Wall tent wood stove issues.

[Grinder]

Just wondering if anybody else has issues with their deluxe wall tent stove. We have a barrel stove from deluxe and it smokes like a ******* and won't damper down to keep the fire going all night. It seems it either burns to hot and then when you try and damper it down it chokes itself out. We have our pipe with 2 ninety degree bends in it. Thinking maybe if we go to 2 45's it might help with the stove pipe not plugging up as well. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Elkaholic]

Ive experienced those issues when I did not have enough pipe coming out of my stove, it needed more draw is how it was explained to me. I am not sure if that's your issue but we added more pipe and it really helped our setup.

[bc8x8]

I have a barrel stove too, I use a 45 in the pipe but do get a fair amount of creosite when its dampered down. I'm thinking of putting a damper in the pipe so that I don't have to damper the stove down as much as still maintain some airflow.

[digger dogger]

I have a brace made of rebar, adjustable, with a cradle, I put a slight angle on the stove pipe with the brace.
I had the same issue with my stove, after i put the slight angle, I have no more choking issues.

[sakohunter]

As stated in an earlier post a damper in the stove pipe may be necessary. I also have had to adjust the stove damper as it was not drawing enough air. You will normally get some creosote in the stove pipes but I found that it was easily cleaned out before packing it up.

[Pioneerman]

Just wondering if anybody else has issues with their deluxe wall tent stove. We have a barrel stove from deluxe and it smokes like a ******* and won't damper down to keep the fire going all night. It seems it either burns to hot and then when you try and damper it down it chokes itself out. We have our pipe with 2 ninety degree bends in it. Thinking maybe if we go to 2 45's it might help with the stove pipe not plugging up as well. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I am sure you spoke to our sponsor to ask what might cause this issue first ? They seem very helpful in the past. But my friends have had that problem also with other set ups and solved it with more pipe for better drafting, how much pipe are you using in total ? I will ask them how many feet they needed to clear things up

[Riverratz]

I have the same stove......made by Cylinder Stove.

Two 45 deg. angles works good, with the outside vertical pipe just slightly higher than the center top ridge line of the tent.
Having the top of the pipe below the top ridge line can cause some downdraft down the pipe depending on wind direction.
This won't happen if the pipe is high enough.
Support the pipe outside with some crossed (X) adjustable sliding steel tent poles (or some lengths of rebar) and wire.

It's all about the physics. Hot air rises, cool air falls.
Get your paper, kindling, etc. piled up in the stove ready to light, but don't light it yet.
Hold a piece of rolled up burning paper under the chimney opening inside the stove at the back for a few seconds to get warm air moving "up" the pipe.
Then light the kindling.
Keep the door partially open for a minute or so to make sure it gets burning good.
If the chimney is drawing properly, no smoke will come back out of the door opening.
Once it's burning good, shut the door, open damper fully.
Watch it for a few minutes, slowly start to close the door damper as it heats up. Adjust as necessary to keep it "just right".
Start adding larger pieces of wood as it really gets going.

Sounds like a long process but in reality it's only about 5 minutes or so.

Quality of firewood is important, (dead standing), and proper size of the split chunks.
Always start the fire with smaller pieces and keep adding until you have a good bed of coals, about an hour or so, then you can start adding larger chunks.
Putting in pieces that are too big too soon it will smother itself out.
Once it's going properly, we find the stove door damper open about 1/4" seems to always be just right.

When first using it you have to experiment a bit to figure out what works best for you but once you master it there's nothing better.

[Bonz]

havent seen a stove last all night yet either. ours needs stocking every couple hours with the smaller pieces we have to use

[takla1]

^^^^ what riverratz says is good advice,Im a Bricky and have built 100's of fireplaces in my day.Chimney flue size is important to the ratio/size of the firebox but in most cabinwall tent stoves 6'' diam pipe is fine.As mentioned Dry firewood is a must,do not cut wood that's laying on the ground no matter how dry it looks.Dead standing fir/spruce will be bone dry and cutting a few lengths and dragging them back to camp will keep you going/split and stacked out of the weather.
Chimney flue extended ubove the peak height of your tent is recommended for max draw .When starting your stove in the morning preheat the chimney flue with rolled up newspaper that will reverse the flow of cold night air and start the draft.

takla

[Bonz]

and if it has the spark screen, clean it..lol
got us on our first use, forgot about it and got smoked out at 4 am real bad in the snow..wasnt fun...lol couldnt figure out why we lost draw..lol

[Good2bCanadian]

Pack a small plumbers torch for easy light ups on frigid mornings

[wideopenthrottle]

not that it is required, but my group brings a tiger torch head that fits nicely into the front damper for really easy lighting even damp or larger wood... As a trained boyscout I always go for 1 match (lighter flick) fires...

