sp-150 burning wood barometric damper?

is there any downside to running a barometric damper when burning wood?

it seems to me it should save you some wood on those very windy nights.

tia

jim

If you should happen to get a chimney fire from the buildup of creosote you will have a run away chimney fire. It will use the baro to suck in as much air as that jet engine fire can get. You must maitain a clean chimney when using a baro with a wood fired stove.

I would pull the baro and cap it if you burn wood. I suppose it may depend on the install, but I find the creosote builds up on the back of the baro and they won't work right when your on coal without a lot of work cleaning it.

iv'e been burning wood for more years than i care to remember.

i'm not worried about creosote or a chimney fire.

i clean my chimney twice a year and there's never anything there to clean.

my wood is nice and dry and seeing as it free i cant see not burning it.

if there are no other reasons not to run it i'm going to give it a try.

if i dont like it i'll pull it and cap the T

Don't forget that creosote condenses on cool surfaces. The small amount of air venting around the baro may make it cooler than the rest of the flue pipes.. I'd at least take a look at it ever couple of days to see if it is getting an accumulation on the back side of the door.

You could cover it with aluminum foil to seal it.

Greg L.

LsFarm wrote:Don't forget that creosote condenses on cool surfaces. The small amount of air venting around the baro may make it cooler than the rest of the flue pipes.. I'd at least take a look at it ever couple of days to see if it is getting an accumulation on the back side of the door.

You could cover it with aluminum foil to seal it.

Greg L.

thanks, i'll keep a close eye on it. i'd rather pull it and stuff a cap in the hole.

then if i want to run coal through the stove or it's really windy it will be quick, pull the plug and level the damper.

jim

I use two different baro flappers. The clean one with coal and the creosoted one with wood. It takes about 10 seconds to switch over, something I haven't done in years.

Another concern with wood in the SF model stoves. The heat exchanger is a cool spot, so you will need to clean the tubes in the 'swirl chamber' often, otherwise the heat transfer will be lost..

Even really dry wood has creosote if it is burned with limited oxygen, Obviously since you have burned for years, you know that if you feed a little wood at a time and keep the fire really hot with unrestricted air, and control the heat with quantity of fuel, then the burn is clean..

Stay warm.
Greg L