HANDLING GRAY WATER SURPLUS TOMATOES AND YOUNG HENS
(Page 5 of 5)
April/May 2000
By the Mother Earth News editors
Dear Mother,
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Can you tell me if I will have enough draft on a wood-burning stove installed in the basement with a 36'-long, 6"-diameter flue, with a rice of 4'? Do I need a draft inducer?
JD
Your flue will draw best if it is inside the warm house; if outside in the cold, a location on a south-facing (sun-side) wall is best. A 6"-diameter flue will serve a single small- to medium-size stove just fine. A well-warmed, 36'-high flue will exert plenty of draft. But expect problems if you try running a large stove with even an 8"-diameter exhaust, or if you try to start two or more small stoves on it at the same time. A rise (distance above the roof) of 4' is usually adequate for a flue - as long as the smoke also exhausts a good 4' above the roof peak or ridge line. But draft is also affected by hindrance to free airflow from surrounding trees, other buildings, local topography and even plumbing vents in the roof - things that you can do little about.
If a flue that is both large and high enough still wants to smoke on start-up (especially if you feel cold, outside air draining down and out of the cold stove), warm it with a hair dryer before lighting the fire. If it smokes when the wind blows, you can add a revolving wind vane to the top (but keep it greased and mobile).
A draft inducer is a last resort, but sometimes the only way to cure a smoky flue. Endure whatever expense necessary to ensure that the flue draws well. The most innocent looking few red coals left to keep the room warm at bedtime can emit surprisingly large amounts of lethal but undetectable (to human senses) carbon monoxide. More than one sleeping family has suffered when outside air began pouring down an inadequate flue and out over the coal bed, to fill the living spaces with poisonous CO.
It is a good idea to install carbon monoxide detectors alongside the fire alarms in any wood-heated home.
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