Do I Need a Barometric Damper for My Coal Stove

This is my first posting to NEPA Crossroads. Many, many thanks to contributors. I just bought my first coal stove, largely due to the contributions and opinions found here. You guys rock.

I have a Franco Belge (144.08.02) I just bought in great condition. I already have a 9x13" SS insert in my chimney, and am working to hook it up. I have a barometric damper. It will fit a lot better if I do not include the baro. Is the baro a necessity?

Thanks!

Not necessary, but it will help control your draft to get an optimum burn. Welcome and good luck.

franco b, our FB specialist will surely chime in on this one My personal thoughts tend to go with the manual pipe damper--(MPD) as I have on my own stove. By the way, welcome to the FORUM.

Its hard to guess without the use of a manometer to see how much draft your chimney will pull once you have a good fire burning. Personally, I think the baro was the best thing for my furnace. Before I used one, my furnace would constantly yo yo hot and cold while I tried to find the right amount of combustion air to feed it. Now, with the baro I get a long steady consistent heat output without much fuss since it controls how much combustion air is being pulled into the furnace.

My observation on all that would be the difference between a furnace & a hand fired--MPD vs Baro's have been an ongoing discussion for a real long time & I'm sure will continue to be a topic. My understanding on a Baro is primarily to prevent back puffs or unwanted down draft--my MPD does precisely the same thing. I'm convinced either will work just fine depending on the individual house/ stove

There used to be a 'knowledge base' on the forum that had explanations of various coal burning stuff but I can't find the link. I must just be reading past it on the page. If you see better than me and find it just login to it using your same user id as the main forum and look at barometric damper for an explanation of how it works. Manometer was in there too, those two items should be used together imho.

Thanks, all! I'll do some more reading. I'm fairly certain I'll take the time to cut back my SS insert to make it fit with the damper.

the baro dampner's flap swings open and allows air to be sucked thru it instead of thru the stove (coal bed) when a big gust of wind blows across the top of the chimney. SO with that said, as the wind passes over the top of the chimney it "sucks" the heat and exhaust out faster. the baro is a self regulating flap valve that allows the stove to burn consistant.

it saves coal and maintains a even and predictable burn...... I feel thats important for im away from the house 10-12 hrs at a time and would hate it to come home to a dead stove cause the windy day gobbled up all the coal....

I feel its worth it to do it right the first time! if you don't need it cover the opening with foil

Poconoeagle wrote:the baro dampner's flap swings open and allows air to be sucked thru it instead of thru the stove (coal bed) when a big gust of wind blows across the top of the chimney. SO with that said, as the wind passes over the top of the chimney it "sucks" the heat and exhaust out faster. the baro is a self regulating flap valve that allows the stove to burn consistant.

it saves coal and maintains a even and predictable burn...... I feel thats important for im away from the house 10-12 hrs at a time and would hate it to come home to a dead stove cause the windy day gobbled up all the coal....

I feel its worth it to do it right the first time! if you don't need it cover the opening with foil

I would like to add that it keeps the draft steady not only for wind, but also temperature variations outside. When it warms up outside during the day, it will close as the chimney draft weakens and when it gets colder at night, it will open when the chimney draft gets stronger - keeping the draft for the fire consistent.

The yo yo-ing of my furnace temp was due to a run away train effect. As my furnace grew warmer, the chimney drew harder which caused the fire to run hotter, which made the chimney draw harder still, till it finally couldn't draw any harder and my house was 80 degrees. THen I would cut back the combustion air and the furnace would cool which would lessen the chimney draw, which would cause the fire to run cooler still, which would lessen the chimney draw even more.. I think you see where this is going to a cold fire... ANYWAYS - the baro cured all of this