[Riverratz]

not that it is required, but my group brings a tiger torch head that fits nicely into the front damper for really easy lighting even damp or larger wood... As a trained boyscout I always go for 1 match (lighter flick) fires...

Agreed, and when the torch isn't handy, a splash of kerosene over the kindling gets a quick result, perfectly safe and without any explosion.
When I want a fire I want it NOW, not an hour from now. That goes for camp fires too.
All that spark/tinder/kindling boy scout stuff was fine and good 40 years ago but not anymore.
Younger folks and those starting out should still know all the basics though, just in case.

[takla1]

quote;a splash of kerosene over the kindling gets a quick result, perfectly safe and without any explosion.
When I want a fire I want it NOW, not an hour from now. That goes for camp fires

Thats the nice thing about owning a diesel Pickup,i just flick a switch in the engine bay and catch a bottle of diesel to help a hard starting fire
anywhere in the bush,just make sure you have a coffee cup or bottle always under a seat.

Takla

[hunter1947]

Take your stack above your tend roof give the pipe grade you should be good to go

[swampthing]

I also heard that your stovepipe has to be above your roof? Mine isn't and it works fine tough.

[takla1]

It may draw fine but it will be prone to down drafts.The higher the stack the better the draw and if ubove the ridge line of the tent all the better.In Masonry trade school they teach if the chimney stack is within 10 ft of the roof peak it should be a minimum of 4 ft ubove the peak ideally

takla

[SPILTZ]

We had same problem this year. We ended up giving our pipe a slight angle which greatly helped and then got rid of our spark arrester which was clogged like a hot dam from creosole. We dropped a couple dead standing trees, they burn nice and clean for the most part. And if your ever in a pinch and don't have paper etch, hand sanitizer burns great for starting fires. Just a couple things we learned this year as it was our maiden voyage with a wood stove and wall tent.

[Fixit]

havent seen a stove last all night yet either. ours needs stocking every couple hours with the smaller pieces we have to use

thats why i got a small fisher wood stove, actually air tight when you close the damper. it will go 8 hrs and have some coals left over in the morning

[Bonz]

thats why i got a small fisher wood stove, actually air tight when you close the damper. it will go 8 hrs and have some coals left over in the morning

ours came from the same maker as our tent.wasnt junk. a smaller home one would last maybe. havent seen any tent specific last, their to small to hold that amount of wood in my view, to be honest i expected a bit longer for a 500 buck stove

[Walksalot]

I welded up a stove last winter for my wall tent. I incorporated a grate with an amber saver screen which raised the fire just above the air draft control. The exit hole for the pipe is 6 ft high and the upright outside pipe is above the top of the tent. Also I incorporated a "t" just before the outside upright and pointed the T end down. I fastened a cap with a hole drilled in it to catch the condensation and have it drip out so it doesn't drip down the back of the tent. Using solid dry wood it easily lasts all night with plenty of coals the next morning. Correct amount of stove pipe is key and may very well differ from one stove to another. I experimented with mine last spring to get the right combination. We were in some pretty blustery conditions and the stove never smoked.

[srupp]

Please be careful...last year a father son team almost lost their lives when the stove did something wrong? I'm not knowledgeable on them..just be careful.
Srupp

[Salty]

That's why I don't like dampers. CO2 sensors probably a good investment if dampers are in use.

[Budman]

For starting the fire we had a mixture of kerosene and oil works great. To stop the fire from burning so fast we had to put a damper in the stovepipe like others have suggested here.

