Log Burner - Smoke in Room

[cwhaley]

I have ran wood burning stoves for 10 years and had no problems. I've always had the flue swept and inspected once or twice yearly and I only burn dry timber.

I decided to swap my old stoves for two new DEFRA wood burners as they are slightly larger and more efficient. I also had new 5" liners installed (recommended size for these stoves). The height of the flues is 9 metres straight up to an open pot with a 'bird cage' on the top.

I now have problems with getting a good draw. I can just about stop smoke entering the room during reloading, but it's a bit of an art and I notice that the draw isn't particularly strong. I also notice white smoke during the early stages of a reload, which didn't happen before.

Previously cracking the door open on my stoves during a burn made it sound like a jet aircraft. Never had any issues and the setup fundamentally hasn't changed.

The only difference I've noticed is this 'secondary baffle plate' which can be seen on this crude illustration. It sits above the vermiculite plate and is held in place with two hex headed screws. I presume its aim is to promote increased burning of exhaust gases, but in doing so reduces draw.

Anybody else had or heard of this issue?

 

[Tetrarch]

I have a Stovax wood burner and I deliberately increase the ventilation before opening the door as this seems to help with smoke and fumes

Regards

Tet

PS This is after a loong and smokey experience when I first had it. I learned how to pre-heat the stove with a heat gun to kickstart the draw and now have no smoke ingress at all

 

[cwhaley]

I have a Stovax wood burner and I deliberately increase the ventilation before opening the door as this seems to help with smoke and fumes

Regards

Tet

PS This is after a loong and smokey experience when I first had it. I learned how to pre-heat the stove with a heat gun to kickstart the draw and now have no smoke ingress at all

Thanks for the reply. I have two old Victorian sash windows which I crack open when lighting, but will open them more as an experiment. The stoves are served by a controllable air vent behind them (outside walls), which I hoped would help.

I start the stoves with a strong fire made from strips of pine and lighting them is easy, it's just much less of a draw than I had before. I'll try with the heat gun I have to see if it works - how long do you heat it for in your experience?