Smoke when loading?

celliott · December 08, 2020, 09:09:10 PM

Have a hearthstone castleton stove. Recently started (last few weeks) letting a lot of smoke out of the door when we load it with wood. Also on startup. Doesn't seem like it's drafting as well as it used to?
Not really weather dependent.
SS 6" liner. Cleaned this fall before we started burning wood.

I'm wondering if maybe my cap is coked up with creosote and not allowing as much of a draft? Only thing I'm coming up with. Nothing with the stove has changed. Haven't been able to look at the cap, dark when I leave, dark when I get home.

Thoughts?

doc henderson · December 08, 2020, 09:23:38 PM

that has been an issue for me. I have a cap with a wind directional sloped hood with a 1/2 inch square bird guard around it. depends on wood and weather conditions, but if creosote builds up, it reduces draft and is fixed by rubbing a light weight wire brush on the wire. I can easily pull the cap off and take it to the shop if it is really bad. my shop has never drafted as well as the house. trees and near the lower edge of the roof. so it is noticed more easily.

celliott · December 08, 2020, 09:37:19 PM

It's been fine the last few years, is what makes me think it's a buildup on the cap. When I cleaned it this fall, I got surprisingly little creosote dust, I was pleased.
Mine is a cone cap. We never had draft issues before.
Think I gotta climb up there this weekend. Fun fun.

mike_belben · December 08, 2020, 10:14:28 PM

Have you done anything to seal up the house better? Doors, windows, weatherstripping?

Corley5 · December 08, 2020, 11:09:32 PM

Start with a chimney cleaning

;D

stavebuyer · December 09, 2020, 03:35:53 AM

The screen on the cap is the first place I would look. Standing on the ground you can see through the mesh but the creosote will build up on it until it chokes you down.

celliott · December 09, 2020, 04:20:43 AM

Cleaned it in October before we started burning wood. Guess I could do it again, but I didn't get much from that cleaning. I haven't been able to see the cap, I leave in the dark and get home in the dark.
This is a new issue. We've had the stove two winters previous, and never had this issue. To be honest, this is the first year I cleaned it, and I was shocked at how little I got from two years worth of burning.
Another thought I had last night, maybe I dislodged the liner to cap connection...

breederman · December 09, 2020, 05:25:26 AM

With my indoor furnace with a stainless chimney those symptoms are always the cap. Sometimes just letting it roar for a bit will fix it. When I was younger I would go out side and with a step ladder I could reach it with the roof hoe and give it a wack. Now I run a brush up it from inside.

mike_belben · December 09, 2020, 07:43:03 AM

I always just ran a hot fire. Never any buildup.

hedgerow · December 09, 2020, 09:50:11 AM

I would bet its the screen. In my area you usually can't run a screen on your cap it likes to plug up. I under stand in some areas sparks are a issue so a screen is a must. Wood moisture and how much you choke your stove down really makes a huge difference of plugging the screen up.

doc henderson · December 09, 2020, 10:30:07 AM

after it is plugged, hard to get a really hot fire going. best to climb up and check it out. mine cannot really get a birds nest and such in it, but always good to lay eyes on it if it is not acting right. I also try to have a very hot fire from time to time and my pipe stays good, but the cap really cools things off and gets some accumulation.

celliott · December 09, 2020, 05:47:06 PM

We haven't had a real roaring fire this year. I was attributing it to my wood being a bit damp when I brought it in (dry, but it rained the whole time I was bringing it into the porch) but I bet it's the cap. Trying to get ahold of a tall enough ladder (I don't have one that'll reach and I don't do the roof). Will update hopefully soon.

stavebuyer · December 09, 2020, 07:19:19 PM

The creosote on the cap will likely be brittle. More than once I assembled my chimney brush and gave the cap a good whack or two from the outside and knocked enough off to get it back to drawing. Seems like it always happens when there is ice on the roof

GRANITEstateMP · December 09, 2020, 07:29:43 PM

celliott,

I've had the same issue before. Last year it was particularly bad. I have a 12/12 pitch metal roof, and don't have enough ladder or internal fortitude to go up and check it! I do have a Ruger 10/22, .22lr rifle ;D A couple well placed shots jarred the brittle creosote loose and she drafted good again! My ex-brother in law cleans our chimney, I do his firewood, he told me somebody had shot my chimney cap! I said yeah, I know, it was ME!

