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Post by sksshel on Apr 8, 2019 2:22:59 GMT -8
I have to second Trevor in this. Your bell heater is cooled down completely and is sluggish to start. My heater is much like yours in that respect, starting with half a load and adding two or three pieces at the time until two complete batches are done usually resolves the problem in my case. It's like making tea the old fashioned way, one spoon of tea for each person and one for the pot. Thanks, peterberg. I tried the slow start technique on my last run. It never got going. Vortex, thank you also for your comments. During the incident, there was barely a trickle of smoke coming out of the chimney. It doesn't seem to be a restriction for heater start-up. I will be replacing it with a directional cowl for next winter season. If you think this could really be the problem, I'll remove it and attempt an even slower startup process. It seems I have 2 options: 1. put in a start-up bypass damper. 2. Devise some way to artificially inject heat into the chimney. I lean towards option number 1 due to its simplicity.
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Post by Dan (Upstate NY, USA) on Apr 8, 2019 3:28:42 GMT -8
All you have to do it open that clean out on the floor and burn a few pieces of cardboard in it to "heat prime" your outside chimney.
...and 3' of additional pipe would help a lot more than 1'.
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Post by peterberg on Apr 8, 2019 3:40:36 GMT -8
Just a thought: you're sure there isn't a small window or anything open in the attic?
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Post by stefanvh on May 24, 2019 5:18:35 GMT -8
Any news on this sksshel? Just a thought: you're sure there isn't a small window or anything open in the attic? In theory, if you have an airtight room and the chimneys draws, smoke back is not possible. However, if the air has an easier way out (e.g. an open window), it will choose that one. What seems to work here in case of a bad chimney draw is to open a window in opposite of the wind direction to create overpressure and 'push' the air through the chimney. For one of our conventional stones this is required every start, otherwise it won't draw at all.
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