Smokey logs...

[Nubbinz]

Just got my woodstove put in yesterday, I've got a lot of wood piled up and I had a nice fire going for about 2 hours but then I threw in one log from my pile and within 20 minutes the smoke alarms were going off... I'm pretty sure that log caused it so I'm wondering what is good to burn. I know cherry and ash are, anything else? Also it didn't really have a smell until I threw in that log, then it smelled like a camp fire and kinda burned my throat If anyone can identify it by that description and suggest what woods to avoid. Thanks

[hoosierlogger]

You should only burn seasoned wood in an indoor wood stove or fireplace. Use the CSL logs regularly to keep creosote cleaned out of the chimney to help reduce the risk of a chimney fire.

Avoid burning pine and hedge they pop alot and will throw sparks every where especially when you open the door.
If you have more of the wood that caused the smoke take a picture of it and Ill see if I know what it is.

[wisconsinite]

Sounds more like your chimneys not drawing right

[hoosierlogger]

Or he had the door open and the damper shut. I didnt think about that right away

[Nubbinz]

I'll have to find my sd card reader so i can load a pic off my camera . I don't think It's the chimney because i burned for 2 hours with no problem then bam right after putting that log in it started. It was about the same color throughout and it smells just like the kindling i use to start my fires which I know is pine so I want to say that's what it was. I'll try another fire tomorrow night with only cherry and see if it comes up again, if so it could be the chimney, although I can see the smoke getting sucked up to it when I look in the stove so i think its drawing alright. Also it spit sparks a lot so that's another clue as to what it was...

[fabiodriven]

Sounds more like your chimneys not drawing right


Or he had the door open and the damper shut. I didnt think about that right away

^^^Both of these are right^^^

That's not the wood. You have a draft issue.

Could you physically see the smoke coming out of the stove or the fireplace when it happened? Was it steady or did it just puff out? If it was running for 2 hours before it happened, you have an issue I've not dealt with yet. I've been burning wood for years, since I was a kid. Every now and then mine will belch out quick poofs of smoke from big wind gusts, but it's never steadily streaming out of the fireplace.

No matter what you put in the stove 100% of the smoke should go up and out of the chimney, unless you get a slight poof when loading it.

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Oak, maple, beech, just about anything other than pine, hemlock, etc....

[Nubbinz]

The door was closed, and if by damper you mean the little valve thing you can screw open, was open. The wood stove is around 100 years old... It doesn't have the waxed rope or whatever the door seal is made of, but the guys who installed the stove said it should work fine without it, it will just pull in more air and burn hotter. Unless I had a small personal fan blowing on it, it rolled right out the door. As soon as the breeze stopped the smoke started.

[just ben]

[QUOTE=hoosierlogger; Use the CSL logs regularly to keep creosote cleaned out of the chimney to help reduce the risk of a chimney fire. [/QUOTE]I think they discontiued them because people were using them instead of cleaning their chimney

[fabiodriven]

The door was closed, and if by damper you mean the little valve thing you can screw open, was open. The wood stove is around 100 years old... It doesn't have the waxed rope or whatever the door seal is made of, but the guys who installed the stove said it should work fine without it, it will just pull in more air and burn hotter. Unless I had a small personal fan blowing on it, it rolled right out the door. As soon as the breeze stopped the smoke started.

There may be another damper in the chimney that somebody could have shut. That will cause exactly what you're having.

You want the rope seal on your door. Without that seal it will pull more air and burn hotter. It will burn too hot. If you run it sucking that much air and it runs too hot it's just going to blaze through wood in no time flat. You want to be able to "choke" it and let the flames smolder at times. When I go to bed at night I shut both the intake damper and the chimney damper all the way and when I get up in the morning there are enough coals to start the fire again just by tossing more wood on it. Same thing when I go to work. Every stove is different though, so you have to find out how much draft works for you.

[wisconsinite]

As soon as the breeze stopped the smoke started

again, this sounds like a draft problem. if a chimney is working correctly, the heat of the smoke rising up it creates an updraft, carrying the smoke out and drawing fresh air into the fire box. it should not depend on a breeze to draw, however a breeze can affect the draw.

is everything sealed well where the chimney ataches to the stove? no leaks in the chimney pipes? cracks in the stove?

[Thorpe]

again, this sounds like a draft problem. if a chimney is working correctly, the heat of the smoke rising up it creates an updraft, carrying the smoke out and drawing fresh air into the fire box. it should not depend on a breeze to draw, however a breeze can affect the draw.

is everything sealed well where the chimney ataches to the stove? no leaks in the chimney pipes? cracks in the stove?

Hate to be "that guy" but, you realize that "smoke" is just particulate, right??? jk (hvac'r here)But the ABOVE COMMENTS ARE !))% CORRECT.. The seal is very important... Any draft change in the house (opening/closing doors in the house) will effect the way the wood stove is burning.

[Nubbinz]

I live on 44 acres burning through wood isn't that big of a deal I pay nothing for it, but I'm going to get a new seal just so its the way its supposed to be. No cracks in the stove, and there's only one damper on the door of it. It wasn't wood stove paint smoke because I had that last night and this wasn't it. Could be a damper in the pipes. I have a 1 story house with an attic and a basement, and the stove is on the middle floor, would the pipe damper be on the main floor or the attic? Never had any fire burning place before and have had this stove hooked up for two days so I'm pretty clueless. I went outside and didn't see any smoke coming from my chimney, would that point at a damper in the pipe being closed? I've seen places with chimneys and you can see the smoke from 5 miles away... Thanks for all the help so far and I hope the pipe damper suggestion solved it.

