Chimney suddenly not drawing properly - any ideas?

if your chimney is clean it is likely a downdraft..try to switch to hardwoods rather than pine..pine is not good for burning ..only for kindling

Cabin Fever
Yep that's just it, we are in the forest, pine beattle isn't bad here yet, but it's here and there is some dead wood standing about. I am thinking of cutting out a few of the grates with some tin snips in selective areas of the cap next time we go up there. The main chimney had a much larger grate, don't see why we couldn't modify the cook stove one a bit.

Tamsam
As for the coal, good to know that it needs to be hot or that might contribute as well. Will have to keep that underconsideration.

Suitcase Sally & Ronbre
Yes, yes, yes, I know pine is bad... but it's free for cutting it down and there is a lot of it. A cord of hardwood is $400 here.... real hard to justify burning only hardwood atthat price when the pine one just cuts down in 30 minutes and another 30 minutes to split it. At that price, we can get the chimney's swept yearly and still come out ahead if we have to modifcy/ clean off chimney cap due to soot, etc.

We did get a cord of oak, but we only burn it at night in the main wood stove to keep coals overnight and keep the propane furance from kicking on when it drops below 50 in the house over night.

We are modifying how we do all this almost weekly, it's an adjustment to get back into all of the "burning" stuff, haven't had to mess with it for years now, as well how the house sets, wind patterns, and my first time using coal (although the other half is old hand at it).

Anyways, thanks all for the input, at least we've figured out this issue. Cheers

If the pine bark beetles are headed your way maybe now is the time to start planting other species of trees so you won't end up out on the prairie after having to take down your pines.

__________________
"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

Denvergirlie, Our woodstove did that twice this winter, after years of usage. Hubby used to be able to just clean it before we started using it in the fall and that lasted all winter. Now, different wood, I suppose. The culprit in our case wasn't the stack, but the top part, a screen to keep birds out, kept filling with soot. We now just get up there every month and brush that all out. Solved the problem. Sure stinks to have all that smoke in the house! Hope you find the problem. Evergreen is SO beautiful! Jan in CO (out on the plains where it isn't so green!)

That's why we live here... we are the ranch managers of 160 acres that butts up against national forest land.
We work with the forestry department to care and tend to the forest on this acerage. The other half cuts the dead trees, clears selective parts of the land, so the other types of trees other than just the pine can grow and thrive.
We burn the dead and infected stuff, but burning season ends on March 31st. From there, any other infected trees get wrapped so when the beattles emerge in June/ July, we have them dead under the covering and then burn again thru the winter.
Of course we also tend to other chores the landowners wants us to do, repair fences, plow their driveway, etc, but our primary duty is to manage the forest and help it stay healthy as possible.

This house comes with the job, so thus our learning curve with all the stoves and what not.

I've had coal clog up a cap before. I had to (due to a steep, high roof) take a long pole and pop it off from below with a couple of hits.

I don't like the caps that have the wire in them...

__________________
Check us out out "The Modern Homestead", a small, helpful, friendly forum. Find us at "The Modern Homestead", on facebook too!

I had some friends complain that suddenly their old stove wouldn't draw any more and smoked badly whenever they opened it to feed the fire, even when they opened the damper first. I asked them if they'd tightened up the house. They said they'd done a whole lot of weatherstripping and re-chinking the cabin logs. I told them to open the window a crack when they stoked. They tried it and the problem was all better.

Sometimes the problem isn't the chimney.

Dan