Ideal flue temperature
- Lightning
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The "visibility" of the water vapor coming from the chimney has to meet the right conditions for it to condense and be seen. These conditions would include temperatures and relative humidity of gases both inside and outside the chimney. Then I assume that as the two mix the dew point is met and a cloud forms.
Seems legit to me lol
Seems legit to me lol
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Or what us layfolk refer to as condensation 🤪
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I would like to think it is just water vapor, but sometimes my smoke is much darker. Can only see it when the temperature is 10 or 20 below zero, and then only for 15 minutes or so after revving the fire with new coal from the hopper after shaking down. I suspect volatiles not being completely burned.
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See Freddy’s thread from four year ago:
And They Say Anthracite Makes No Smoke.
One of the posts from that thread:
… seeing vapor, but I don't think it is WATER vapor. If I shake down the stove in these sub-zero mornings, then immediately take the dog out, I see dark smoke from the chimney and white steam from her poop. Quite a lot of new coal has dropped down from the hopper, but I can’t believe it is wet after sitting in the hopper all night. It is giving off volatiles but the blue flames are not well-established yet and I think they are not burning completely. The smoke is much darker than what I would see if my oil burner were running. After 10 minutes or so there's a roaring blaze in the stove and no visible chimney smoke.
And They Say Anthracite Makes No Smoke.
One of the posts from that thread:
… seeing vapor, but I don't think it is WATER vapor. If I shake down the stove in these sub-zero mornings, then immediately take the dog out, I see dark smoke from the chimney and white steam from her poop. Quite a lot of new coal has dropped down from the hopper, but I can’t believe it is wet after sitting in the hopper all night. It is giving off volatiles but the blue flames are not well-established yet and I think they are not burning completely. The smoke is much darker than what I would see if my oil burner were running. After 10 minutes or so there's a roaring blaze in the stove and no visible chimney smoke.
- Turbogeno
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Just reloaded the Vigilant. White vapor that quickly dissipates. Looks like water vapor this time. Atmospheric conditions sure can change the symptoms.
- VigIIPeaBurner
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T - I too think it's water vapor judging by how it dissipated. Prolly from water in the coal. Sometimes the bucket lids get cocked and a little water/snow melt makes it inside the bucket. The Vigilant is a batch burner. When I fed it, I loaded about 40-50 lbs on top of he previous night's fire, maybe ~8-9 hours after last tending. When I took this picture, I was burning range with the largest being nut.Turbogeno wrote: ↑Sun. Dec. 31, 2017 7:37 amThe way it's dissipating quickly sure makes it look like water vapor. I had the same white smoke the other day on a cold morning after reloading but it drifted slowly for close to 100' before you couldn't see it. Because of that I decided it was smoke. I've never seen anything from the stoker but I would like to see what happens on a cold morning with a high feed rate.
- hotblast1357
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Very dry coal being burnt, pic is right after the combustion fan shut off.
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- Rob R.
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I have never seen any vapor coming from my chimney, but one time the Hitzer had a big puff-back while I was outside dumping the ash. It blew out a mushroom cloud of fly ash from the chimney.
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All rocks and mineral are porous to some degree and there could be water among a bunch of other things. If you have a draft regulator that is open to the house you draw up some of the humidity from the house too.
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I'm curious about the relationship between stack and stove temperature and how it may help to discover the most efficient burning of coal. Here in Pottstown it's 16 degrees and calm winds. My current stack temperature is 38% of stove temperature. Is 33% more or less ideal? Here's my setup:
- Scotty
- Scotty
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Stack to stove temp ratio depends a lot on the stove design, Scotty. Some stoves are better at removing heat before it gets to the stove pipe than others.
And that ratio can be affected by how you are setting your dampers. Some people don't close the MPD enough, preferring instead to do the most heat control with the primary damper. That tends to send more heat up the pipe.
Some stoves designs, like base heaters and base burners, are so good at extracting heat that they can get up to 5-1 ratio of stove to pipe temps.
I don't see any MPD on your stove pipe. Do you have any type of damper for the pipe ?
Paul
And that ratio can be affected by how you are setting your dampers. Some people don't close the MPD enough, preferring instead to do the most heat control with the primary damper. That tends to send more heat up the pipe.
Some stoves designs, like base heaters and base burners, are so good at extracting heat that they can get up to 5-1 ratio of stove to pipe temps.
I don't see any MPD on your stove pipe. Do you have any type of damper for the pipe ?
Paul
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No damper. I'm gonna try that. Might I be able to regulate the fire with primary dampers open to a bit above what might be used based on weather conditions, etc. and then use the MPD? Is that the idea?- Scotty