Should I Reset the Barometric Damper?

As the title asks.

I set the baro on the high side in the beginning of October (.05") because it was still somewhat warm out. But since it appears to be getting colder I was thinking maybe I should reset it?

Maybe knock it back to .04"? I find that to get 500* out of the Chubby and to keep the house at 70* I have to leave the air control on the ash door open almost 1/2 way.

Do you have a manometer? I constantly adjust my baro in my situation. I'm starting to worry about wear on the little knob! I try to operate my stove at .02" WC. With the ash door air adjustment, and the baro, I'm learning how to control the draft and I'll close the baro if I just shook the stove down, added coal, or if I want to "turn up" the heat! I also have a stack thermometer, and can keep an eye on stack temperature. Right now I've got the ash door open, but the baro set so I see .02 on the mano. I have 72 degrees in the place. If I want to go to a toasty 77 degrees, I'll move the baro weight and probably pull .05 for about 20 minutes. By then the fire will be glowing brighter but the stack temp will be up past 200. Then I can throttle the stove back a little and get the heat to come out of the stove instead of up the chimney.

I do. Currently the manometer is showing .06" the stove body is at 500* and the stack is 210* with the MPD closed all the way and the air control on the ash door is open about 1/2 (getting close to the 12 hour mark on the Chubby running it like this. 1/2 an hour I'll shake it down for the night.) The house is at 70* (got hardwood flooring in part of the living room and linoleum [eww] in the kitchen so the floors in those two areas are cold [un-insulated basement]).

Sounds similar to my floors! I have a crawlspace, but the foundation is nominally insulated. I was thinking of trying to run some warm air into the crawlspace but I think I'll hold off on that plan. I guess every situation is different, and I hope you'll get some advice from other Chubby owners!

How do you get your baro down to .02 I have a 6 inch chimney and with my baro all the way to the left my manometer reads .05. The only way for it to go less is to manually open the baro.

Yeah, tomorrow I will begin insulating the basement, I've already blocked up two windows in there for the winter so hopefully insulating will also help to keep the warm air in the house a bit more. Thanks for the help. Like you said, maybe one of the other Chubby owners can give me some more guidance. I haven't adjusted the baro since I set it in October and started to wonder if I shouold.

My baro stays all the way to the left all year round. I wish it could go further so my number could go lower. Maybe just need to remove the whole knob?

Insulation makes the home warm

Adam, you set your's to .09"? Or do you mean to the right at .02"?

Currently, mine is set halfway. Which is around .06". But I only set it on the high side of the scale because Doug had instructed me to do so due to my chimney height during the warmer weather. I figured since it was colder now I should consider resetting it. Just dunno if I should.

And yes, it does. I couldn't find any R35 at the store and though they had R30 it was Kraft backed and since it is going in a damp basement I didn't want the paper back. So, I settled on R19 with the plastic vapor wrap around it. Figured it'd be better in a damp area.

Mines on .02 if I just touch it it opens right up! If I open it full it'll go from .05 to .03.

Going from an r30 to an r19 is a big difference. I'm not sure the paper would have been a problem if you guys insulate the same way we do here with the paper towards the warm part of the room. So your paper would be up against the floor so the moisture would have to go all the way through the insulation to get to the paper. Even still if the r19 doesn't prove good enough you could always add to it at a later time.

Yes, it should be check and recalibrated at least 1 or 2 times per season with a draft gauge.

Removing the knob (actually a weight) will not help with the baro reacting better, actually it will make it worse and it won't open. You need to add a washer for weight, the overhung weight will make it react faster. Just unscrew it, and add a small thin washer to it, it will change the setting though, so you may have to move it towards one way or the other.

Also, make sure you have the knob (weight) on the correct side for the orientation of the baro, if it is mounted in a vertical or horizontal pipe, it will make a difference in the weight and reaction of it. the slot is slightly angled different from each side.

If you have ash build up on the back of the baro, it should be cleaned off with a small brush, toothbrush works good.

Yeah, I have some build-up on it. I've been meaning to clean it, just haven't gotten around to it. I don't seem to have any trouble with it opening though.

Adam,

Isn't your baro open all the time set at .02"? Mine only opens at .05" and usually only a little.

WNY,

What should I set it at? Right now it's 34 but the weather is calling for it to be in the high teens low twenty's tonight. Tomorrow it's not going to break 40*. Should I have the baro open sooner? .03" - .04" or just leave it as is?

I'd leave it set at .05-.06 inches. That way I know the gases are being sucked up the chimney. You are controlling the draft and efficiency of the stove now with the manual stovepipe damper that is recommended to be installed in the Chubby owner's manual. The ash door draft is controlling how hot you want the Chubby to burn. It is not unusual for me to have the barometric set at .05, the manual stovepipe damper closed all of the way, and the ash door draft open half way to achieve a steady 500-600 degree stove temperature. If I run 500 degrees steady for a month, operating at these settings, the Chubby consumes 1/2 ton of anthracite. For even more heat and comfort at this setting, I place a pot of water on top of my Chubby and fill it twice a day. Boy, what a big difference in the comfort of the house. Try it this way and let me know what you think?

Hi I'm on fire, Maybe a curious question but I should ask because I'm not too familiar with Chubby stoves. Does your stove have an internal damper?

nortcan:
The Chubby stove has either a cast iron manual stovepipe damper already installed in the rear flue connection from the factory or you must install one in the stovepipe of the top vent models according to the owners manual to operate the Chubby efficiently.

Nortcan,

That's a negative Ghost Rider. There is no internal damper on the Chubby. Think of the Chubby as a barrel with a cast iron pot and grate in the center of it. That pretty much sums up a Chubby. Its really a very simple design but it works really, really well. I love this thing. I also ask a lot of really stupid questions. But I've only been burning coal for 2 months. I do have a manual pipe damper installed as well as the barometric one. Its funny actually, when I was considering moving from wood to coal I had actually downloaded the Chubby owners manual to read through before even trying to locate one. I brought it to work with me, read it. Read it in the bathroom at home. I literally carried the manual everywhere for a month before I found a Chubby on Craigslist and my wife gave the green light on the changeover from wood to coal.

Doug,

Ok, so then I'll just leave the baro be. You know I have a cast iron kettle sitting next to the stove since I pulled it out of my wife's father's garage after he passed away and I've not filled it with water once. When I had the wood stove I'd wait until it got colder before putting a pot of water on the stove. But, I'm gonna fill it up tonight now that you mentioned it.

WNY,

I just cleaned the baro, looking at it I thought it had more build up than it actually did. There wasn't much. Oh, yeah..I injured myself too while doing it. I was using a small steel brush with a plastic handle. Somehow the handle snapped (probably because I was pressing too hard) and the brush end flipped back and stuck in the palm of my hand. I have a few bloody bristle holes now. lol