smoke

harr

hi
hope someone can help and sorry if the question has been asked before.We built a single story extension on to a two story semi D before xmas and we installed a stove with the flue going out through the roof and up the wall of house,the flue is about 2 foot above guttering of house so we should be ok height wise.
Over the last week or so we are having a lot of smoke blow back down the flue filling the house with smoke,it seems to happen when the wind is gusting.
The flue is not blocked its only installed about 3 months,the lad who did it is now in OZ so cant ring him but it was working fine up to now.
Even when i clean it out the ash is blowing back into the kitchen.There is a cowl on top of the flue its a round one with wire mesh,i was told it prevents down drafts.
Sorry for long post,hope someone can help.
Thanks

Dtp79

harr wrote: »

hi
hope someone can help and sorry if the question has been asked before.We built a single story extension on to a two story semi D before xmas and we installed a stove with the flue going out through the roof and up the wall of house,the flue is about 2 foot above guttering of house so we should be ok height wise.
Over the last week or so we are having a lot of smoke blow back down the flue filling the house with smoke,it seems to happen when the wind is gusting.
The flue is not blocked its only installed about 3 months,the lad who did it is now in OZ so cant ring him but it was working fine up to now.
Even when i clean it out the ash is blowing back into the kitchen.There is a cowl on top of the flue its a round one with wire mesh,i was told it prevents down drafts.
Sorry for long post,hope someone can help.
Thanks

Is there permenant ventilation in the room?

harr

Dtp79 wrote: »

Is there permenant ventilation in the room?

Yes,one vent in old part of kitchen and one in the new part..the plumber that in stalled the stove put a vent in new part of the kitchen as he told me it would be needed.

Dtp79

harr wrote: »

Yes,one vent in old part of kitchen and one in the new part..the plumber that in stalled the stove put a vent in new part of the kitchen as he told me it would be needed.

How long is the flue from the stove to the cowel?
Did he use twin wall flue?
Is there any bends on the flue pipe?

harr

Dtp79 wrote: »

How long is the flue from the stove to the cowel?
Did he use twin wall flue?
Is there any bends on the flue pipe?

One bend where flue comes out from wall,yes twin wall on outside and height would be your average 3 bed semi d plus about 2 foot over guttering.
its a vaulted ceiling in new kitchen with a single wall flue of about 6.5 foot inside.

Irish Steve

Is the flue at the end of the roof or in the middle, and is the smoke coming out of the fire when the wind direction is coming over the roof towards the flue? 2 Ft over the guttering sounds low to me.

If it it, the possibility is that the wind is blowing downward at the roof edge because it's come over the roof, and the answer to this may be that the flue will have to be higher, or fitted with a different terminal to help prevent the downdraught from getting into the flue. Another more rare problem is that certain wind directions may be causing a pressure differential which is causing a downflow in the flue and out of the vents in the room, but that would be rare.

What angle are the bends, they are meant to be no more than about 35 degrees ( I think the max is 37.5 but don't quote me on that) and any more than that is problematic. If it's 2 x 90's to get through the wall at higher level, that's an issue that needs to be addressed urgently for safety.

harr

hope you can view the photos,sorry my mistake there are two bends on flue and it does seem to be when the wind is coming from a certain direction (east),the stove has been in use for the last 3 months with no problems at all.
I have a carbon monoxide alarm in the kitchen to be on the safe side.

Irish Steve

photos not visible here, can you try again?

harr

Irish Steve wrote: »

photos not visible here, can you try again?

Can you view them if you right click them?

Irish Steve

No link in the post to right click on, how are you attaching the images to the post?

harr

Irish Steve wrote: »

No link in the post to right click on, how are you attaching the images to the post?

Its a link to image shak ,i see 3 little box's and when i right click it gives me the option to open photo in new tab.
Is there a better way?

Irish Steve

The way you are using may work for you, but they are not showing up on line, probably an image shak sign on issue, as long as you have them on your computer, go advanced, and then use the manage attachments option, and upload the images to the boards server using that, as long as they are not above the limits there. That should solve it,

Robbie.G

harr wrote: »

hope you can view the photos,sorry my mistake there are two bends on flue and it does seem to be when the wind is coming from a certain direction (east),the stove has been in use for the last 3 months with no problems at all.
I have a carbon monoxide alarm in the kitchen to be on the safe side.

You need to take photo from bottom of garden showing full flue outside but I would say your flue is to low and needs to be raised.The spinning cowls are a waste of money they don't solve probs the bearings will feck up on them in year or two and then your out a couple hundred to replace rise the flue and the probs solved

harr

_DSC0030.jpg

_DSC0024.jpg

_DSC0027.JPG_DSC0030.jpg

daver123

harr wrote: »

_DSC0030.jpg

_DSC0024.jpg

_DSC0027.JPG_DSC0030.jpg

Is your back garden south facing and are you the end house of a row of houses

Irish Steve

OK, quick look does indeed suggest that the height above the roof may be a problem, if you stand in the garden behind the house, so you are facing the chimney, which direction is the direction of the problem wind, using a clock method, so 12 o clock is in front of you.

You may need to get a stove specialist to confirm it, but the initial gut reaction is that the terminal may not be doing what you need it to, a higher and more effective terminal may resolve the issue.

The proximity of the terminal to the roof edge is for certain not helping.

harr

North-east I think ,no we are 7 down out of 25 houses...
The wind is coming from the 6 o clock postion

harr

A bit pissed off now,the stove cost enough to install as is ,now have to get someone in to readjust it to proper height.:mad:

Irish Steve

A specialist will confirm, but my strong suspicion is that the lack of height above the edge of the roof is causing the problem.

A different terminal on the top may solve it, but I can't make that call, it will need someone with experience of dealing with flue problems, and solving them. A stove shop may be your best bet for information here, or if you know a specialist fitter, but it will be that level of person to determine exactly what is causing the problem.

daver123

harr wrote: »

North-east I think ,no we are 7 down out of 25 houses...
The wind is coming from the 6 o clock postion

We had a problem before with our old hamco stove back draughting when the wind came from a east / north east direction.

harr

Right,had a lad out this morning before i lit the stove,he thinks its a wind direction issue.
Lit stove no wind no smoke in house,got small gust from the east some smoke in kitchen.
So another length of flue just might work,the cowl on top he thinks is ok.
He checked for leaks at seals on stove and joints on the flue as well and all seems ok.Also might need to change where vent is in the kitchen not sure why.

Another issue i was having was smoke when i first lit stove on cold mornings this he told me this is down to cold air in the flue not letting the hot air up,so on these morning start fire very small and build it up or a blast of a hair drier on the flue would help...:p

Thanks for all the help folks mush appreciated

daver123

harr wrote: »

Right,had a lad out this morning before i lit the stove,he thinks its a wind direction issue.
Lit stove no wind no smoke in house,got small gust from the east some smoke in kitchen.
So another length of flue just might work,the cowl on top he thinks is ok.
He checked for leaks at seals on stove and joints on the flue as well and all seems ok.Also might need to change where vent is in the kitchen not sure why.

Another issue i was having was smoke when i first lit stove on cold mornings this he told me this is down to cold air in the flue not letting the hot air up,so on these morning start fire very small and build it up or a blast of a hair drier on the flue would help...:p

Thanks for all the help folks mush appreciated

Good to hear you should be sorted...can u keep us posted how ya get on as i am thinking of putting a stove in a similar position in my sunroom / extension cheers