manometer install with powervent question

Happy New Year All! May your 2013 be all you dream about! Quick question. I got my manometer hooked up today. Drilled 1/4" hole in the stack between the stove and the baro damper and inserted a piece of brake line. I hooked the red striped tube into the brake line with a fitting and the other end into the low port on my Dwyer. I hooked the white stripe into the high port and left the other end open. I've got it adjusted to read roughly .04. My baro damper is open about 2" and the powervent is set at 45 degrees. The gentleman at Alaska said my baro damper should be open roughly 3/4" or about the width of my index finger if I was setting it up without a manometer. My question....should I adjust the the powervent angle then the damper so it is roughly 3/4" open until I get a reading of .04 or should I just leave it as is? I am unfamiliar with this stuff, so is a .04 reading sufficient enough the way it is or should I be concerned that the baro damper is open so wide? Thanks for any assistance you may provide!

94Bison wrote:Happy New Year All! May your 2013 be all you dream about! Quick question. I got my manometer hooked up today. Drilled 1/4" hole in the stack between the stove and the baro damper and inserted a piece of brake line. I hooked the red striped tube into the brake line with a fitting and the other end into the low port on my Dwyer. I hooked the white stripe into the high port and left the other end open. I've got it adjusted to read roughly .04. My baro damper is open about 2" and the powervent is set at 45 degrees. The gentleman at Alaska said my baro damper should be open roughly 3/4" or about the width of my index finger if I was setting it up without a manometer. My question....should I adjust the the powervent angle then the damper so it is roughly 3/4" open until I get a reading of .04 or should I just leave it as is? I am unfamiliar with this stuff, so is a .04 reading sufficient enough the way it is or should I be concerned that the baro damper is open so wide? Thanks for any assistance you may provide!

I'm a little confused here. Normally a power vent comes with a rheostat to increase or decrease the motor speed which would increase or decrease the draft.

You would turn the rheostat to get your manometer reading .04 and the baro just slightly opening. Maybe that 3/4" you mentioned would be the proper setting.

Now if there is no method to change the fan speed, there should be a shutter or piece of metal which could be moved over the intake opening to vary the amount of air being sucked through the power vent. This shutter would have to be moved to reach that poiunt where the baro slightly opens at .04.

You would keep an eye on the manometer reading to maintain that reading. Either turning the rheostat to change the speed or move the shutter again to match the .04 reading while the baro is just slightly opening.



Rick

Rick 386 wrote:

94Bison wrote:Happy New Year All! May your 2013 be all you dream about! Quick question. I got my manometer hooked up today. Drilled 1/4" hole in the stack between the stove and the baro damper and inserted a piece of brake line. I hooked the red striped tube into the brake line with a fitting and the other end into the low port on my Dwyer. I hooked the white stripe into the high port and left the other end open. I've got it adjusted to read roughly .04. My baro damper is open about 2" and the powervent is set at 45 degrees. The gentleman at Alaska said my baro damper should be open roughly 3/4" or about the width of my index finger if I was setting it up without a manometer. My question....should I adjust the the powervent angle then the damper so it is roughly 3/4" open until I get a reading of .04 or should I just leave it as is? I am unfamiliar with this stuff, so is a .04 reading sufficient enough the way it is or should I be concerned that the baro damper is open so wide? Thanks for any assistance you may provide!

I'm a little confused here. Normally a power vent comes with a rheostat to increase or decrease the motor speed which would increase or decrease the draft.

You would turn the rheostat to get your manometer reading .04 and the baro just slightly opening. Maybe that 3/4" you mentioned would be the proper setting.

Now if there is no method to change the fan speed, there should be a shutter or piece of metal which could be moved over the intake opening to vary the amount of air being sucked through the power vent. This shutter would have to be moved to reach that poiunt where the baro slightly opens at .04.

You would keep an eye on the manometer reading to maintain that reading. Either turning the rheostat to change the speed or move the shutter again to match the .04 reading while the baro is just slightly opening.



Rick

Thanks for the reply Rick! My power vent doesn't have a rheostat, it has a little tab that I can adjust that controls the shutter. This tab starts at closed and then lists angles every 15 degrees starting at 15, 30, 45, etc up to open. Would I want my power vent close to the closed side. I just adjusted it last night and it is currently at 30 degrees and the baro shut a little more but still is open about 1.5". Do you think It would be advisable for me to try and get the power vent shutter adjustment closer to closed which I believe would close the baro damper further. I am able to get a read on the manometer of .04 @45 degrees and now @ 30 degrees. Should I try to get it down to 15 degrees and get a reading of .04? Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Andy

ok, I just made another adjustment....I closed the shutter to 15 degrees and adjusted the baro until I have a .04 reading. This caused the baro to close to about 1/2" which is about what the gentleman at Alaska said the baro should be open to. I will give Alaska a call today to find out if this setting is satisfactory. If Rick or anyone else have any further suggestions or comments, I'm all ears! Thanks for all the help!

94Bison wrote:ok, I just made another adjustment....I closed the shutter to 15 degrees and adjusted the baro until I have a .04 reading. This caused the baro to close to about 1/2" which is about what the gentleman at Alaska said the baro should be open to. I will give Alaska a call today to find out if this setting is satisfactory. If Rick or anyone else have any further suggestions or comments, I'm all ears! Thanks for all the help!

That sounds about right to me. The baro is there to regulate the amount of draft. Too much draft can lead to a hopper fire. Too little and you could get CO in the house.

Glad to see you have the manometer so you know what the draft currently is. Maintain that -.04 and you should be good to go.




Rick

I'm also using a powervent but i control my draft using a rheostat. you can purchase them at any big box store, i believe that is a better way of doing it. i also removed the damper on the input side, as this was a spot for fly ash to gather. i have my baro set to open at .04 once a week i will run my powervent at full speed and hold my baro closed for a minute to blow any fly ash out that i can get, easy way to clean out the pipes.

SOunds like you getting it "Dialed-in", as long as you can maintain the .04 with the adjustments, you should be good. You can always tell when you get ash build up the draft will start to decrease. I notice that on mine.