[hunter1947]

If you had to put a damper in the pip to stop the fire from burning to hi your wood burner is not shutting the air flow to the stove ,,meaning not airtight

I had a problem with draft on my wood burner how I corrected this problem I put a draft hole on the bottom 3 inches up in front of the stove made the draft
hole that I could close it off or open it up gradually..

I used a 3 inch black iron cap wielded on a 3/8 bolt in the middle and a nut in the center of 6 holes drilled inside the 3 inch circle where the nut is..

[hoochie]

This was our first year in a wall tent, and I had to get up every few hours to add wood. I had read others say theirs go all night... I could not do this. I tried stuffing it with smaller pieces, adding larger pieces I had not split. I tried different wood. Ours has a damper in the first section of pipe, then hits a 90'.. then exits the side of the tent and goes to about the ridge line.
If I had the damper closed all the way down, the creosote would clog the spark arrester. By the 3rd night I had to tap along the pipes and knock all the junk off the inside. I awoke one night and could see glowing from the stove and the pipe.

The amount of air flow going in to the stove was our best way to control temperature, but did little to extend the length of burn for more than 2-3 hrs.
I accepted this as being the way it has to be... Ive never lit a camp fire and had it burn for hours without adding wood.
Each night I would bring in a pile of wood so I didnt have to leave the tent in the middle of the night to go to the wood pile.
I would keep a pile of kindling to I could quickly get the fire going again if I didnt have any coals left. I used a propane torch used for soldering. It works great.

[Dannybuoy]

This was our first year in a wall tent, and I had to get up every few hours to add wood. I had read others say theirs go all night... I could not do this. I tried stuffing it with smaller pieces, adding larger pieces I had not split. I tried different wood. Ours has a damper in the first section of pipe, then hits a 90'.. then exits the side of the tent and goes to about the ridge line.
If I had the damper closed all the way down, the creosote would clog the spark arrester. By the 3rd night I had to tap along the pipes and knock all the junk off the inside. I awoke one night and could see glowing from the stove and the pipe.

The amount of air flow going in to the stove was our best way to control temperature, but did little to extend the length of burn for more than 2-3 hrs.
I accepted this as being the way it has to be... Ive never lit a camp fire and had it burn for hours without adding wood.
Each night I would bring in a pile of wood so I didnt have to leave the tent in the middle of the night to go to the wood pile.
I would keep a pile of kindling to I could quickly get the fire going again if I didnt have any coals left. I used a propane torch used for soldering. It works great.

You need to burn seasoned (dry) wood ... probably still wont get all night but at least you wont get creosote build-up . Find some dead fir/larch if you can.

[Salty]

Back in the 60s and probably in to the 70s pot belly tin stoves were popular. They are long since outlawed because they used a damper. As H 47 says the only way to have a fire last is by controlling the incoming air not the outgoing smoke. btw the nick name for those cheap stoves was hippy killers because a lot of the back to the landers bought them and tried to make the fire last in their cabins by using the dampers it was very common for smoke and the silent killer CO2 to back up and kill people in the cabin by asphyxiation. Food for thought. Personally I don't care to have anything to do with dampers its a miserable situation that won't work and its dangerous.

[guest]

We have a barrel type, from North west shelters, beauty to a stove. 23 inch model for a 12x14 main, but is fully capable of heating the entire tent with the 8 foot kitchen added on.

The intake damper can shut things right down. And is the best way to make your stove perform. We also have a outlet damper on the straight up piece of 18" that we can also use, then it's a 45 or a 90 out and up, above the peak, depending on location. The Draw, or initial lighting, is I portent for draft. The 18" straight piece helps with this. Start it slow as mentioned, then, build ER up. Either install a small grate in the bottom, or build a shallow bed of road gravel and level off in the bottom. Keeps a ton of heat in and not lost through bottom of the stove. We also use a deflective shroud behind the stove so you can move the stove closer to the walls, and the heat reflector is great.

You our only need to get up once or twice to load up again, depending on how warm you want to be. Secret is burn, well dried, standing dead wood as mentioned. Green wood is just bad for low heat value, and creosote build up.

You our should be able to dampen the intake to the point of killing the fire, if not, try to achieve this. It will certainly help.

ct

[hunter1947]

Short and sweet have grad on all meaning uphill slightly have lots of airflow in the front ,have the stove so you can close the air from
entering the firebox,stack above the roof peak all will work good..

