Outdoor Wood Stove Efficiency

[Gary_C]

I just sold a trailer load of firewood to a guy that has a CB 6048 like mine and has used his for four years. He was telling me that he put a rock in the chimney fitting at the back of the stove to cut down the air flow and increased his efficiency by one third. He just pulled that cap off and set a rock in there for a restriction. Says he is going to put a damper in the chimney for a permanent fix.

Now I know what the idea is so that not so much heat goes up the chimney, but has anyone else tried this?

I'm skeptical, but wondering if this will help with efficiency.

[sprintfan11]

Hmm, I have a 5036. I know the box is designed to hold heat better than other stoves with that rear baffle. I haven't noticed a significant amount of heat coming out whenever I clean the pipe out once a month.

[SwampDonkey]

Well it won't burn as fast with a damper installed and closed down to just enough air flow. Do these things have a draft on the front? From the stand point of using a regular indoor stove, if you put the damper down low and open the draft to half your stove will throw a lot more heat in a room. With no draft and closing down the damper, it will give you a longer burn, the heat you get will vary with moisture. The dryer the more heat off it. Green wood is just going to smolder. I notice this with an old cast iron stove in the shop. I can have a fire for several hours with good dry wood and get lots of heat, actually too hot when in there working. I have to open the door up. :D I also notice, when using my boiler for my steamer, an open draft and an almost closed damper really makes her boil. But with the draft open you are burning faster to. Just ain't going up the flu in heaps if the damper is closed down low. :D

You'll also learn this when cooking with a wood burning kitchen stove. ;D

[red oaks lumber]

my thoughts would be if it worked that good or at all, the factories would be doing it.what better sales pitch than "this model with pipe damping technolgy saves x% wood".
i burn wood with an owb not hoping  to save wood but to save money from not using fossil fuel for heat. just my$.02