Should the Brick Be Completely Closed on My Channingiii?

Hello. I've noticed my fire burning way to the back of the stove lately. I've had it set very low, 2 out of 5 on the dial, due to the warm temp as late. It's attached to the chimney(no direct vent or power vent) and I have the brick at the top inside of the stove open about a half inch. Could having the brick open be part of the issue? What exactly is the brick for? As always thanks for all of your help!

I'd love to see a pic. I have a Channing II to but it's a DV. I'd love to see what you're talking about.

The brick is only to be opened during start up when the chimney is cold and the draft is low.

There is usually some smoke during start up, and when you plug in the combustion fan the stove is under slight positive presure, if the brick is closed the smoke has to bank down to the exhaust ports to exit the unit. There is a chance it may seep out through the glass air wash and into the room. Opening the brick just lets the smoke rise naturally and exit the stove.

That being said once the chimney heats up and is drawing well, close the brick. This make the stove exhaust lower in the unit allowing more time for the heat to be absorbed by the heat exchanger.

I found out I don't have to open mine at all because my 35' chimney draws hard even when it is 70* outside.

I guess if you are using a power venter you don't need to open the brick at all, when you turn it on you have instant draft.

Hope this helps.

Bk

I'd like to see a pic as well.. I have a Channing III with a chimney, and have also been running on 2 for the past week or so. My fire burns at the top of the shute as well just infront of where the coal comes from the hopper. When my stove was installed, the word brick never even came up in conversation. When the installers where done, they damned up the shute put a coal mouse on the shute, covered it with coal and I've been burning ever since (oct 9th).

traderfjp wrote:I'd love to see a pic. I have a Channing II to but it's a DV. I'd love to see what you're talking about.

I have the older Kodiak stoker stove II top vent with the bricks. The generic manual that I have for all of Alaskas' stokers, the bricks are open for start-ups and warm weather operation to aid in keeping a good draft. Once the outside temps are lower and remain that way I will be closing the gap between the bricks.

Yesterday I vacuumed out the stove and exhaust. I closed up the firebricks. They Definitely make a difference with the amount of heat retained in the stove. It is much colder out now and my draft was up to slightly over .05 after closing the gap between the bricks,so I tweeked the baro to just under .04, I should have checked the draft before closing them. I'm sure the draft was even higher.

As a side note, when the weather was warmer and the bricks were spaced apart 1 1/2" my draft was .02 with the baro completely closed. So I'm pretty sure that if the firebricks were closed there wouldn't have been enough heat going up the chimney for adequet draft.