[Wood butcher]

I have the same style stove in my tent. The wood is key. It does not matter how great your set up is, if your wood is wet garbage.
H47 gives some good advice.
I put some grade on the stove too. If you have the largest model cylinder stove its easy to build your fire in the front. Make a point of building your fire farther back into the stove as well.
I have shortened one of the stove pipes as they all came the same length. Using a little shorter pipe off the top of the stove makes getting more grade for the pipe easier.
I've never used the pipe damper or a spark arrestor, however its usually pretty wet where I am.

[hoochie]

I've never used the pipe damper or a spark arrestor, however its usually pretty wet where I am.

I use it because I am worried about a hot ember coming down on my roof and burning a hole

[guest]

I purchased a spark arrester for mine, but took it back before I used it as many folks warned of it getting filled up, more of a problem then what they are worth, many use either a T at the top, I just used another 45. No problems so far.

[Bonz]

i wont use ours anymore. that was a nasty night, couldnt even see across the tent it got so smokey so quick while we slept.
ive watched my embers as they floated back down and their usualy cool enough by time they hit the tent to not burn holes,..so far anyways...lol
i was more concerned of them hitting trees above and starting a fire there.

[Ryo]

I'm not an expert on the subject, so I refer to Ole Wik's Woodstove book. The whole thing is worth reading, but you can skip ahead to page 37 for tips on basic use.

http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/JF/425/20-461%20-%20Wood%20Stoves%20-%20Ole%20Wik%202.pdf

[Bonz]

dam, i like that inline oven idea, so obvious and didnt even think about that, winter project...lol

[sakohunter]

The cast iron damper that i use in my pipe is not a complete seal in the pipe, and gas can draft around it. Also the stove door and damper are not a 100% seal so indraft occurs. So my question is. In a wall tent how will CO2 build up in a breathable fabric tent, with doors and possibly windows. Would there not be enough air movement both in and out to keep CO2 from being a problem. My kids will be coming hunting next fall so I would like to better understand this potential problem.

Cheers

[Bonz]

ive used heater buddies and similar in tiny tents, people always tell me im gonna die. tents are far from sealed for that to happen. the doors dont seal at all. the mesh screen wont stop air flow. slows it, but im sure that doorway alone is plenty to not have the issue of co2 build up, and it does take a fair bit actualy to harm.,and long exposure
greenhouse guys run up to 1500 ppm and work in that, their fine. air is about 450ppm. so thats 3x the level, and does nothing to you

[Bonz]

co2 is heavier than air. it will drop to the floor in a tent. leave a flap up a tiny bit on door at the floor for air flow a few inches?

[sakohunter]

Thanks you, that is my understanding and practice.

[Dannybuoy]

co2 is heavier than air. it will drop to the floor in a tent. leave a flap up a tiny bit on door at the floor for air flow a few inches?

We always leave the last foot or so of the door unzipped ...its always been more than warm enough and we've camped down to -18 or so

[Bonz]

can actualy help with the fresh oxygen needed to burn. im sure overnight that depletes faster than is replaced with a fire, could be an small cause of not burning right by end of a night maybe to.

[albravo2]

Thats the nice thing about owning a diesel Pickup,i just flick a switch in the engine bay and catch a bottle of diesel.

Takla

Takla, that is brilliant. How/where did you rig that? Is it gravity feed or do you need to turn the fuel pump on?

[klondikemike]

Actually its co not co2 that you have to worry about. Co is actually lighter than air but just slightly. Co2 is what we breath out. A small battery operated co monitor should help you sleep sounder but I think id be more worried about the smoke and heat from the wood stove catching the tent on fire so I'd first have a smoke heat detector.

[mikeman20]

40lb bag of hardwood pellets is 5.99 at Cambodian tire, it makes for great coals and keeps the fire warm all night. You need to have normal logs s well, because the pellets firm such a thick layer it's impossible to get them going without a few stacked logs.

