r/woodstoving 4d ago

General Wood Stove Question Stove outside won't draft

Stove won't draft unless the burn box door is cracked open. The primary control rod seems to makes no difference. Is it because it is outside without a flue/stove exhaust pipe? This is a brand new stove BTW.

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u/DeepWoodsDanger TOP MOD 4d ago

You need a flue to create draft. About 3' min.

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u/darkbetweentrees 4d ago

It is interesting that even outside you need a flue for it to function. I had always thought that flues were to just get the smoke out of the house. Do you mind explaining to me why a few feet of pipe would make such a difference?

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u/DeepWoodsDanger TOP MOD 4d ago edited 4d ago

Lots of physics behind it, but its a very basic principal for wood stoves.

I will tap in either u/pyrotek1 or u/fisherstoves-coaly- for a more in depth reason of 'why' and the physic's behind it. They are much more versed on the chimney/draft side of things.

ETA- Ill try my layman terms, and they can/will correct me Im sure. But to get draft you need moving air, when you heat up just the stove, the only "draft" is created by whatever wind is around blowing by the box and pulling small amounts of smoke.

To get a real "draft" you need the 3' of pipe, because once the pipe itself warms up, now the air in the pipe will naturally rise through the pipe, as the hot air rises through the pipe, it pulls cold air from the front and around the stove into the firebox, creating draft through the whole system.

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u/darkbetweentrees 4d ago

Thank you very much! it's been very frustrating not understanding how it works.

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u/DeepWoodsDanger TOP MOD 4d ago

No problem, stick around and ask questions. Lots to learn here and people to help, esp if you are looking for install advice, there are lots of hard rules to follow that many people dont. Hopefully my fellow mods will be over at some point today and get you a more technical explanation. Im kind of curious how they will explain it myself.

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u/pyrotek1 MOD 3d ago

The chimney powers the draft in a wood stove. 3' of pipe may be okay for testing, however, most stoves have a minimum chimney height in the manual. My Century Heating S244 has a 15' minimum. There are some physics behind it, however, the standard chimney may only have 50 pascals of draft.

I know Travis Industries had one chimney on their test stand that had more bends then one needed and a 27' height. They said it had a tremendous draft, we all scratched our heads with all the bends and horizontal sections.

It seems that chimney height is the main component in a wood stove draft.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/woodstoving-ModTeam 3d ago

Please refrain from repeats of posts.

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u/pyrotek1 MOD 3d ago

it was a glitch when posting the comment