04 Oct Stubborn stoves that will not get going?
If you have read my section on down draught problems, you would have seen I spoke about a quick test you could do to check if your stove has draught problems.
If your match was blowing away from the appliance this is often an indicator it’s struggling to draught properly. There are many variables and reasons why this might be happening, but without personally seeing your appliance myself I couldn’t give you a specific reason why. However, I can suggest a couple of universal tips which might aid your cause and get that stubborn stove burning!
Tip 1: Candles
Before use of your appliance try pre-warming. If you have tea light candles or any candle for that matter, place them inside your appliance and light. Ensure the door is shut, crack the primary and secondary controllers to your appliance and leave the candles for at least 15-20 minutes. This allows enough time for the radiant heat to warm up the stove and flue pipe. Thus, pushing out cold air and allowing a positive flow of warm air up the chimney to the cowl. This may clear your down draught problem.
To check if it worked, refer to the lighter or match trick. Fingers crossed your flame should be blowing towards the appliance!
Tip 2: Environmental factors
Is your chimney pot being over shadowed by taller trees or hedges? You may be suffering from high pressure zone downdraught.
This is caused by a prevailing wind traveling over taller objects such as trees, hedge rows or even a house with a taller ridge to the chimney. A zone of high pressure has been created at the chimney terminal and is overcoming the natural up draught you should get.
What can you do about it? Well, is it possible to cut back some of the taller trees near to your property? This will improve the wind travel over the top of your pot. Do you have taller buildings than the chimney stack & pot? Well, you can consider only two options. Either extend the length of your chimney stack and pot past the pressure zone height or install a chimney fan, which will mechanically produce enough draught and defeat your high-pressure zone problem.
