Sulfer Smell / CO on Windy Days Only

Fired up the stove (Keystoker 90/105) last weekend, and that lasted about a day before the wind kicked up, and I was reminded why I sometimes hate my coal stove.

Only when the wind is relatively strong (>20 mph or so), and out of the north (vent pipe is on the north face of the roof) do we have this problem. I don't know why the wind doesn't tend to draw the fumes away vs. cramming them right back down the pipe, but that's what it does. Is there anything I can do to fix this? It only happens a handful of times a year, but when it does it stinks, literally and figuratively.

I thought about mounting some kind of shield or screen in front of the north side of the vent, but I don't know if that would even help.

Not sure if adding another section of vent pipe (it comes in approx. 3 foot sections) would buy me anything.

A direct vent/ power vent option I guess would be by last resort.

Anything else I can do to minimize/eliminate this issue on windy days?

Thanks

It sounds like the chimney is not higher than the roof peak, and the wind is causing a down draft. If you can, post a picture of the chimney & roof.

See the link below. I have a similar rotating chimney cap made by an amish metal worker. It may help your draft.

http://www.comfortgurus.com/en/galvanized-wind-ca ... wdc12.html

Understand you're looking for a solution...but lets also understand if there may be other contributions making the problem.

As RobR ask, can you show a picture?

Many factors can lead to what you describe. Tall trees w/ high winds can cause turbulences affecting chimney draft.

The building itself, by construction methods, can affect pressures inside the building shell, which in turn affects chimny draft.

Are you using a barometric damper and or a manometer to control and understand better the flucuation that wind plays w/ your stove?

My vent pipe is definitely below the peak of the 1st floor roof, and is also below the eve of the 2nd floor roof. The stove location is not going to be changing without re-designing the entire house, so I'm kind of stuck with making my existing situation better, or going with a direct vent. I do have a barometric damper, and oddly when the house did stink last weekend, that flapper was not actuating, but it does move freely when I move it by hand.
I think I'll buy one of those swiveling chimney cap to see if that helps. I'll also replace my inside piping and make sure to cement up all of the piping after I replace it. I'm a little suspicious now that I think back on my damper not working, that the smell could have been coming through my poorly sealed interior piping, or around my door gasket, which I'll probably also replace while I'm at it. If non of that helps then maybe a direct vent will be in order.

Carbon Monoxide is a odorless gas but it can travel w/ the sulfur smelling gas.

Please do operate good working CO detector/alarms for you and your family's safety.

I had this problem constantly with my hand fired. I was having a meltdown thinking about all the time and money this problem was going to cost me .....

Then, I installed a simple, static chimney cap. Problem solved.

Now that I've switched to a stoker boiler starting last year, the problem has come back .... but that's due to my connector pipe setup. Had no other choice to install the boiler. I've found that restricting combustion air a bit will eliminate the CO issue, without having unburnt coal in the ash. Got lucky that I just have a bit too much airflow, but a perfect amount of feed.