Stove Smokes a lot when i open the door to fill it

[snooky jo]

hi

 

My stove has been kicking out loads of smoke whenever i open the door to put more wood and coal. I'm sure this didn't happen that much before. Recently the smoke has been even kicking back out through the top vent.

Im sure the flu is not blocked as i have cleaned it out.

any ideas why or how how to stop it?

 

Thanks

 

Rory

[Beaker]

If you're sure the flue is clear, have you enough ventilation?

Do you have any extractor fans creating negative pressure?

We have woodburners both at home and on Cloud 9, one thing we have learned is to just crack the door open initially to allow the fire to draw, opening the door quickly will pull smoke/fumes out.

[Bones]

If the flu and the baffle plate are clear then that is gooood - but it seems strange it is coming out the top vent. Have you put a torch down the flu to make sure there isn't clinker or anything?

 

Opening the door slowly helps stop the smoke billowing in to the room.

[DeanS]

If you use wood, and it's simmering, it creates lots of smoke. Less smoke if it's actually burning. Less smoke if you use less wood and more coals. Perhaps you've changed the type of wood you're using? If you hold a small piece of toilet paper inside the fire...the "draw" should pull it upwards towards the flue. If not, recheck the flue. Is your ash tray empty. A full ash tray will limit the combustion, and the wood might not catch flames...and just sit smoking. The oval coals are better at not smoking than the coal shards type.

[Phil Ambrose]

Strong winds can cause a backdraft, have you noticed it is worse when its windy?

Phil

[dor]

Stoves like the Squirrel or the Stovax Brunel have a baffle plate at the top. This can accumulate soot and clinker and will give the symptoms you describe.

 

When my stove starts behaving like yours I know it is time to remove the baffle plate and give it a good clean.

[Grace and Favour]

When did you last clean your flu & remove the baffle plate (if fitted)

 

Soot can build up quite quickly depending upon which fuel you're burning....

[Guest]

As has been suggested, get it drawing for a few minutes before opening door. This gets the flue hotter and helps it to keep drawing whilst the door is briefly opened.

I am not suggesting anybody does this, and if they do they do so at their own risk, but my Villager Puffin stove performs far better without the baffle plate in it.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Guest

[bizzard]

Are you certain that the flue pipe is clear. Over years of burning coal wood ect a solid lining of thick clag like concrete can line your flue pipe forever getting thicker and thicker. Brushing with an ordinary bristle flue brush won't always shift this and you think you've swept it and all you've done is sweep lose soot off but still left the solid clag behind.

[Guest]

Are you certain that the flue pipe is clear. Over years of burning coal wood ect a solid lining of thick clag like concrete can line your flue pipe forever getting thicker and thicker. Brushing with an ordinary bristle flue brush won't always shift this and you think you've swept it and all you've done is sweep lose soot off but still left the solid clag behind.

That used to happen to ours. I used to clear it out with a long thin piece of steel rod.

[deckhand]

I had this exact same problem and I was advised on this forum that you need to have the coal burning hot. You will notice that most smoke is produced when you first put fire on or put new stuff on. Once you get it burning, less smoke. put more stuff on before fire gets too low and less hot. As also said above, I too crack open the door to get it burning well. then open door slowly to allow the draw to go up chimney instead of drawing out.

It was good advice I received and I have not looked back )

[Mac of Cygnet]

 

I am not suggesting anybody does this, and if they do they do so at their own risk, but my Villager Puffin stove performs far better without the baffle plate in it.

 

Yes, so does my Carabo, and I took out the baffle plate precisely because it smoked too much with it in. However, I know that the stove is less efficient without it, as the flue gases go straight up the chimney, taking a lot of the heat with them and not having a chance to fully combust. The purpose of a baffle plate is to slow down the progress of flue gases, for better heat transfer and more complete combustion.

 

However, these very small stoves don't really have room for a baffle plate, sufficient distance above the fuel and below the flue outlet. Especially the latter, where soot etc. coming down the flue can very easily sit on top of the baffle and block the outlet.

[Guest]

 

Yes, so does my Carabo, and I took out the baffle plate precisely because it smoked too much with it in. However, I know that the stove is less efficient without it, as the flue gases go straight up the chimney, taking a lot of the heat with them and not having a chance to fully combust. The purpose of a baffle plate is to slow down the progress of flue gases, for better heat transfer and more complete combustion.

 

However, these very small stoves don't really have room for a baffle plate, sufficient distance above the fuel and below the flue outlet. Especially the latter, where soot etc. coming down the flue can very easily sit on top of the baffle and block the outlet.

