Baro damper?

Be careful when you play the tab. It can stick sometimes so make sure it is free and doesn't hang up at both ends of the travel.

Yes, I popped right back open I was just gently holding it, it still had some air leak around it, but gives you an idea of how much it helps. I have a brand new one for next year, this one is pretty rusty and corroded.....but works.

spc / Stephen -- Since you have the manometer, I think you can ignore the scale settings and the left-side / right-side issue of where to put the weight. Just find a side and weight position that makes your manometer read .02 or .03 or whatever draft reading you are shooting for.

Yes, that is true on the manometer settings for the baro. I have an extra screw and some washers (for weight) to help it maintain my draft at the right range since it is a bit rusty and corroded.

Found a new one here, good price and fast shipping.

http://www.patriot-supply.com/products/ ... m.cfm/1940

Thanks WNY.

Would the 7" be the right size for an 8" pipe?

http://www.patriot-supply.com/products/storecart.cfm?addMerchID=1941&quantity=1&btnAdd.x=41&btnAdd.y=19

I'm picking up the KA-6 this week and I've got to start collecting parts

Rick

The old Uglysquirrel is pretty much imminent to install the whole system into the Mark II. After a lot of reviews from a lot of very good opinions, I'm going to put the 7" Fields RC on the horizontal pipe coming from the thimble. In doing this, the pipe length from the baro damper to the stove will stay hotter (more convection with adjacent air) and from a fluids/heat transfer perspective, the larger volume of heated exhaust gases (compared to if the baro was placed close to the stove outlet) between the damper and stove outlet will have less heat loss immediately before the damper opens up. All this has to do with the response rate of the damper to open to address a increasing vacumn and the heat sucked from the pipe upsteam of the baro immediately before the baro can open. This transient response can occur literally dozens of time each hour especially during windstorms or blizzards.

Another way of looking at it is in effect the longer length of exhaust gases act as a barrier to firebox heat loss when the baro is placed further from the stove's outlet.

Using the same logic, it seems reasonable to suggest that the closer a baro is to the stove, the greater the potential exists for the firebox pressure (and heat loss) to be influenced immediately before the baro opens.

On the other hand, by doing what I am doing, I'll likely get more fly ash accumulating at the bottom of the T right next to the stove outlet.

Thanks for all of the info everyone has provided on this site. It's been great. This will be my 3rd winter with my stove and like many of you have said, buring coal is something learned over time.

This summer I have taken apart my stove, cleaned it up, and decided to install a barometric damper before I put it back in place. I bought a 6" Fields RC and installed it using a tee above the exhaust box on the back of the KastConsole. I also bought a Dwyer Mark II Model 25 manometer and have it installed on the tee just below the damper. Then I put the stove back in place and it's ready to go. Everything has gone smoothly so far thanks to all of the info I've been able to get from this forum alone! So thanks for that!

Because the KastConsole sits in front of my fireplace all of the piping (including the damper) are in the fireplace so it's not going to be an easy task to adjust the damper over the winter. I'll have to shut down the stove, let it cool, and then reach behind it to adjust the damper. So I'm trying to make my best guess at calibrating the damper before winter sets in. I zeroed the Dwyer and then started a small wood fire in the stove. The ash door on the stove was cracked open to allow air in to feed the fire and all of the windows downstairs were open in case any smoke came back into the house. The damper was set almost all the way to the .02 mark (the setting that would require the least amout of draft to open the damper). Once the fire got going, the Dwyer read .04 and the damper was open and fluttering. It's 70 degrees outside with a little wind.

My question is, based on everything above, does that mean that my chimney has a strong draft and that I should expect it will get even stronger once winter sets in? The weight on the damper is almost all the way out, it's open and fluttering, it's 70 degrees outside and I'm still seeing .04" WC on the manometer. Should I move the weight all the way over and possibly add some additional weight in anticipation of what winter conditions will be like or do you think the way I have it setup now is good enough to try out this winter? If I see the draft reading go way up this winter I'll definitely shut down the stove and adjust the damper, but like I said, I'm trying to make a best guess on the damper setting now before winter sets in.

Thanks again for all the info on this site. It's been great. Looking forward to firing up the stove. I've got 6 tons of Blaschak scheduled to arrive in Sept.
Paul

cfoodfest, I have my baro set between 2 and 3 (if there was a 3 mark) and it will maintain a little over .04 wc on the manometer. I have seen it as high as .048 under max conditions. My baro only flutters in the fall and spring under idle for an extended time. If I am even just off of idle the baro will stay open a slight amount. Under max conditions my baro is open full. At idle in the warm months my manometer reads .028. So I would say with your baro set where you have it you should be good.

Is a baro really that important? I have one on my smoke pipe and it is set to .05.I don't have a manometer just the setting on the baro.If your stove or in my case furnace has an air tight seal on the ash door and loading door how does the heat from the fire go up the chimney.wouldn't it be like sucking on a straw with you finger over the end.If you have the air adjusted for a good fire why would it matter how much the chimney is sucking? The air adjuster is only going to let in as much air as needed for said good fire.

Or is the baro needed so that the fire stays the same.I mean if it gets cold at night and the chimney starts to draft better and the furnace starts to make more heat is't that a good thing because if it's getting colder you would want more heat.

I could never seem to get my brain around this baro thing
DON

Big Beam, It makes a big difference. I had a baro on my boiler since day one but never set it with the manometer until last season. It dropped my stack temperature significantly=more efficient=less coal used= Give it a try.

BIG BEAM wrote:Or is the baro needed so that the fire stays the same.I mean if it gets cold at night and the chimney starts to draft better and the furnace starts to make more heat isn't that a good thing because if it's getting colder you would want more heat.

Yes, you need it so the fire stays the same, that is, so you can predict how fast the burn will be based on how much you open the air inlet. Without the baro, it's true that colder = more draft = more heat, but the "more heat" you get may be less than or greater than the "more heat" you need. Without the baro, it's also true with many chimneys that more wind = more draft = more heat, again not necessarily in direct proportion to how much more heat you need due to the wind. There is potentially the effect, also, of sucking the combustion gases through the stove and up the chimney faster than they can release heat to the stove, so you have a nice high stack temperature (i.e. wasted heat) but not enough heat in the room.

As a born-again baro user, who originally was as skeptical as you, I highly recommend the baro.

What should I set it at?(I guess I'll have to get a manometer)
Hotblast says min .05 for anthracite.

coalkirk wrote:Big Beam, It makes a big difference. I had a baro on my boiler since day one but never set it with the manometer until last season. It dropped my stack temperature significantly=more efficient=less coal used= Give it a try.

Lets just say I have the baro set at .03 and it begins to open.Less air will feed the fire.Isn't it the same as turning the feed air to the fire down?

What is a good stack temp? On a cold night mine will run 400 or 425 tops(magnetic thermometer 12" from furnace on top of pipe)On a normal day 20 or 30F it's 200-225.
DON