Draft Control?

I have a very strong draft in my chimney I am planning on getting a draft gauge to check it. For the last 4 winters I had an Efel Ambassador 420 it had an automatic thermostatically controlled draft this stove was my first experience using coal. I have a regular stove pipe damper in my stove pipe which I always had in the same position except when I started it or I had to open her then I would open the draft all the way. I have never had a problem with my stove and my carbon detector has always been on 0 and I always had a nice blue flame. I had to retire the Efel and now I have a new Alaska Kodiak I am unsure how this stove will be because there is big differences between my Efel and the Kodiak. Everywhere I read on this sight everyone is saying they use the barometric damper. My question is if you have a really strong draft how would this affect the Barometric damper? Still trying to learn as much as possible love my coal heat. I wish before I had the stove brought in I had read this sight it would have been seasoned outside too late now tomorrow will be small fire # 1 to season my grates. I have a partial bag of coal left from last year good thing the coal I got today is streaming wet. I will cut a bag tomorrow and let as much drain out as possible then I will bring it in to finish drying.

The baro will prevent over-drafting,it helps smooth out the wind gust draft increase,great piece to have in use with a strong drafting chimney.

The baro limits total draft to a set point, beyond that you are sending good heat up the chimney.

Does the new Alaska Kodiak have a thermostatic controlled combustion air inlet like the old Efel had?

The Alaska I have has a bi- metal thermostat which I am hoping will be like the Efel. I also had the blower added to this one so to see if it would make a difference blowing the heat away from the stove for better circulation.

Freespirit wrote:My question is if you have a really strong draft how would this affect the Barometric damper?

Do you mean, "How will the barometric damper effect the draft?"
The baro limits the draft to a set negative pressure. By having a steady negative pressure in the stove your heat output will be smoothed out (if you have a manual combustion air control). Also, it will prevent excessive secondary air from carrying heat out the chimney (making the stove more efficient) if your unit has fixed secondary air inlets.

Freespirit wrote:The Alaska I have has a bi- metal thermostat which I am hoping will be like the Efel.

Since you have a bi-metal thermostat, you may not need a baro. If your draft exceeds the recommendation of the manufacturer (which is usually around -.05" of water column as read with a manometer) then you should use some kind of pipe damper.

The manometer is a very valuable instrument for burning coal. They are cheap and easy to install.