[Swinger]

Ok, has your chimney been in for a while or do you just put that in also? You want the chimney higher than the roof so that air flow freely over, creating your best possible pull for draft. Next, how long ago was it since the chimney was cleaned? Also like Fabio said, get a seal for it, its only a few bucks and will save you much time and wood! Another thing to check is how geen is your wood, if it is fairly fresh you will have that smell of the fresh creosote boiling. That may take a bit for it to build up but once it does it will boil and smell very different! Now you were saying about an air screw. Try taking it the whole way in, then backing it off about 1 1/2 turns or even if you are not running the rope seal you could probably close it the whole way, because you are probably pulling alot of air even with the bottom door closed. Easyest thing Id do is tomorrow when it is light out, ball up some newspaper and light it up, go outside and watch to see how the draft is pulling, if ok then start a small fire and crack open the bottom door and it should sound like a blow torch as soon as the door is opened if you arent pulling to much air from everywhere else. If all seems fine then search your wood pile for the driest stuff you have and see what happens after a few hrs. Good luck and dont burn your house down!

[Swinger]

If you have a damper on the pipe it is usually right above the stove before it goes into the chimney. It will be a small handle with a spring wrapped around it, turn it vertical ( same way as the pipe) and it should be open. The other way will close it as you would want to do before going to bed to make the fire smolder and last the night

[fabiodriven]

I have a damper right on the back of my stove, but there's also a flap at the top of my chimney with a pull chain that comes all the way down to where my stove is. I would think that you would know if you had one of those though. You can see the pull chain go right up the chimney.

[Nubbinz]

It sounds like a blowtorch when i start a fire and I've tried the air screw closed, half out, and all out, it goes down the slightest bit closed but it smoked no matter what. And my wood is nice and seasoned, I cut it a year ago. I found no pipe damper... The chimney is all brand new and installed the other day, The stove is from the 1900s but has nothing wrong at all except no door seal. I'm gonna try another fire tomorrow with cherry wood and see if I have any problems. If I do I'll just have to check in with the company that installed it. Thanks for all the help.

[hoosierlogger]

I have seen the pipe cap cause draft problems. I had one on my stove once that had too much "roof" on it. it came down too far and didnt leave enough of a hole for the wind to get through and wouldnt draft right.
It was like this one. Dont buy one of these.
http://www.woodstove-outlet.com/woodstove/A47605.htm
I havehad the best luck with this style
http://unifireusa.com/retail1/item.php?c1=Norwesco&nameIT=7%20inch%20Galvanized%20China%20Top%20Pipe% 20Cap&vn=88666&blkNO=1731-2133

I now have an outdoor boiler. I will never go back to an indoor wood stove.

[Mosh]

How high is the pipe above your roof and how close is the next tallest object like trees or another roof ridge line? There is a mathematical formula for that to get proper draw.

[tri again]

quick review?

new chimney? is that new triple wall stovepipe?
anyway, no birds nests apparently and hopefully the right stuff to be going thru an
attic.

x2 with what's on top.
I took the metalbestos fire marshall approved cap off mine.
It would collect creosote and plug up, sometimes overnight.

so.. again, new 'exhaust' pipe and old leaky stove.
sounds ok so far.

If my stove is smoky inside, it will sometimes explode from the smoke gas vapors igniting,
puffing back into the house.
Best to crack the door, HOLD it shut for a few seconds to get the draft going
then open it slowly so the draft can re=establish itself.

A leaky stove will just burn hotter and faster.
Pipe should draw hot air up.
It's just that simple.

But as stated above, wood smoke is explosive.
The Germans used wood smoke generators to run trucks and tanks when their
fuel supplies were cut off in ww2. Tons of info on that topic.

so..downdraft as suggested previously?
top o' pipe wants to be 2 feet above the roof ridge at least.
Is chimney pipe or old/ new masonry? some of that stuff could've fallen off to create a partial obstruction.
or there may be some sort of damper in there somewhere.
Is it a straight shot?
can you shine a flashlight down from the roof and see it inside?
or look UP the smokepipe with a mirror and see sky?

Would one wet moldy, mushroom log cause more smoke INside the house?
If there was any kind of heat, the smoke should go up.
but again, one super dry, hot burning wood could actually Cause smoke if the heat it creates has nowhere to go,
killing the draft and creating more smoke.
I've had my stove door blow open so hard it could almost break a leg.


Sounds like there are a few of us that have relied on wood heat for decades.
I'd try to find a local neighbor that heats with wood and get some local suggestions.

of course, you don't want to cause undue hardships because as far as I know,
ALL that stuff needs to be certified, permitted and inspected etc etc, could cost thousands
and take weeks to get done. Best not to blow the whistle on yourself for no good reason but again,
If something is funny or cobbled together, homeowners insurance won't cover anything either
if something does happen.

Not to be a wet dog about this but......
be careful and check everything 10X.
Put a smoke alarm in the attic.. etc etc
time to get e lil' OCD about it.

Long wave infrared is the best heat in the world but deserves
the ultimate in respect too.

edit: I just re-read all your posts.

you said new stovepipe too?
all the way from the stove thru the roof?
Maybe the installer dropped his lunch or an expensive tool down the pipe and didn't want to tell the boss.

It that pipe is all new, it makes this story even scarier.

I DID have an obstruction story you will not believe.

Fire had been out for a day or so.
I started......tried to start a fire.
Smoke filled the room, I opened the doors and KA Flewie!!
a bird flew out from my woodstove door and hung on the wall for a few minutes
and then flew out the (house) door.