Stove Pipe Chimney Caps

Discussion in 'Off Grid Living' started by MountainMariner, Nov 12, 2016.


  1. MountainMariner

    MountainMariner Clearly Ambiguous

    Here's what I have now and it's not preventing blowback down my stove pipe (Blaze King Princess Ultra) when the stove is doing it's catalytic cycle. And very poorly when I turn the stove to high and bypass the catalytic side.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    On my shower sauna wood stove this style directional cap seems to work very well in high winds:

    [​IMG]

    And then there is this one I may be interested in:


    [​IMG]

    Anyone have a cap they could recommend for high winds to prevent blowback down the chimney? It appears my 6" stove pipe is reduced at the termination/cap....I would think that may be a bad thing too?
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2016
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  2. techsar

    techsar Monkey+++

    It almost sounds like you have too large a chimney...but I see you have 6" items chosen, so that's not likely. If you have wind blowing down your chimney, take a look and see if you can clear trees (or perhaps plant some :) ) to reduce the effect.

    I've a catalytic stove also and have not had any downdraft issues, regardless of wind, utilizing a cap similar to the one you express dissatisfaction with. Mine does however, attach directly to the stack, not necked down as yours appears.
     
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  3. sarawolf

    sarawolf Monkey+++

    Nice, we have neighbors a few miles away that have been having trouble with blowback.
     
  4. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    Might try the wind directional top cap, they prevent reverse draft really well! Go out on the coast town any where in the PNW and these are on every chimney you see! I don't have issues with mine, but if I did, this would be the way to go!
     
  5. sec_monkey

    sec_monkey SM Security Administrator

    Last edited: Nov 12, 2016
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  6. MountainMariner

    MountainMariner Clearly Ambiguous

    The telescoping portion from the stove to the chimney is double wall. It was single on the old oil drip stove. I didn't even know they made triple wall. Guess I need to check. How to identify triple wall???? It is at least double I am assuming. I sit at 2000' feet elevation and there are no trees that can solve this wind blowback problem.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2016
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  7. sec_monkey

    sec_monkey SM Security Administrator

    was doin some editing :) in my previous post

    [dunno] how to identify the triple wall without havin to partially disassemble it :(

    from the pic it looks like it necks down, possibly from double or triple wall to single [dunno] hard to tell fer sure

    :)
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2016
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  8. Cruisin Sloth

    Cruisin Sloth Special & Slow

    Early (1970-late 80s )insulated pipe was 1" insulation so 6 ID to around 8" OD.
    Pipe as of 2016 ,NOW 6" ID has a 2" wall of insulation & than adds to 10" OD for Double wall , Triple is 6" +2" and another 1" on the outermost wall so them are around 12" and very expensive . Used when passing through areas that are not serviceable OR not vented to the attic for the heat to be removed. This is the CSA type of pipes in Canada. Upon reading of your pipes posted as:
    Materials & Construction:

    • .016" 430 stainless steel outer wall or .018" galvanized steel outer wall
    • .018" aluminized steel intermediate liner
    • .016" 430 stainless steel inner liner
    • Ceramic blanket with air space insulation
    • Precision twist lock connection
    DuraPlus is a triple-wall.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Aluminum is the WORST & galvanized steel will corrode badly with the smoke & chemicals coming out of the pipe.
    I lost a Top cap in one year due to the jerks used bits of aluminum to make it. the top was cheap stainless also.
    My full systems (3) are all stainless from ceiling up 6" with 2 " insulation so the pipe is 10" OD and the area above the ceiling is vented into the attic through 2 floors . I have cleaned them every year and have not had to replace any stainless after I tossed all aluminum parts.

    Sloth
     
  9. techsar

    techsar Monkey+++

    Speaking of double- and triple-walled stacks, remember it takes longer for them to heat up and provide an adequate draft...
     
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  10. OldDude49

    OldDude49 Just n old guy

    Thanks for the link to the stove pipe(y)
     
  11. Cruisin Sloth

    Cruisin Sloth Special & Slow

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  12. techsar

    techsar Monkey+++

    Put simply, a honeycomb media is heated to a point where the smoke and associated gasses are burned. Gives more btus from the same amount of fuel. A catalyst bypass is used to allow for preheating so as to not clog the cat. In some stoves, it also allows coal to be burned (coal smoke will kill a cat)
    Last year, the change from a non cat to a catalyst type stove cut my wood usage roughly in half...FWIW ;)

    One downside is the chimney temps are typically reduced due to slow smoke velocities up the stack...could result in rapid creosote build up if well-seasoned wood is not used.
     
  13. Cruisin Sloth

    Cruisin Sloth Special & Slow

    AND that's a major stickler , plus the cost of the CAT .
     
