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[johnybcold]

Well I have been out there 3 times and I thing I put a bunch of crappy wood, I emptied the wood out and filled it with good hard wood, there is a little smoke coming out the back smoke stack cover could that be my problem?

[Bill G]

My guess, as long as the blower is spinning....rub a dub dub, scrub from air inlet to top of smoke stack.  These gassers, are finicky and provided no major air leak, she be dirty, somewhere from air in to smoke, gasses out. 

[Roger2561]

Well I have been out there 3 times and I thing I put a bunch of crappy wood, I emptied the wood out and filled it with good hard wood, there is a little smoke coming out the back smoke stack cover could that be my problem?

Johnybcold:  Update?  Any luck getting your OWB temp to the desired level?  Roger

[johnybcold]

Well the stars must be realigned because it is working fine, on my third and last visit last night I noticed all the wood I put it ( about 80% of what it holds) looked wet like it was raining in there I took it all out and filled it with some of my preferred stock of hard wood and it is still running fine, every Sunday I let it run low and clean it, last week I was mostly burning a old wood fence maybe something got blocked, or maybe the wood got wet I can be little lazy and might have brushed of some snow and tossed a few logs in

[Roger2561]

Great!  I'm glad to hear you are operating at temp now.

I've been thinking about the air holes along the bottom of the firebox and how much of a pain in the backside it is to keep them clear creosote buildup.  I'm thinking of a redesign of some kind.  When I get back tomorrow I'm going to track down one of our faculty members (I work at an engineering school) and see if she can help me come up with a plan.  Due to the lousy wood quality and warm temperatures, I'm having trouble keeping the creosote at a manageable level.  I'm wondering if the channel along the sides and back of the fire box which makes up the passageway for the air holes can somehow be hinged so all I'll have to do every 2 or 3 weeks is open the channel to scrape away the creosote buildup.  The hinge will need to be heavy duty enough to handle the heat from the fire and corrosive aspects of the creosote.  I know that regardless of where any channel is located the creosote will get to it.  So, by having the channel hinged and the ability to open it, it will make the cleaning process that much easier and quicker.  I'll keep you posted on progress if the engineer thinks it is viable.  Roger

[johnybcold]

After cleaning it I am having a issue again I am waiting for my wife to hold the ladder I thing my stack is clogged the top smoke looks like it has pressure and smoke is coming out of the joints, dam spark arrester is probably blocked up

[tree climber]

i will never run a cap on mine ever again.not worth it

[johnybcold]

Yup it was the cap it was clogged up solid, I cut most of it off so now it is just a rain cap it went up to temp fast and is running normal

[tree climber]

glad your up to temp.

[Outdoor Wood Furnace Info]

Nice to have a solution.  How does a chimney cap clog up?  Can you post a photo?

[johnybcold]

Well what I had was a spark arrester which is a cap but the sides where the smoke comes out has a wire mesh of 1/2" squares, the creosote builds up to the point if sealing it up more so when you burn pine. Having a lame winter and a boiler that is always running almost on standby makes it worst.

[Roger2561]

Well what I had was a spark arrester which is a cap but the sides where the smoke comes out has a wire mesh of 1/2" squares, the creosote builds up to the point if sealing it up more so when you burn pine. Having a lame winter and a boiler that is always running almost on standby makes it worst.

Glad you figured it out and making heat.  I do not have a spark arrester on mine.  I don't ever remember seeing any sparks come from my chimney and service mine in the dark. 

Reminder to self; use mirror to check chimney for creosote this weekend.

Roger