnace to skip the other 40,000btus it can exchange?
I reread some posts???????
When your changing the baro....are you using the numbers on the rail to set the weight?

 

[CrappieKeith]

If I can only get about 4 or 5 hours of blower-on heat from a load of wood, it's going to go out by the time I get up or get home from work. Of course it tapers off before that 4 hour mark anyway.
I'm certainly not the type to wake up in the middle of the night to get the fire going again. For me it's usually 63-65 when I wake up so it's still comfortable.

Which furnace do you have?
What size home are you heating and how well is it insulated?
What type of wood are you burning and how dry is is?

 

[CrappieKeith]

Hey Keith,

I don't understand this........my stove is an Englander NC30 and the outlet to flue is 6" and the inlet is 4". I thought the inlet was always smaller since the products of combustion expand, thus requiring a larger exit.

Waylan

I can't comment on the englander as to why they do what they do....don't know them.Most likely it's for cleaning....smoke pipes that are 4" would need a brushing every other day.
I was reffering to make up air for combustion.

 

[walexa07]

I can't comment on the englander as to why they do what they do....don't know them.Most likely it's for cleaning....smoke pipes that are 4" would need a brushing every other day.
I was reffering to make up air for combustion.

Yes, I was also referring to make up air for combustion. My exhaust flue outlet is 6". My combustion air inlet is 4". Sorry if my last post was confusing.

Waylan

 

[kielbasa]

Are you closing the disc on the draft motor so that it's almost shut and are you closing the disc on the door shuting off the air almost and are you opening your secondary heat exchanger allowing the furnace to skip the other 40,000btus it can exchange?
I reread some posts???????
When your changing the baro....are you using the numbers on the rail to set the weight?

I experimented with various positions of the disc on the draft motor and the disc on the door - I found the best method for me is to keep the disc on the door fully open (3~4 turns) and I adjust the disc on the draft motor to adjust how much heat I want pumping out of the furnace (but it usually stays around 1/4~1/2 open, I only run the draft motor when burning coal)....I am using the furnace somewhat like a standard wood stove - in that it's not attached to a thermostat.
I have the BJ90 (no secondary heat exchanger)....
I am using the numbers on the rail to set my baro....I'll verify the numbers with a manometer.

 

[vwboomer]

Which furnace do you have?
What size home are you heating and how well is it insulated?
What type of wood are you burning and how dry is is?

It's certainly nothing fancy - A used Hotblast 1300 I got for $350. So yes it's going to use more wood than newer designs. House is about 1250sqft with 2x4 walls seemingly insulated with brick exterior. Attic is mostly 18" of fiberglass insulation.

Wood varies by wheelbarrow load. This part of the pile is generally beech, ash, a little box elder, and willow. Seasoned between 10-14 months. I typically burn the willow and elder when I'm home and burn the ash/beech at night or before I go to work.

In the next couple weeks I'm going to get a Baro damper and try that out but it will mean possibly reconfiguring my smoke pipe and moving the furnace. The current run is very short.
This running up and down 15 times to get the temp right sucks.

 

[kielbasa]

Update:
bought myself a chimney brush and ran it thru, also scraped a little bit of creosote off the bird nest screen - wow, what a difference!!!
although I don't think another section of pipe would hurt either - i believe my chimney is marginal at best though

 

[CrappieKeith]

Update:
bought myself a chimney brush and ran it thru, also scraped a little bit of creosote off the bird nest screen - wow, what a difference!!!
although I don't think another section of pipe would hurt either - i believe my chimney is marginal at best though

Screens are draft killers!

 

[kielbasa]

so I should get rid of the screen? is a screen even necessary?

 

[CrappieKeith]

I know that I did and never had problems anymore including birds.

 

[kielbasa]

so the screen is just to keep birds and rodents out?? If so, it's coming right off...I thought it was a safety thing to catch flying embers and such.

 

[vwboomer]

When I moved in last fall, I put a cap on. Perhaps your screen is tighter mesh - mine had about 3/4" diamond shaped holes. I took it off for a few days while getting ready to install the chimney liner.

Woke up at 5am to go to work one day and there was a bat hanging in my living room.
Just sayin.