Pellet Stove venting

[Jeffrey S. Campbell]

Anyone with some input here would be appreciated...

today when we shut our pellet stove down for cleaning... after the fans shut down, we starting getting some smoke inside... now it is really windy today so we are getting a back draft in the vent pipe....

the stove vents through the outside wall and then goes up... to about 6-7 feet off the ground...

the vent was installed to all manufacturers specs... but i think there is a flaw in the exhaust vent pipe... there is no damper or exterior "flap" to prevent wind blowing back in...

any ideas?

[Wayne B. Wilson]

Jeff
Can you send a picture of the outside vent
If it goes up it should clear the roof
if it is a wall vent it should have a blower type exhaust if i remember right

[Jeffrey S. Campbell]

I will get one and post it... the only requirement was to get it up off the ground to prevent snow drifting... as a matter of fact... it says no more than 4 feet of vertical pipe...

here is manual
http://www.pelletking.com/pellet-sto...ove-manual.pdf

[Jeffrey S. Campbell]

my biggest concern is it is kitty cornered thus a 45 elbow to the wall then outside it has one 90 tee up... it says not more than 180 in bends... I just noticed to... that it says not more than 4 fees... I have 4 feet plus the top cap and the tee at the bottom

[Wayne B. Wilson]

Try taking the elbow off and lowering the pipe , It may be cooling down to much and losing it's draft
IMO only

[Jeffrey S. Campbell]

that is what i was thinking after posting and reviewing things above... it is very windy and cold out today and we are definitely losing draft...

[Dave Brice, CHI]

Jeff

Appears that the location of the appliance and chimmey is poor in that the chimney was installed possibily at the most windy side of the home (assumming - open praire like area with little to no tree's or other surrounding buildings) causing backdrafting etc. I have seen this situration before and was brought up during an appliance and chimney inspection course many years ago. All it could be is location as it appears that the chimmey venting (PL pipe) installation looks fine if all is installed exactly according to the manufactures installation instructions and/or code compliance (do not add or alter any of the venting equipment!!). Keep us posted.

Dave Brice CMI RHI
Owner/Inspector
Pacific West Home Inspections
WETT Certification #5824 (Wood Energy Tenchnical Technician).

[Jeffrey S. Campbell]

well aside from the trees losing their leaves, we do have some shelter on that side of the home... it is the north side however... it is very windy today and really the only time it has done this this much...

you would think their design would include a damper like flapper on the outside to prevent wind from blowing in the pipe...

i am going to try to remove one section to get it below the 4 ft as the recommendations state... and see what happens... thanks to all for input!

[Brian A. MacNeish]

Originally Posted by jcampbell

well aside from the trees losing their leaves, we do have some shelter on that side of the home... it is the north side however... it is very windy today and really the only time it has done this this much...

you would think their design would include a damper like flapper on the outside to prevent wind from blowing in the pipe...

i am going to try to remove one section to get it below the 4 ft as the recommendations state... and see what happens... thanks to all for input!

Probably not much, as it is a high wind induced phenomenon.

[Marcel Gratton]

Jeffrey,

Do you have the combustion air intake pipe connected? Smoke will come out of it when smoldering.

It would be best to have the chimney inside the house going through the roof as it would create a good draft.

I had the same thing happen with my pellet stove except that I couldn't see my hand in front of me from the smoke and the scary part is that the smoke detector didn't went off...

I since have both types photoelectric and ionization.