# Flue Damper Location for Wood Stove



## NJ Rich

I wasn't sure where to post this but thought there maybe many HT members who have tents with wood stoves or experience with their homes wood stoves that may answer this inquiry.

I was looking at Dave Canterbury's Yurt Series on You Tube. Dave is one half of Duel Survival. He has a Survival School in Ohio and many videos on You Tube.

He shows living in a Yurt for 40 plus days and the daily activities and teaching of subjects from there. I noticed the Yurt's (tent) wood stove has a damper at the bottom of the first flue pipe. I heard him say he has had a lot of problems getting the flue damper adjusted.

I believe the damper should be at the bottom area of the second flue pipe above the stove thereby letting heated air accumulate and cause a better draft.

Another problem he has is there is no dome over the Yurt's large roof opening and the flue pipe doesn't appear to reach very far above the top of the yurt. I believe the Yurt was donated to the school and maybe they didn't provide a dome or stove jack for the yurt. I know from watching the videos he wanted a yurt he could dismantle and pack onto a small tow behind trailer and move it to another location.

I was in charge of erecting two large yurts manufactured by Pacific Yurts at a Girl Scout Camp. They were much larger than the one on Dave's site and were erected on wood platforms and had two doors to comply with Fire and Building Codes.. They had insulating inner wall and roof materials on the inside between the lattice work walls, roof rafters and the exterior wall and roof materials. 

Back to the question of damper loaction whether in a tent or on a homes wood stove. A yurt would make a good Bug Out Shelter but the flue location may insure you have better draft control and you don't have smoke and carbon monoxide accumulating in the yurt or tent. 

Any comments that maybe helpful. Thanks, NJ Rich


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## mpillow

if your hole for pipe is on the top of your stove....you have a straight section of pipe then the elbow to go into chimney in a home.....that first straight section about halfway is where mine is on all 3 wood stoves....including the cookstove that is out the backside of the stove...straight metal-bestos...its about halway up the first straight section of stove stack....HTH


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## Cabin Fever

I have never had a stove pipe damper in any of the woodstoves I have used throughout the years. It is my understanding that modern airtight woodstoves do not require a stovepipe damper.


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## mpillow

Cabin Fever said:


> I have never had a stove pipe damper in any of the woodstoves I have used throughout the years. It is my understanding that modern airtight woodstoves do not require a stovepipe damper.


I believe that's true.....my husband insists that it is precautionary in the case of the door damper getting stuck and you get too much flow (burning trash is mostly when it happens) that could cause a chimney fire.....you can choke it from that location as well as the door....

I use both still....out of habit....plus I think you can control the kind of heat you need better....using both.....with the door damper open wide and the stack damper half closed the heat output into the room is tremendous....compared to both wide open once the chimney has warmed enough to draw well....I'm sure it varies by your setup and stove type....


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## goatlady

The height of the stove pipe above the roof line has almost everything to do with having a good draw. Not high enough = terrible draw no matter how you manipulate that damper.


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## ET1 SS

goatlady said:


> The height of the stove pipe above the roof line has almost everything to do with having a good draw. Not high enough = terrible draw no matter how you manipulate that damper.


I agree.

The stove-pipe needs to be above the peak of the roof, so any breeze will pull [due to venturi physics]

Also dampers are not 100%, there are leaks around them.


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## mpillow

at our cabin in mid winter we have to leave the camp door(to the outside) open until the fire warms the chimney (metal-bestos)....its well above the peak....but we dont close the damper at all when first lighting--- if--- anything we leave the door on the stove cracked even....the smoke stays low in zero to minus F temps and backs up into the camp without the front door open...just the first 5 minutes of the fire...then it goes fine and the door to the outside is shut....
Not a problem at warmer temps....


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## Bearfootfarm

> I use both still....out of habit....plus I think *you can control the kind of heat you need better....using both*.....*with the door damper open wide and the stack damper half closed the heat output into the room is tremendous*....compared to both wide open once the chimney has warmed enough to draw well....I'm sure it varies by your setup and stove type....


I had the same results with my old Fisher Grandpa Bear.

Having 2 dampers lets you fine tune the burn rate much better<!-- / message -->


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## Cabin Fever

Dampers - whether intake dampers or exhaust dampers - regulate the burn rate of the woodstove. In the old days, when woodstoves were leaky and not airtight, the burn rate was regulated by exhaust dampers. Today, most modern woodstoves are airtight and the burn rate is regulated by intake dampers. IMHO, exhaust dampers are unnecessary with modern woodstoves. I believe if you review the installation manual of most - if not all - new woodstoves, there is no mention of the need for a stovepipe damper. Even my Fisher Stove manual from the early 1980s makes no mention of a stovepipe damper.

I suppose one could make an analogy with old diesel semi engines. The speed of the engine could be regulated with intake air via the carberator or by a jake brake on the exhaust system. Either system can control the speed/combustion of the engine.


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## oregon woodsmok

I prefer to have the stovepipe damper and I use both the intake damper and the stove pipe damper.

I had to get up and go and look. The stovepipe damper is right down near the stove. This is one of the best stoves I've ever used. It draws beautifully, light easily, easy to regulate, never back drafts. So, apparently it hasn't hurt it a bit to have the stovepipe damper set low.


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## 7thswan

I've owned quite a few stoves.
I prefer stoves with no elbows,they are a week spot compared with a stove where the pipe goes straight out the top. Creosote always accumulates in the elbow,as it burns and falls and settles in the elbow,creating a nice place(bad,bad) for it to burn once it builds up.
I always put in a damper,the height is above the stove far enough that I have to reach up over the stove, at about 6'. Having a damper can help if one needs to shut down the stove right now. We do a daily burn in our stoves each morning and if you don't you'll hear the tinkling of the thin creosote falling as it burns. You sure don't want to hear a roar.
Cooking on a wood burning cook stove with 2 dampers(one in the pipe and 1 to direct the exhaust around the oven) and a side air damper,door damper and the cooking surface air leakage,one learns the ability to control the fire pretty well. I've applied this to using wood stoves also.


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