Primary Damper for Tulikivi wood stove?
Climate zone 6, Minneapolis.
I had a Tulikivi wood stove installed last week. The double wall stainless steel chimney has not been installed yet. There was no plan for a primary chimney damper. I feel the need to be able to close or reduce the draft when there isn’t a fire going. It would be left completely open when we have a fire going.
The installer, a certified Tulikivi mason, says I don’t need a damper and studies show the surface temperature is only 5 degrees less without a damper. So, if it would be 160 with a damper, then it would be 155 without. He points out that the fire door is sealed, and the intake draft controls are tightly fitted. He also says that Austria and Germany prohibit having a damper.
it’s an important consideration given the long-term commitment to this appliance and the potential loss of heat up the chimney even when it isn’t being used. It would be an additional cost of around $250 which sounds expensive but is a small amount compared to the total investment.
Does anyone have experience related to this or know of a resource that could help with the decision.
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Replies
Jim,
That's an interesting one. Open fireplaces all have dampers, but sealed units, like inserts or wood stoves never do relying, as your installer says, on limiting the combustion air intake.
Our code requires a damper on fireplaces. I thought I remembered a stipulation that if dampers were installed on sealed units that they had to leave 30% of the flue area open, but can't find it in our code. Hopefully someone here knows a lot more about it that me. I'm curious now too