40lb bag lasts me 4 days with lots of use, I use about 1/3 the firewood now thanks to the pellets and have a stove that stays warmer longer

[Bonz]

Actually its co not co2 that you have to worry about. Co is actually lighter than air but just slightly. Co2 is what we breath out. A small battery operated co monitor should help you sleep sounder but I think id be more worried about the smoke and heat from the wood stove catching the tent on fire so I'd first have a smoke heat detector.

co2 isnt lighter than air, it weighs 44gram per mole. oxygen is only 32. so it sinks in air, its denser
yes it is what we breath and all around at...at 450ppm. and adding to much can and has killed people. it need extreme ppm to do that though, like i said. greenhouse gardens run at 1500ppm. takes a fair bit to do harm
carbon monoxide is the one thats deadlier

[Bonz]

dried cow shit. burns great and supose to give off good heat

[Jack Russell]

40lb bag of hardwood pellets is 5.99 at Cambodian tire, it makes for great coals and keeps the fire warm all night. You need to have normal logs s well, because the pellets firm such a thick layer it's impossible to get them going without a few stacked logs.

40lb bag lasts me 4 days with lots of use, I use about 1/3 the firewood now thanks to the pellets and have a stove that stays warmer longer

Now there is some good advice! I will be sure to bring a bag or two - you can't beat the price for some heat. Thanks for that Mikeman!

[Salty]

co2 isnt lighter than air, it weighs 44gram per mole. oxygen is only 32. so it sinks in air, its denser
yes it is what we breath and all around at...at 450ppm. and adding to much can and has killed people. it need extreme ppm to do that though, like i said. greenhouse gardens run at 1500ppm. takes a fair bit to do harm
carbon monoxide is the one thats deadlier

That's right the air we breath obviously has CO2 in it but when there's not enough oxygen and too much CO2 you die.

[klondikemike]

And i said carbon monoxide is lighter not carbon dioxide which is about one and a half times heavier. What kind of wall tent do you guys have that would seal off all the air from entering into it that wouldn't let it become oxygen deficient?

[Bonz]

That's right the air we breath obviously has CO2 in it but when there's not enough oxygen and too much CO2 you die.

ya. not sure the point though. takes a whole lot to do harm. im not hearing of anyone dying using stoves, not in an amount thats a hi concern. usualy out of stupidity if any
all i was getting at there is its not lighter than air as was said, hits the floor. pretty hard to get sick or die from co2, carbon dioxide way easier

[Bonz]

And i said carbon monoxide is lighter not carbon dioxide which is about one and a half times heavier. What kind of wall tent do you guys have that would seal off all the air from entering into it that wouldn't let it become oxygen deficient?

it said co2..thats carbon dioxide., not mono, thats just co....singular

[Bonz]

right...lol, missread that. sory

[Salty]

ya. not sure the point though. takes a whole lot to do harm. im not hearing of anyone dying using stoves,

I guess you missed post # 22

[Salty]

double post..

[backstrap]

I have one of the deluxe stoves as well and had the same problem.... now it works great. I now have one length of 5" (approx 30") straight up out of the stove in to a a 90 pointing through the wall. Another length straight out the wall to another 90 that points straight up. I use an aluminum bar rod holder and some tie wire to hold it all up. Then one more length of 5" straight up in to a 5"-6" reducer (obviously upside down) then a length of 6" with a homemade chimney cap. That puts it above the top of the tent like everybody else said, (thats good rule of thumb). The 5"-6" change in flue size created a good draw for the stove, you can see the ashes start to fly when you open the air vent on the front of the stove. As for making it last longer, using a standing dead fall for firewood really helps (as per previous). Also, I grab a stick or something and cut it to about 2" less than the inside length of the stove. I then use the stick to measure the lengths of the firewood we cut, definitley longer than "normal" firewood. Just gotta hit em when you split it! When you load the stove for the night make sure you rake the coals flat and then jam in two rounds (not split) and as big as you can fit 7"-9" i'd guess. Usually takes a night or two to get the air vent dialled in but once you do it lasts a long time. If its cold I still set a 3am alarm to stoke it up though. I also have an "eco fan" to put on top of the stove. Makes the whole tent warm instead of just right around the stove and really speeds up drying things out. It runs off the heat of the stove itself, bit of a pricy item but worth every penny!