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  14. MountainMariner

    MountainMariner Clearly Ambiguous

    Who's got the wood burn chart? Just felled my first few birch trees today and can't wait to burn that dense heavy stuff. (Compared to white spruce)
     
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  15. sec_monkey

    sec_monkey SM Security Administrator

    Code:
    Species
    
    Weight (lbs./Cord) Heat per Cord (Million BTUs) % of Green Ash
    Ease of Splitting Smoke Sparks Coals Fragrance Overall Quality
    Green Dry
    
    Alder 2540 17.5 Easy Moderate Good Slight
    Apple 4850 3888 27.0 135 Medium Low Few Good Excellent Excellent
    Ash, Green 4184 2880 20.0 100 Easy Low Few Good Slight Excellent
    Ash, White 3952 3472 24.2 121 Medium Low Few Good Slight Excellent
    Aspen, Quaking   2160 18.2   Easy   Few Good Slight
    Basswood (Linden) 4404 1984 13.8 69 Easy Medium Few Poor Good Fair
    Beech   3760 27.5   Difficult   Few Excellent Good
    Birch 4312 2992 20.8 104 Medium Medium Few Good Slight Fair
    Boxelder 3589 2632 18.3 92 Difficult Medium Few Poor Slight Fair
    Buckeye, Horsechestnut 4210 1984 13.8 69 Medium Low Few Poor Slight Fair
    Catalpa 4560 2360 16.4 82 Difficult Medium Few Good Bad Fair
    Cherry 3696 2928 20.4 102 Easy Low Few Excellent Excellent Good
    Chestnut     18.0           Good Good
    Coffeetree, Kentucky 3872 3112 21.6 108 Medium Low Few Good Good Good
    Cottonwood 4640 2272 15.8 79 Easy Medium Few Good Slight Fair
    Dogwood   4230 High   Difficult   Few Fair  
    Douglas-fir 3319 2970 20.7 103 Easy High Few Fair Slight Good
    Elm, American 4456 2872 20.0 100 Difficult Medium Few Excellent Good Fair
    Elm, Siberian 3800 3020 20.9 105 Difficult Medium Few Good Fair Fair
    Fir, White 3585 2104 14.6 73 Easy Medium Few Poor Slight Fair
    Hackberry 3984 3048 21.2 106 Easy Low Few Good Slight Good
    Hemlock   2700 19.3   Easy   Many Poor Good
    
    Honeylocust 4640 3832 26.7 133 Easy Low Few Excellent Slight Excellent
    Juniper, Rocky Mountain 3535 3150 21.8 109 Medium Medium Many Poor Excellent Fair
    Larch (Tamarack)   3330 21.8   Easy-med   Many fair Slight Fair
    Locust, Black 4616 4016 27.9 140 Difficult Low Few Excellent Slight Excellent
    Maple, Other 4685 3680 25.5 128 Easy Low Few Excellent Good Excellent
    Maple, Silver 3904 2752 19.0 95 Medium Low Few Excellent Good Fair
    Mulberry 4712 3712 25.8 129 Easy Medium Many Excellent Good Excellent
    Oak, Bur 4960 3768 26.2 131 Easy Low Few Excellent Good Excellent
    Oak, Gambel     30.7            
    Oak, Red 4888 3528 24.6 123 Medium Low Few Excellent Good Excellent
    Oak, White 5573 4200 29.1 146 Medium Low Few Excellent Good Excellent
    Osage-orange 5120 4728 32.9 165 Easy Low Many Excellent Excellent Excellent
    Pine, Lodgepole 2610 21.1 Easy Many Fair Good Fair
    
    Pine, Ponderosa 3600 2336 16.2 81 Easy Medium Many Fair Good Fair
    Pine, White   2250 15.9  Easy   Moderate poor Good
    Pinyon   3000 27.1   Easy   Many    
    Poplar   2080 Low   Easy   Many Fair Bitter
    Redcedar, Eastern2060 13.0Easy Low Many Poor Slight Fair
    Redcedar, Western 2950 2632 18.2 91 Medium Medium Many Poor Excellent Fair
    Spruce 2800 2240 15.5 78 Easy Medium Many Poor Slight Fair
    Spruce, Engelmann   2070 15.0 78 Easy   Few Poor Slight
    Sycamore 5096 2808 19.5 98 Difficult Medium Few Good Slight Good
    Walnut, Black 4584 3192 22.2 111 Easy Low Few Good Good Excellent
    Willow 4320 2540 17.6 88 Easy Low Few Poor Slight Poor
    
    Wood Heating - Forestry - forestry.usu.edu
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2016
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  16. Sgt Nambu

    Sgt Nambu RIP 4/19/2018

    Ditto, on the wind directional! Here in my area, in the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge where it's very windy, you almost never see non directional units.
     
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  17. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    Maybe time Ura-Ki shed some light on the issues with a Cat pipe! I found when I first built my place here in CO. the winds would really suck the heat up the pipe with out some type of wind/weather cap! I also found that because of the insulated pipe ( more then half in cement) that it took a long time to heat up and get a good draft going ( worse was the damper would back flow) So, what I did was build a section of pipe that bypasses some of the draft but keeps it in the draft column so I don't loose that much heat while it's warming up! Having an upper damper is the trick as well as a good weather cap! The upper damper keeps the heat column in the pipe while things get up to temp, and then you just open it and let it go! Also a good idea to have a "Coke" elbo in your draft pipe some place HOT, as this will collect a lot of coke before it gets to your cat!
     
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  18. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    I find that the dog leg configuration in the stove pipe is more effective. been using it 50 years . DSCN4200.JPG
    Please excuse the mess , I'm remodeling.
     
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