Burning cedar in a wall tent... bad idea

[Marc]

I'm fairly new to having a wall tent and wood stove to boot. Well over the thanks giving weekend I decided to put it to the test. We spent 6 nights up in the mountains on the island and the temp droped to about zero in the night time. The tent was cozy but on the last day for some reason the smoke was coming through the pipes at the seams and it took me a while to figure out why. At first I thought that the pipe must have expanded and shrunk causing space for the smoke to come in but upon inspection of the rain guard it became quite clear what happened. The oil from the cedar and th ash had totaly covered the chicken wire. Crystalized and totaly blocked off the half inch square holes in the pipe.:shock: You can also see where the oil from the cedar ran down the stove pipe as well. I'm going to have to get the power sprayer out and do all the pipe work as the last thing I want is a fire in the stove pipe.

And before anyone asks I didn't bring the ladder:|. Not sure why someoene would bring a ladder to the forest but it's there now.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/chiminey_set_up.jpg

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/blocked_rain_guard.jpg

[tomahawk]

I guess a rain cap is a "nice to have" (although it caused a problem for you I've never experienced in over 20 yrs of use) but I've never used one and no problems with many weeks use of exposed pipe in pouring rain.

[K-1]

By the way your pikes look you have them put together backwards. That's why the creosote is running out the seam . Get rid of the top cap, because your fire isn't hot enough to burn the tar off.

[Marc]

I thought I had the pipe backwards but with the rain guard that's the only way it will fit. The cedar didn't give off much heat and when we noticed the problem we switched over to burning fir witch seemed to burn a lot hotter / longer. Being new to the wood stove I figured having the rain cap would be a good thing but I may leave it at home next time.

[Shooter]

just cut the wire out of the raincap.

[gameslayer]

We have had the same type of thing happen burning dead pine and green oak when it is sub Zero. No cap like you had but large 3 inch piles of oily build up on the ground beside the pipe and running down the side. If we had wire like yours it would be definiatly be in the same boat. I bet the ladder came in handy though :-P

[Spokerider]

Creosote is condensing on the inside of the chimney, where it is significantly cooler than the gasses, and thus the consendate.

Hotter fire, removing the screen to increase speed of gasses out of the chimney, burning dry wood should help with the creosote build up.

Having the pipe joints the other way [ so creosote stays inside the flue ] will help with the mess as K1 suggested. Not hard to change rain cap diameter to fit inside the stove pipe. Cut a slit in the collar to make it a smaller diameter. Use a couple / three sheet metal screws to secure in the end of the stove pipe.

[Jagermeister]

When you first light the fire, get a good one burning so the pipes get quite hot. This will burn the residual creosote that happened when the last fire was dampered down. A hot stove pipe will lessen the amount of creosote build up. It's not a bad idea to open the dampers up and get the fire roaring just before you damper the stove when you retire for the night.

[ape]

The same thing will happen with pine as well. I took my rain gaurd off after the first year as I found this happening. If you must have it on just go out every few days and with a long stick give the gaurd a few raps and all of that dried creosote will fall off and into the pipe and or fire. Even without a cap I still give the stove pipes a few raps every few days as I find my stove to be dampered down alot.

[cndnmike]

I may get corrected here however in addition to the other suggestions you may also consider adding length the pipe so that the chimney rises well above the highest point of your structure...in this case the tent.

I build the occasional BBQ pit / smoker and in researching proper draft and exhaust techniques learned that the chimney must rise higher than the structure to create the proper "draft" or exhaust...just a thought, although I 100percent agree your situation was caused by the wood type and realative seasoning of the wood you used.

[troutseeker]

Like said before, get rid of the wire (and maybe the cap too). Our pipe goes straight out in the sky and we've never had an issue.

[bcsteve]

I use a "T" on mine. Doesn't get plugged but allows protection from rain and downdraft. Works perfectly!

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg186/bcsteve/IMG_0594.jpg

[Marc]

I've got it figured out now, we had an area where someone was making shake blocks and had some nice chunks of wood that wasn't good enough for making shake so it was an easy available stock of fire wood. But after a couple of cool nights and having to stoke the fire quite often I decided to go look for some fir which made a big difference in heat and burn time. I might just flash the stove in the back yard and see if it will burn off without overheating the stove to the point of warping.

[BlacktailStalker]

Thats a good idea bc steve...
Yeah in angled chimneys cedar is bad news.
I like a straight chimney myself, no rain cap, less chance of problems.

Old growth fir is the best thing you can burn in your stove, emits the most heat and longest burn time.
Green birch will burn all night in an air tight stove too, its nice if you get your tent to the temp you want, go to bed with the green birch on the coals, and you'll still have a bit of heat through the night (if you dont like getting up like me) and plenty of coal to flash the fire up in the a.m.

[Monashee]

Geez that is one heck of a lot of creosote build up . With wood that wet what did you use to get it going , blowtorch , gallon of kerosene or thermite ?

[Marc]

Geez that is one heck of a lot of creosote build up . With wood that wet what did you use to get it going , blowtorch , gallon of kerosene or thermite ?

That's the thing it wasn't wet and easy to start. There is a lot of oil in cedar causing the buildup I guess. I was dampening it trying to make it last a bit longer. I'll know better next time around.

Marc.

[M.Dean]

I think the trick to avoid the creosote problem with any stove is your wood. When you cut wood for the camp or at home the key is pick the driest wood you can and keep it dry. If you find some good dry wood cut lots, stack it back at camp and cover it, your wood should be kept as dry as your boots and jacket! Using good dry wood and letting your fire roar a bit in the morning and at night your problems should go up in Smoke!

[J_T]

I know you will probably use the set up on the wet coast for the most part so I appreciate the need for a rain cap. My recommendation would be to dump the rain cap and tip your pipe to a 45 degree exist angle. If soot and water drainage is a possibility, drill a 1/2 inch hole on the underside of the pipe at the bend outside the tent.

[cdub]

we have had issues like that when in cool interior weather. Usually when we burn pine and the temps are below zero. If the fire is hot it wont happen but overnight the creosote would rin back into the tent. We drilled a drain hole in the bottom elbow to drain and when we clean up camp a tiger torch cleans all the pipes up.

[gameslayer]

I like the idea of cleaning the pipe up with the torch. changing the angle out to 45 degree's could cause you some greif if the wind blows the wrong way on you late at night when the fire is dying down and everyone is passed out. I have woke up around 3:00 am and our tent is smoked out because the pipe was not going straight up, kinda of scary thing to wake up to, bad scene. Changed it back to straight up and never had that problem again.

[Mr. Friendly]

I just spent $1500 on a 12x14 from North West Shelters and was right pissed to find out we should have stoked a fire with the stove fully setup before hand as the next morning, paint, that melted and boiled over had rolled down the chimney pipe and down over the white canvas where it pooled up at a seam and then dripped over and down the sides.

too late to do anything about it now, and not worth getting upset over...just some battle scars have appeared on it much sooner then I had hoped. everything else worked out awesome though!

does lead me to a question...we had the stove put on the left just inside the door. makes it awkwared to cover the tent with a tarp. for those of you with a similar stove layout, what did you do to ensure your tent is fully covered and yet can vent the smoke/heat easily and readily? we're thinking of getting some form of collar that we'll fit over a whole cut into the poly-tarp I bought (20x30ft) so we can get it to fit nicely and not melt anything.