PS- Best to do this when the wife isn't around mine wasn't too impressed

celliott · December 10, 2020, 04:41:15 AM

Called my buddy with the tall ladder, he said, you don't want to be on that ladder anyways much less in the dark (he knows me) why not wait till Saturday and I'll help you in the day light?
Ok, not a bad idea.
Furnace is running till then. Not super cold but have to keep it warmer than in the past with the new baby.
I know my chimney brush went to the top. Probably didn't scratch the hard buildup.
I think I'll pass on shooting it for now, but that might end up being a mid January solution if it happens again!

cutterboy · December 10, 2020, 07:35:48 AM

Quote from: GRANITEstateMP on December 09, 2020, 07:29:43 PM
I do have a Ruger 10/22, .22lr rifle ;D A couple well placed shots jarred the brittle creosote loose and she drafted good again! My ex-brother in law cleans our chimney, I do his firewood, he told me somebody had shot my chimney cap! I said yeah, I know, it was ME!

PS- Best to do this when the wife isn't around mine wasn't too impressed

:D :D :D :D :D
Celliott, I have caps on my chimneys but no screens while I'm running the stoves. After the heating season I put in screens to keep the birds out. Burning with screens in is asking for trouble.

celliott · December 10, 2020, 08:18:55 PM

Are you talking a screen like mesh on a door?
I say screen, it's a diamond pattern under the top part of the cap, I can put a finger through the diamonds.

doc henderson · December 10, 2020, 08:24:29 PM

expanded steel on mine with about 1/2 inch diamonds.

TimRB · December 11, 2020, 12:05:08 AM

The same thing just happened to us. On our stove the chimney outlet is a 6 inch duct that goes horizontally through the wall to a T. The upper half of the T goes straight up--the chimney. The lower half is capped off--the cleanout. Recently the lower cap fell off because the ducting was rusted through, and the stove wouldn't draw worth a bean. The chimney itself was clean as a whistle.

Tim

cutterboy · December 11, 2020, 07:36:02 AM

Quote from: celliott on December 10, 2020, 08:18:55 PM
Are you talking a screen like mesh on a door?
I say screen, it's a diamond pattern under the top part of the cap, I can put a finger through the diamonds.

No, not like a screen door. I use a quarter inch mesh. You probably use a half inch mesh if you can put your finger through. The hot gases from the fire cool as they exit the chimney and the wires forming the diamond pattern give the gas something to cling to as they turn to a solid state forming creosote.

gspren · December 11, 2020, 03:38:22 PM

About half way through the first year with my OWB I removed the cap and solved that problem. When shut down for the summer or when we go away for a week I put a bucket on the stove pipe. I do occasionally smoke a cigar when loading. :D

celliott · December 12, 2020, 06:05:31 PM

Chimney cap nailed it (but not with a .22 lol )
My brush just couldn't get the hard stuff off, the cap portion is a big bigger diameter. No way that was drafting much air.
Knocked it with a hammer and scraped a bit with a screwdriver and done. Easy. Just gonna become part of the annual cleaning routine.
Shone a flashlight down the pipe, and it was not bad at all, didn't warrant another cleaning.

Yeah that should be open

It works!

GRANITEstateMP · December 12, 2020, 06:29:24 PM

nice!

doc henderson · December 12, 2020, 08:37:55 PM

now she can breath, thanks for bringing us full circle. 8)

Tacotodd · December 13, 2020, 02:41:40 AM

It's obvious that your cat gives you the full approval. I noticed that my cat likes to sit by our fire when I have it going, as long as I'm there with her (she knows that I'll protect her). Side story. I got her from a VERY young age and was able to get her to eat some food, now she thinks that I'm her mom. Imagine me at that time: 43yr old, recently married, never taken care of anything with a pulse that hasn't been weened, and now I have a cat that my wife brings home JUST for me. But she's the smartest animal that I'VE ever seen. A cat, smarter than some dogs?

Sorry for the derailment....