Yes, I think the very short flue on a boat is the problem. If my stove was in a house with a flue of say twice the length, I think it would be OK with the plate still in. We used to have a Hunter stove in the house where the flue was about 20 feet, which had a sort of adjustable baffle plate (bit like a carburettor) and this had to be kept partially closed otherwise it would just draw like crazy.

[Mac of Cygnet]

We used to have a Hunter stove in the house where the flue was about 20 feet, which had a sort of adjustable baffle plate (bit like a carburettor) and this had to be kept partially closed otherwise it would just draw like crazy.

 

Ah, with my stove pedant hat on, I would say that was a damper, not a baffle, which is not normally adjustable and extends the full width of the stove below the flue. Our old Jotul had both. As I've said before, dampers are a BAD IDEA, mainly because if fully or even partially closed, falling soot can block them altogether with potentially dangerous consequences.

[Beaker]

A full ash tray will limit the combustion, and the wood might not catch flames...and just sit smoking. The oval coals are better at not smoking than the coal shards type.

 

This is true for coal, which requires air from underneath to draw.

Wood, however, takes its air from above, it's recommended that the fuel in a woodburner sits on a bed of ashes.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Beaker

[snooky jo]

Thanks for all the input.

 

this is a link to the stove i have: http://www.hunterstoves.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110&Itemid=810

 

 

im sure the flue and the baffle are clear. we have been using seasoned wood to start and coal to go over the night. even when its not windy there seems to be smoke pouring out when we open the door to the stove, just not enough draw to pull the smoke. its a pain because every thing in the boat ends up smelling of fire.

 

i wondered if it was that the flue was too short. im going to give this a go. there is a baffle i may try it without the baffle and see what happens.

[Grace and Favour]

Snooky - - what type of 'coal' are you using??

[Jim Batty]

hi

 

My stove has been kicking out loads of smoke whenever i open the door to put more wood and coal. I'm sure this didn't happen that much before. Recently the smoke has been even kicking back out through the top vent.

Im sure the flu is not blocked as i have cleaned it out.

any ideas why or how how to stop it?

 

Thanks

 

Rory

 

We had this happen suddenly last year - smoke coming out the top vent. Just after I'd cleaned the flu. There was a wafer-thin, slightly curved, 8cm wide piece of stuff off the inside of the chimney that had fallen down and blocked everything off. I could just see it through a slight gap above the plate ... that broke up easily enough poking it with a kitchen knife. But it really freaked me out and that is what prompted me to buy an CO alarm. Had it have happened in the night ...

[Bee]

My house stove - its a Brunel - as fitted to many boats has the flue coming out the back with a 90o bend, this bend fills with soot from time to time and the stove smokes when you open the door, chimney is fine but unless you get the soot out of the bend the thing smokes and will not draw.

[Mac of Cygnet]

My house stove - its a Brunel - as fitted to many boats has the flue coming out the back with a 90o bend, this bend fills with soot from time to time and the stove smokes when you open the door, chimney is fine but unless you get the soot out of the bend the thing smokes and will not draw.

 

How do you sweep the chimney? One of our home stoves (a Forester) is the same, and I had to cut a hole in the exterior house wall through to the chimney to provide a sweeping access hatch. Sticking a Hoover Dyson hose down from this gets out any debris falling to the horizontal bit.

[the grinch]

As has been suggested, get it drawing for a few minutes before opening door. This gets the flue hotter and helps it to keep drawing whilst the door is briefly opened.

 

I am not suggesting anybody does this, and if they do they do so at their own risk, but my Villager Puffin stove performs far better without the baffle plate in it.

exactly what I did with my squirrel - open the bottom ashpan door for a minute then open the main door add fuel and close door wait a minute and then shut ashpan door

[Bee]

My stove sits in an old fireplace with a stainless steel pipe that goes through a `Register Plate` that I fixed in the chimney. I drag the stove out and the 1m or so of stainless comes out as well, I can then poke a brush and rods through the hole in the plate, It is not on an external wall. Then I spend a very long time cleaning the house and de - sooting the dog.

[Dottyshirl]

My stove sits in an old fireplace with a stainless steel pipe that goes through a `Register Plate` that I fixed in the chimney. I drag the stove out and the 1m or so of stainless comes out as well, I can then poke a brush and rods through the hole in the plate, It is not on an external wall. Then I spend a very long time cleaning the house and de - sooting the dog.

Thanks for the laugh Bee x

[snooky jo]

Iv'e been using seasoned wood and homefires smokeless coal.

 

I'm gonna check again for a blockage.

 

got a co2 alarm but its not been going off.

[Beaker]

Iv'e been using seasoned wood and homefires smokeless coal.

 

I'm gonna check again for a blockage.

 

got a co2 alarm but its not been going off.

 

Methinks you mean CO alarm!