Buck Stove Insert Troubleshooting

Purchasing and installing a Buck Stove fireplace insert will greatly increase your home’s heating efficiency.

Reduced Heating

Check for blockage in your chimney or vents if your Buck Stove fireplace insert is performing improperly. Look up from the fireplace, or down from the roof through the chimney, if your fireplace insert has a straight vent. If your fireplace insert has a vent that bends, perform a smoke test by burning wood in the fireplace insert and checking the chimney crown outdoor for proper smoke ventilation. Have a friend stationed inside to see if smoke from the burning wood stays in the house. If the smoke is ventilating improperly, you have chimney blockage. Get rid of the blockage by tying a heavy rope around a brick, and lowering the brick down the chimney until it meets the obstruction. Clear the obstruction by raising the rope a foot or two, and then letting it fall directly on the obstruction. Repeat until the obstruction has cleared, and then remove it from your Buck Stove fireplace insert.

Correct your wood usage if improper loading techniques or wood choices are reducing the heat coming from your fireplace insert. Wood should be loaded into your fireplace insert so that the length of the wood is reaching from the front of the fireplace to the back, not side to side. Wood may also be too wet to burn properly. Check your firewood by taking two pieces of wood and hitting them against each other. A hollow sound indicates dried wood, while a dull thud indicates wet wood. Check the wood to see if it has a light cream color, which also indicates dryness.

Wood Burning Too Quickly

Check the gaskets and air intakes if you believe that your wood stove is burning wood too quickly. Excess air intake will allow the fire to consume firewood faster. Gaskets on a Buck Stove fireplace insert appear as a rope of fiberglass material inside the insert’s door around the perimeter of the door’s glass window. Use a pair of pliers to remove gaskets from inside the door. Buck Stove offers both door roping and ash bar wicking at their online store; your model of fireplace insert will use one or the other. Install the new gaskets around the fireplace insert window with silicone cement.

Reduce air intake by adjusting the inlet air control on the bottom of the insert. While the fireplace insert is not operating, close the inlet air control slightly by sliding in the outside air rod located on the bottom front of your Buck Stove fireplace insert. Make sure to leave the air inlet partially open; cutting off air intake entirely would prevent the wood from burning.

Backpuffing

Clean your chimney vent if your Buck Stove fireplace insert is beginning to backpuff, or release a smoky discharge into your house. Backpuffing is indicative of a buildup of excess soot and creosote, a yellowish substance created as a byproduct of wood burning, inside of your chimney. Purchase a chimney brush and a brush rod, preferably a flexible rod. Before cleaning, shut and secure the door of your fireplace insert, and wear safety goggles, a dust mask, gloves and long clothing to protect your body. Attach the brush to the flexible rod and lower it into the chimney from the roof. Alternate an up-down churning motion to brush away the soot and creosote from the inside walls of the chimney. Check your work with a flashlight to see if you’ve brushed away a majority of the soot. Clean the fireplace insert before you start your next fire by sweeping or vacuuming the debris away.