Woah...Just Freaked Out About Dampering

I just read through the first couple pages of the "Damper when to use it..." thread and what I got out of it was it is dangerous to close the damper on a coal fire...

Then I looked up the manual for my stove http://www.vermontcastings.com/catalog/elements/f ... gilant.pdf

On page 17 it says that the damper can/should be closed to keep heat from running up the chimney

"Operate the Vigilant with the damper open when starting
the fire, when re-building the fire after a long burn,
or when burning a small fire with moderate heat output.
Close the damper only after establishing a strong fire
and a good draft by burning the stove with the damper
open."

Now I have CO detectors in the house but...I left the house for work this morning after giving my coal a good shake with the damper in the closed position and a pregnant wife sleeping upstairs.

So whats the deal with the dampers? Are they "good to go" like in the manual or are they trouble and I should call the wife and have her placed in the O2 chamber?

It really comes down to your stove Bob, for older stoves and designs a manual damper is required because without one they are very inefficient. The new ones are so air tight and efficient they don't need one usually. If the manufacturer suggests using one I'd follow their advice.

Be sure to buy a proper one, they are usually cast iron and have a holes in them . We'' be covering this and other venting issues in next months broadcast of coal cast.

Coalcast Ep9: "Venting, Dampers and Flue Pipe" - November 5th, 2009

Thanks Richard...

The stove I have has an internal damper. It is not on the flue. I guess if there was a problem my CO detectors would go off. My gaskets are all good...

-Bob

The thread you were reading was referring to manual pipe dampers which effectively restrict the flue. The damper in the Vermont Castings does not restrict the flue, but rather acts to direct the exhaust path within the stove.
With the flew closed the exhaust exits the ports on the top of the sides, flows down between the inner and outer case of the stove, wraps around the back, then up and out.
The open position, as you can see through the top load door, allows the exhaust to flow straight out.
Some run the stove with the damper open on warm spring days letting most of the heat go up the chimney, when they don't want to let the stove to go out, for the cold night to follow, but don't want the stove to retain and radiate all the heat during the warm day. Warning be careful when ruining the stove with the damper open, as this helps create a stronger draft and could result in running the coal bed too hot, if the right combination of inlet air is not also monitored.
I once forgot to close the damper on a VC Defient wood burner and had a red hot stove pipe and a chimney fire in short order.

Learning curve...
kinda like kids...
In the begining every thing is a 911 call...
By the third kid it's more like...
Let's see what we got here.

OOO chimney fire...Not good.

Especially if you have a volunteer fire dept...I used to be on one but I also was on a paid professional one too. You run a significantly bigger risk of getting a cracked chimney and a huge mess in your house from a glory seeking volunteer that doesnt know what hes doing than a guy that has gone to a million chimney fires (and whos carreer isnt the executive chef at corner house of pizza).

I eventually quit the volunteer squad because they were pretty much all the glory seekers and they didnt want to hear anything the guy with the college degree in fire science has to say not to mention I thought they were going to kill someone someday...

-Bob

No more chimney fires with coal.

As I run my 2310 --- as long as I'm ~ 450F minimum on the griddle and the blue ladies are doing the jig after a fresh hod or so, I damp the internal damper down and head out the door. Either CO detector has never bleeped once.

Manual dampers work under the "right" conditions. My Harman isn't supposed to have one but the draft at my old house would suck a bowling ball up the chimney. I didn't have room to put a barometric one on my setup so a manual one was the only way to go.

At my new house, the draft isn't anywhere near what I was used to so out came the manual and in went the baro and I'm a happy guy!

BingeBob wrote: So whats the deal with the dampers? Are they "good to go" like in the manual or are they trouble and I should call the wife and have her placed in the O2 chamber?

You are good to go As stated above the VC internal damper only changes length of the hot air path inside of the stove. With the damper open exhaust goes directly up the chimney, giving you maximum draft. with the damper closed your hot gasses exit the upper right inner side (part #14) of the firebox and travel between the stove back (47) and upper fireback (11). The longer path allows the stove to extract more heat before exiting into the chimney. The draft is not as strong with the damper closed. Stay warm, have fun.

I was reading over the manual and came across this:

Because of the draft requirements of our stoves, we do
not recommend the use of an in-flue damper. Not only
is this an unnecessary restriction in the flue, but it is an
additional surface directly in the path of the flue gases
upon which deposits can form, creating a potential hazard.
Combustion air entering your Vigilant Coal stove
is controlled effectively by the thermostat, so no flue
damper is required.

That should answer the manual damper questions.