smoking from my wood range
 

When I fire it up anymore, it always sends smoke out the vents on the side. What causes this? What can I do about it. I just burn old feed sacks in order to fry 4 or so eggs in the morning.

Draft problem? Chimney and stove pipe clear???

yup, plenty smoke goes out the stovepipe.

Has to be a drawing problem. Something has to be stopped up some where.

Just take a piece of paper. light it, hold it in the Box see if it is drawing.

big rockpile

On a cold startup they have less draw, once the chimney and pipe gets warmed up they draw better, that's why they will puff back more when they are cold. The blockage affects it more cold as the draw is worse then to begin with. I would check the pipe and chimney to see if there is a buildup somewhere. Crumplimg up some newspaper and lighting it tends to get some warm air up the chimney and get them drawing. Just my 2 cents.

drawing problem, by the way split some stove wood to cook with. Paper is not the hot setup for long

When was the last time you took the inside pipes apart and cleaned them? Had someone get up and clean the chimney?

What are inside pipes. The stove pipe only exits outside the roof a foot. as a pipe with a cover on it.

I can fry 4 eggs with 1 or 2 feed sacks. I want a fast hot cheap fire.

O U mean the pipes inside the house. Theres only 2, but ive never cleaned them. Would the fact that I never have to shake the ashes down into the ash box make a difference. I don't know if the but paper goes out the chimney or what, but I never have to shake the ashes down. Theres stuff in there, a bit, but hardly enough to worry about, so I don't. I only use the stove in late spring, summer and early winter. After that, I fry on the wood heating stove.

Clean the pipe and stick another piece on top of it. It should be at least two feet higher than any part of the roof within ten feet.

I am in the camp with those saying to clean your flue, along with extending the pipe further above your roof. Another thing that many overlook is the position of the oven lever. Make sure its not forcing the smoke around the oven box when first firing it up. The smoke should go straight across the top of the oven to the stovepipe vent, not all the way back down and around the oven. You can see the control valve if you pull a couple lids off the stove and the little control lever is usually at the back of the stove top, on the right. :)

At least you have one. :thumb:

I cleaned out near a coal bucket of unburnt paper ash this morning. Thought that would do the trick. Didn't. Its always been below the level of the roof by around 2 or 3ft. Guess ill take a ladder and try to see what I can see.

I concur. Cold stove pipes dont draw very well.

Old timers set crumpled paper in the pipe on fire to start a good draw.

Our stove always smokes some when you light a fire in it and it is a 'cold' start.

How many 'bends' do you have in your pipe? The more bends the harder it is to get a good draw going.

I wouldn't be using feed bags under any circumstances as the main source of combustion. Crumpled paper to get ignition yes, but I'd be afraid that some of the dyes they use and waterproofing would send off fumes when ignited. Breathing in those fumes can't be good for anyone.

2 straight pipes is all I have. I turn on a fan by a near window and it draws out the smoke.

The pipe closest to the stove has the draft control in it. I checked it, and its OK.

Time, maintenance, the season, and bad habits have caught up to you.


Clean the flu. You've been burning inefficient fires in it and that has almost certainly led to creosote buildup.

Raise the flu. If it is high enough to be beyond any eddy current you will get draw from a Venturi effect no matter the wind direction. If it is subjected to eddy currents from something near by, seasonal/daily wind direction can cause troubles. Humidity and barometric pressure can also play a role.

You are actually making the situation worse by drawing air out with a fan. You've created negative pressure that is trying to pull air in from the flu. Have you tightened the house up recently? New doors, windows, caulking, etc?

Get some real tinder, kindling, and wood.

I figure you're a guy that can really appreciate this next one. Ain't but a few sights on this earth better than seein' Martha bent over loading a well tuned stove with wood I have painstakingly supplied. ;-)

Well,
Marthe aint here
#2 I looked and I cant pull the rain cap off the pipe to look down it
#3 I used vice grips as I don't have a shaker crank handle and shook down the grates for the first time in a LONG time.
#4 You can throw a cat through here near anyplace. Im expecting to move, so Im not going to weather proof this house, as I expect to possible take it apart and sell the 2 hip roof barns its made of, OR take them with me to use as barns.

here it is

The second pic is of my 1924 Detroit Jewel Side oven gas range.

Bill, quite simply your stove is not drawing right. Feed sacks are paper that deposit ash all thru your flue, not just in the ash tray. You need positive air flow for the stove to work right. Good luck on the outcome

Do they deposit enough ash to plug the stove pipes.

Does the stove work correctly all the other times you cook with it?

My fireplace which is a straight stack up and out also sometime has a tendency to push smoke back into the house on initial startup with paper as well. The cause of mine is strictly due to what the weather is doing outside.

When it is very calm outside and there is a heavy wet snow falling or in the morning when it is dead calm and there is a heavy dew smoke always seems to be sluggish getting out of the chimney until it has a chance to warm up.

My stove will smoke a tiny bit when starting until the flue gets warm. I clean every inch of the inside each year. Sometimes if the wind is going an unsual way, I'll have to open a door a crack until the flue gets warm. There is never enough smoke to set off the smoke alarm.
Don't start that window fan until after you get a good draw, that fan can work against you.

55 I only use it in the mornings to fry eggs. AND THEN,, only during spring summer and fall. I use my flat top heating stove in winter.

Farmboy it probably wouldn't hurt to run a brush down the stack and empty the clean out if it has one.

I'm really thinking that can be the only issue. Obviously the chimney is not drafting the smoke out unless your damper is staying closed.

When I was a kid we had a block chimney and when that thing was cold it did not want to draft the smoke out for anything.

Paper is another thing. It burns fast gives a quick flame and then smolders creating a lot of smoke. Possibly using less paper and some small kindling mixed in will give you a cleaner/hotter fire.

Also if your house is a valley your fires will have a harder time moving smoke out of the stack typically. On my way to work this guy has an outdoor burner by his house in the valley. In cool damp mornings when the air is heavy it looks like a fog bank around his house because the smoke won't climb.

FB, why not just get a coleman camp stove and cook on that. It will be quick, pretty trouble free, cheap, you can cook wherever you choose, whenever you choose. Way you cook, a one pound canister of propane would last a year or so. With a Kerosene stove, would last a long while that way, too, and be cheap.

Mon

That I guess should be obvious. No woman would tolerate living under conditions like that. A sissy like me wouldn't either.

This is a tragedy waiting to happen! That fact that you can't get the rain cap off suggests the chimney has never been cleaned in living memory. When your chimney fire catches, it most likely will take the whole structure down. Dude, get the chimney cleaned NOW if you have wack off the cap if you have to.

All you need is a burlap bag with some gravel in it, tied to a rope. Took me 10 minutes to clean my pipes. Just drop it down, and pull it up and down a few times and you're done. Best insurance you'll ever invest in!

THE REASON I CANT PULL THE RAIN CAP OFF IS, Cause it is built on to the pipe. Its a plate that you fasten to the roof and cauk around it that has the pipe WITH the rain cap attached to it.

Yes, I live in a valley.

I think that shaking down the grates have helped. I had very little smoke today and didn't even start the fan.

AND FINALLY< IF a woman was living here and couldn't tolerate the conditions and wouldn't do anything to change them, I wouldn't want her to be here anyhoo.

It smokes when you pull air out of the house with the fan.

Turn the fan around and blow air into the house and I'll be it doesn't smoke.