Dampering down astove is done for 2 reasons. One is to heat less. This can be done by building a smaller fire or by burning wood with a higher moisture content. If it is too moist, your stove will produce a heavy creosote build up . Another reason people damper the stove way down is to conserve wood and/or increase the burn time. This can also greatly increase creosote build up. Call VC and see if they have any specific suggestions for your stove and let me know their response. I and all of our readers would greatly appreciate that. I think it is most likely going to take adjusting the flue damper and intake(s) to determine how you can damper the choke the stove down a fair amount , yet still provide enough air to prevent the burping..

BE SURE ALL OF YOUR VENT CONNECTORS ARE SECURELY FASTENED TO THE STOVE, EACH OTER AND TO THE CHIMNEY. THESE BURPS CAN PUSH APART THE VENT CONNECTIONS IF THEY ARE NOT SECURE!

Dave

Thanks,
Matt McGuire

If you do feel a downdraft, the cause is a difference in pressure between the inside of your home at the stove area and the pressure at the top of the chimney. Turn off any fans (bath room fans, kitchen fans,etc-yemoroarly cut back your forced air heayers as well) Try cracking a window a few inches or more in the lowest level of your home and then build a fire with several individually and very loosely crumpled up pieces of newspaper. Before lighting the fire, feel for cold air again. If it is still present with the window open, light the paper as quickly as possible and then shut the door quickly. After 5 to 10 seconds, open he door slightly for a couple of seconds then close it again. Continue to open the door slightly at these intervals, This gives the paper oxygen, yet forces the heat to find a way up the chimney. If all goes well, the smoke will start upwards and if you can maintain the flow with more paper and eiither kindling, fat wood or firestarters and gradually logs, your good to go. Close window and check to see if it is still functioning properly,

I personally will crumple 15 eo 20 sheets of paper and have several dozen more on hand for extreme cases of down draft,
IF YOU DO NOT FEEL CONFIDENT OF YOU ABILITY TO DO THID OR IF YO ARE HESITANT TO SMOKE THE HOUSE UP OR IF YOU HAVE REPIRATORY ISSUES, YOU MAY WANT TO CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL.

It is a good idea, in situations like yours, to not biuld a fire unless you can keep it going for several hours. If you have a shorter fire, you may not have warmed rhe chimney thoroughly enough to maintain the heat neccessary to maintain agquatee draft as the fire dies out and smolders.

Good luck,

Dave

Have you ever had it inspected and tested by a very experienced professional? If so what did they find? Though it could be a negative pressure issue such as an HVAC system interferance, it could be a very short chimney, tall trees or an off set or a blockage. If your house is really that air tight, have you tried opening a door or window slightly? I just installed a wood stove and chimney and it would not draw at all. We opened doors windows, turned off a kitchen fan and the furnace. Nothing worked. The fireplace was on the first floor of a 2 level home. Finally we cracked the basement door and away the smoke went! I figure warm air was leaving the house via air leaks from the upper level ceiling via bath fan, kitchen fan, attic and whole house fan-even when all were turned off. this air was being displaced by the wood stove chimney, meaning air was being sucked down the chimney because the air loss from the items I mentioned was creating a vacuum in the house. When we opened the basement door the chimney reversed flow since a lower air supply (the basement door) was created.

Houses function as a chimney and even air tight houses leak a lot. A very wealthy builder built himself a super green, air tight house. I know how rigid his standards were as I Installed a wood stove in his bedroom with an outside air intake. Every seam and every wall penetration had to be sealed with silicone and made absolutely air tight. before I ever started, i asked him if he ever had a suction test on his house. He said he had and the result was that it had approximately 1/2 the loss of the average new home constructed today-meaning it was pretty good, but nowhere near 100% air tight. Please do the incense test and door tests and let me know the results Also let me know if you”ve had it inspected and the findings.

The sizing of your firplace opening vs liner size is pretty far off for standard fireplace design. 36″ wide x 30″ tall is standard for a 13″ x 13″ liner. Rumsford designd require a Rumsford smoke chamber and throat and damper and very specific firebox design. When I alter a standard firebox to a Rumsford firebox, I use standard flue to firebox opening ratios if the chimney is not otherwise altered. On new construction, I recommend a Rumsford damper, with a precast fireplace throat and smoke chamber purchaseable online, or a complete “Belfyre” system from “Sleepy Hollow Chimney Supply which is designed to work a lot like a Rumsford. How did you construct your thraot and smoke chamber and what kind of and what size damper are you using?

Dave

Dave

Dave