baro damper setting

my stove has been working well this season. but i have to wonder if it would work better. the most ive had my stove open is two turns usualy when its in the single digits and the barrow doesnt even open. if it has opened it usualy is just open a hair. when i burned wood in it in the fall the barrow was open . the day it was installed the men who installed it started a small wood fire in it and the fire wasnt going for all that long when they felt the need they put the gauge onto the stove pipe and then set the baro to the setting its on currently. the stove pipe is a bouble wall stove pipe. so im wondering if they took that into consideration while testing the pipe for the setting. the piece on the barrow that you would turn to adjust is round as you all know, and in the middle of the round part it is set on eight. should it be a lower number say 4 or 5 or am i doing just fine and the barrows not opening cause it doesnt need to. thanks.

If you do some reading in the other section, not sure if hand fired stoves are any different for baro settings, You have to check it with a draft gauge/Manometer.

Baro damper?

But most of the stoker type stoves are setup for .02-.04 settings, if it doesn't open, you are wasting heat from the stove up the chimney, it may be pulling more draft/heat out of the stove that you could use in the house!!

Mine runs 1/4-1/3 open when really cold and still drawing .04, Unless I Hold it completely open, I can get it down to .02 and exhaust temps are only around 200-240 (inside the pipe after the baro damper) normally when really cranking.

when i look at the top of my chimney i can see heat coming out.

now that i think about it. the baro was set to a wood fire the baro always opened for the wood fire . now ive been burning coal all winter and it was never set to the coal fire. thats what im starting to believe. wow what if ive been not getting all the potential out of my stove!! scary. wow.

well without using a manometer i put the adjustment between 4and 5 and its opening now not a whole lot but i have to wait and see what happens.

The fact that your stove has been performing well for you is a good sign. It sounds like the installers set the baro with a manometer, if they put a probe into the stovepipe. The double-wall pipe would not change the proper setting. I assume they set it using a wood fire only because that was a quick way to get lots of draft. As long as they knew you planned to burn coal, they would set it for coal but they wouldn't have to be burning coal to set it.

The "8" setting may well mean .08, which is about right for my Harman and probably for yours. My owner's manual recommends "at least" .06 and as high as .10. I have experimented with lower settings, and the stove doesn't burn as well. I am surprised that your baro NEVER opens, however. It's not sticking, is it? Does it move easily by hand? Mine will open with a higher fire setting, or with gusts of wind, or when it's unusually cold outside (which increases draft).

You could call the stove shop and ask what they set it for -- they probably set up all of the same model the same way. They might even come by and check the draft again as a courtesy, when they're in your neighborhood -- as long as the stove is burning well at the time, it would only take a few minutes to check.

P.S. It makes sense that your baro would open with wood fires, but much less often with coal fires, since wood tends to have higher flue temperatures than coal, ergo more draft.

If you burn wood at all, check the back side of the baro's plate. If it is covered with creosote, it is no longer set properly as the added weight of the creosote will skew the baro's balance. It can change a .05 setting to forgetaboutit very quickly. Most hand fireds will run at .04-.06, the Harman's want a lot more for some reason. Anything over the ideal point for your unit is wasted heat, so check with the manufacturer and set it with a manometer. If you burn wood, the baro will often need to be serviced before you go to coal.

i only burned wood on and off a few times during the fall not a whole lot. the flap is clean on the baro also and it doesnt stick either thankfully. i never thought of the creosot building up on it, good point . when i went to loosen the piece on the barro it was already loose.so as i said i slid it over a little and the baro is open a little now and im glad it is. and it should be open some i would guess. a friend came over to see the stove and cried out "your baros not even open"!!! so what can i say i had to tinker with it

thanks everyone for your thoughts. just gonna have the dealer come down to gauge it again.

the baro is set up the way it originaly was. i was bad. all good now

bigchunk wrote:now that i think about it. the baro was set to a wood fire the baro always opened for the wood fire . now ive been burning coal all winter and it was never set to the coal fire. thats what im starting to believe. wow what if ive been not getting all the potential out of my stove!! scary. wow.

A Baro is not going to "add" any efficience to your stove. If you are primarily burning coal, it probably won't open unless you get a really strong draft, and it needs "extra" air to exhaust stack.

All it will do is keep the sudden change in draft (remember, draft is not a static number. It changes due to wind, relative temperatures, fuel, etc), from sucking _through_ the stove.

In cases of exceptional draft, it might allow the stack the amount of air it want's, but let you run the stove at a cooler temperature because it's not sucking the air through the fire.

It's the same idea as a manual damper, kinda, except a manual restricts the draft, and the baro gives it all it wants, but they both keep it from pulling demand-air through the stove at a sudden, higher rate.

With a coal fire, it's probably not as much of a big deal, unless it's a _really_ windy day, but it can play havoc with a wood fire, and in some cases, suck embers or flame into the pipes.. and that can hand you a nice fat chimney fire in short order.

CBT69 wrote:A Baro is not going to "add" any efficience to your stove. If you are primarily burning coal, it probably won't open unless you get a really strong draft, and it needs "extra" air to exhaust stack.

It's the same idea as a manual damper, kinda, except a manual restricts the draft, and the baro gives it all it wants, but they both keep it from pulling demand-air through the stove at a sudden, higher rate.

With a coal fire, it's probably not as much of a big deal, unless it's a _really_ windy day, but it can play havoc with a wood fire, and in some cases, suck embers or flame into the pipes.. and that can hand you a nice fat chimney fire in short order.

It will effect efficiency. If your chimney draws hard it will suck the heat from the stove, you will burn more coal and get less heat as it is going up the chimney instead of heating your home.

A manul limits the chimney's draw on the stove, a baro allows the chimney to draft what it needs and limits its pull on the stove to a set point.

With most hand fireds a baro is a required device. All this is meaningless if the chimney doesn't draft well. If it does, you need a baro in almost all cases (some designs should not, but there are few like that).

coaledsweat wrote:

CBT69 wrote:A Baro is not going to "add" any efficience to your stove. If you are primarily burning coal, it probably won't open unless you get a really strong draft, and it needs "extra" air to exhaust stack.

It's the same idea as a manual damper, kinda, except a manual restricts the draft, and the baro gives it all it wants, but they both keep it from pulling demand-air through the stove at a sudden, higher rate.

With a coal fire, it's probably not as much of a big deal, unless it's a _really_ windy day, but it can play havoc with a wood fire, and in some cases, suck embers or flame into the pipes.. and that can hand you a nice fat chimney fire in short order.

It will effect efficiency. If your chimney draws hard it will suck the heat from the stove, you will burn more coal and get less heat as it is going up the chimney instead of heating your home.

A manul limits the chimney's draw on the stove, a baro allows the chimney to draft what it needs and limits its pull on the stove to a set point.

With most hand fireds a baro is a required device. All this is meaningless if the chimney doesn't draft well. If it does, you need a baro in almost all cases (some designs should not, but there are few like that).

Right. My point was aimed at his comments that I read to mean he was concerned because it wasn't open all the time. Ordinarily, on either an oil fired boiler or a wood/coal flue, it's going to be closed, _unless_ for some reason you get "extra" draw, that's all.

Having it open would actually, probably, _reduce_ the efficiency of the stove, or at least keep your chimney running a bit cooler (if you have issues with that.)

coaledsweat wrote:With most hand fireds a baro is a required device.

Please explain, "why it's required" on a hand fed stove. Please explain, why those in coal country, who grew up with hand fired units, were able to exist without baro dampers? What will happen, if a manual damper is used instead of a baro damper?