Why stove pipe damper AND adjustable vent in tent stove?

[Mike Islander]

I picked up a Seek Outside large U-Turn tent stove recently. Works fantastic. I broke it in with a few nice little oak fires. It came with a stove pipe damper, but it also has an adjustable vent at the bottom of the front door. My question is, how do I balance the settings for the damper and the vent? It seems that you can't get more air through either one, so why do we have both?

Sorry about being so clueless about this. Haven't found a good tutorial.

 

[KineKilla]

I've been using a wood burning tent stove for years. I rarely, if ever, use the pipe damper. I control burn rate by using the air intake dampers on the front of the door. You can close the chimney damper some to help slow the rate at which you lose heat up the chimney but dampening off the air from the front seems to do the same thing.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in and provide some knowledge.

 

[Bighorner]

In my experience once I good bed of coals has been built i will put in bigger fuel for a longer burn. I will shut the vent and then close the dampener to the point I get smoke coming from the around the door or pipe, then back it off just a hair. The cylinder stove I have it great, but it's far from air tight ( as expected). Regulating the air flow with both helps to keep the burn a little slower once you are up and going.

 

[wytx]

The pipe damper holds in the heat to the stove, the door damper controls the rate of burn . A slower burn with a pipe dampened down will keep coals and heat in your stove all night.
You will get more creosote build up in the pipe and spark arrestor with the stove dampened down.
We will dampen down the pipe only about a quarter turn and the door nearly closed for night time fire. Depends on your stove though as to how much to dampen to keep the coals burning or smoldering overnight.

 

[DAOutfitters208]

The pipe damper holds in the heat to the stove, the door damper controls the rate of burn . A slower burn with a pipe dampened down will keep coals and heat in your stove all night.
You will get more creosote build up in the pipe and spark arrestor with the stove dampened down.
We will dampen down the pipe only about a quarter turn and the door nearly closed for night time fire. Depends on your stove though as to how much to dampen to keep the coals burning or smoldering overnight.

This is why.

 

[WCB]

the pipe damper controls heat loss from the stove and possible overdraft issues (maybe too big of a pipe or windy outside) while the intake dampers controls air going into the stove. In my experience getting that thing rockin hot then shutting both down keeps it a lot warmer and coals going longer.

 

[Mike Islander]

In my experience once I good bed of coals has been built i will put in bigger fuel for a longer burn. I will shut the vent and then close the dampener to the point I get smoke coming from the around the door or pipe, then back it off just a hair. The cylinder stove I have it great, but it's far from air tight ( as expected). Regulating the air flow with both helps to keep the burn a little slower once you are up and going.

So the inherent leaks will keep the stove burning even with the vent completely closed and dampener partly closed? The dampener on mine can't close it completely anyways, as part of it is cut out on one half of the flapper.

 

[Bighorner]

If you close everything, atleast on my stove, it will smoke you out. I dont have the the cut on my dampener.

 

[WCB]

So the inherent leaks will keep the stove burning even with the vent completely closed and dampener partly closed? The dampener on mine can't close it completely anyways, as part of it is cut out on one half of the flapper.

Maybe...if the leaks are big enough. You need to find for your stove the best setting... if it is closed too tight fire will go out and most likely will smoke you out. If too "hot" or too much flow the material will burn up quicker and youll go from really hot to cold and need to add material more pften than needed.

 

[Mike Islander]

Great info everyone. I appreciate all your advice. I think I'm getting what each part is meant to do. Vent to control burn; damper to control heat, with some overlap of function between the two.

Seek Outside dampener has about a 3rd of one side cut out, so you can never completely plug the stove pipe. Probably a good thing.

 

[BuckSnort]

Those of you that said they have hot coals all night.... Just wondering what stove you're using?

 

[sneaky]

Those of you that said they have hot coals all night.... Just wondering what stove you're using?

A welded steel one, none of these lightweight titanium take down stoves hold heat all night long. I've got one with a huge firebox on it and it doesn't matter. You can get a couple hours of heat out of one and that's about it. That's why you take an appropriately rated bag or keep feeding the fire all night.

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[Mike Islander]

A welded steel one, none of these lightweight titanium take down stoves hold heat all night long. I've got one with a huge firebox on it and it doesn't matter. You can get a couple hours of heat out of one and that's about it. That's why you take an appropriately rated bag or keep feeding the fire all night.

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Welded steel won't maintain coals any more than the Ti, will it? Do you just mean the steel holds heat longer? Or do you mean that the steel is able to keep enough air out to slow burn the coals all night? In that case it won't provide much heat, but it will make lighting the fire in the morning easier.

 

[BuckSnort]

A welded steel one, none of these lightweight titanium take down stoves hold heat all night long. I've got one with a huge firebox on it and it doesn't matter. You can get a couple hours of heat out of one and that's about it. That's why you take an appropriately rated bag or keep feeding the fire all night.

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Ya my titanium cylinder stove gets maybe 45 minutes tops (soft wood) of heat output ... We have warm bags but I sometimes have to fire it up again in the middle of the night to keep my wife happy when she's with me lol..

 

[Mike Islander]

I'm thinking no matter what you do, if you want all night heat you are going to either stoke the stove every couple hours or do something to store the energy. One thing you can do is heat up rocks. They stay warm for a surprisingly long time, 6-7 hours. By the time they cool you will hopefully be in deep REM sleep in a warm bag and not wake up when the tent cools down. Explosion is supposedly a risk for rock heating, but on top or below a wood stove I would say the risk is extremely small. But please don't take my word for it. Research first. I only know that over 200 camping days I have never blown up a rock I had in the fire.

 

[sneaky]

Welded steel won't maintain coals any more than the Ti, will it? Do you just mean the steel holds heat longer? Or do you mean that the steel is able to keep enough air out to slow burn the coals all night? In that case it won't provide much heat, but it will make lighting the fire in the morning easier.

Welded fire boxes are air tight, easier to control the fire that way. Ti stoves, except for the 4Dog welded one, are usually all or nothing. They're good for what they are designed for. Keeping gear dried out and heating the shelter before you go to sleep and when you wake up in the morning.

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