woodstove chimney advice

[itrheat]

Use a rotational cap, it will help during windy days. They come in a 6" size.

[Ivan]

Hi,
We are in New Hampshire, so our woodsupply is mostly beech, red maple , and oak. We tend to cut and split our wood around April and burn the following Dec. We do stack it in an open sided roofed wood shed with plenty of ventilation.. I know all about being a year ahead, just never can get ahead , as far as firewood is concerned.. However, I have used the wood stove for 3 years and have never developed a creosote problem? My set up is similar to your except i have a shorter section between the 2 elbows inside the yurt . I go double wall through the yurt skin than a section and a clean out Tee, up a few sections to a spark arrester, all outside sections are double wall. I am probably 5’ shorter than your, in fact not quite as high as the

dome

, but 2-3’ away from the side of the Yurt. From a wood burning neophyte, i think there is a sweet spot on the height of the stack, the longer the smoke is in the stack the more temp it will drop and condensate? Make sure your spark arrester cap is not plugged up and restricting the flow? I have replace the cat on my stove when I first got it, as it was 15 years old. We also burn hot, and make sure not to switch it to the cat unless it is hot , If the stove cools off we will switch back to normal burn and get it hot again. If the stove is in Cat mode and it is not at the prescribed temp, the cat will not light off and will cool the gasses even more which will create a a creosote building situation.. Hope I helped , as this is what we have and what we do and it works for us. Also if you have any large hills adjacent to your Yurt, you could get a downdraft?

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by Ivan

Hi,
We are in New Hampshire, so our woodsupply is mostly beech, red maple , and oak. We tend to cut and split our wood around April and burn the following Dec. We do stack it in an open sided roofed wood shed with plenty of ventilation.. I know all about being a year ahead, just never can get ahead , as far as firewood is concerned.. However, I have used the wood stove for 3 years and have never developed a creosote problem? My set up is similar to your except i have a shorter section between the 2 elbows inside the yurt . I go double wall through the yurt skin than a section and a clean out Tee, up a few sections to a spark arrester, all outside sections are double wall. I am probably 5’ shorter than your, in fact not quite as high as the

dome

, but 2-3’ away from the side of the Yurt. From a wood burning neophyte, i think there is a sweet spot on the height of the stack, the longer the smoke is in the stack the more temp it will drop and condensate? Make sure your spark arrester cap is not plugged up and restricting the flow? I have replace the cat on my stove when I first got it, as it was 15 years old. We also burn hot, and make sure not to switch it to the cat unless it is hot , If the stove cools off we will switch back to normal burn and get it hot again. If the stove is in Cat mode and it is not at the prescribed temp, the cat will not light off and will cool the gasses even more which will create a a creosote building situation.. Hope I helped , as this is what we have and what we do and it works for us. Also if you have any large hills adjacent to your Yurt, you could get a downdraft?

Hi Ivan,
Thanks for the thoughts. Yeah, I'm on board with all that around working the catalyst right (my yurtsitter might not have been though...). good to hear your getting good results with a setup similar to mine! Is your interior pipe single or double wall? I imagine burning primarily hardwoods is a big advantage over my fir as far as creosote might be one difference. Kudos to you for living in a yurt in NH... brrrr!
S

[Scotty]

Originally Posted by Jafo

If the wood was felled a couple years ago, then you are probably good (assuming it has dried). I thought you meant it was felled AND split over the summer.

I let the logs sit for a year or two, buck & split them and then stack on pallets then I just cover with old metal roofing. The next season I move them into the (now emptied) open air woodshed as soon as I possibly can so they can dry all summer. That generally does it. I know many people who skip the woodshed part and just use the metal roofing.

With your catalyst engaged, you should not be seeing much creosote I would think, at least that is how it works on my stove. Are you engaging it at the proper temperature? Mine is not supposed to be engaged until the temp gets to 350.

When is the last time you cleaned the catalyst? I think yours is from Woodstock Soapstone company correct? If so, same as mine. You can get replacement catalysts pretty cheap from them.

Hi,



Yup, I'm waiting until I'm over 250 on the surface thermometer to engage the combustor, which is what my manual specifies for the woodstock fireview (I think that corresponds to about a 500 degree internal temperature). I generally clean the catalyst each time I clean the chimney and I also ordered a new catalyst last year to replace the original one.


Sounds like a good plan you've got on the wood rotation!


S

[OffGridYurtFamily]

It sounds to me like your chimney outside could (and maybe should) go higher. Ours is higher than our dome. Local building codes differ, but there would definitely be a minimum height it needs to be (maybe ask your local fireplace company).
Cleaning our stove regularly ensures it runs optimally. If we’re consistently burning wood (our winters get really cold here) we need to empty ash while it’s still hot. Invest in a metal bucket with firm-fitting lid, and you can empty ash and embers without any risk. We empty our stove every other day.