Issue with chimney vent...

[TommyTongue]

Yesterday I had my first attempt at welding (under supervision of 30 yr expert) and manufactured my chimney vent. Today I installed it and was so excited I decided to light a little fire and test it.......

See pictures of the vent from the outside and the inside. The vent is 9 inch front to back, 21 inch wide with a 6 inch diameter pipe. The oven is 30 inch inside diameter. The chimney at the moment is only 12 inch from base of hood vet to the top. I was going to make it 3 ft (1 meter)

I was very disappointed when a lot of the smoke started to bellow out from the front instead of the chimney. Although a lot was going out of the chimney too.....

Have I made this vent too big???

is it because the actual chimney is still quite short?

because I haven’t finished the arch in front of th oven?

Or all the above or some combination.

Any advice and help before I finalised this build and cant make any changes to the vent and chimney stack.

[JRPizza]

Did smoke stop exiting the front once the oven warmed up a little? Lots of folks start their fires up front close or even under the chimney then push them back once a draw is established. Even a piece of burning news paper under the vent can help.

[TommyTongue]

Did smoke stop exiting the front once the oven warmed up a little? Lots of folks start their fires up front close or even under the chimney then push them back once a draw is established. Even a piece of burning news paper under the vent can help.

Not really only once most of the smoke had died down. When I put some more brickets on and created more smoke it start bellowing out the front again.

[Gulf]

I'm guessing that you are drying your oven. Briquettes need a lot of air to gets started. Try starting the briquettes in a charcoal chimney starter before placing them in the oven. On the same note that JR suggests, place them in the entry to get started. That will help keep the draw pulling the smoke up the chimney where it is supposed to go. Metal cools off fairly quick. You may have to do something like this until you advance to wood fires and then always on the initial startup.

[Gulf]

I'm still very much in to charcoal chimney starters for various uses with the oven. I now only use lump charcoal, but the same tools still work for that. A cheap dollar store 10" pizza pan will help a bunch to keep the entry clean while you are firing the oven. Also, later (the oven floor) if you decide that you need a little boost to a retained heat cook.