O.K. now is the time of year I need to take care of this. We moved into our house in Dec. of 2005, and for the past two winter I've had trouble with a downdraft in the small wood stove in the basement. Typically here is what happens after I got the paper and wood set up for a fire. I'll take a piece of newspaper and light it holding it inside the stove in the flue. After a few seconds(most of the time) I can hear the air rushing up the chimney and I'll light the wood and paper and everything is fine. However, when it is REALLY cold the downdraft is too much and I am unable to have a fire unless I pull the stove pipe away from the wall and set some paper at the bottom of the chimney and put the stove pipe back and quickly follow the steps above. It shouldn't be this much trouble should it?

The stove is fairly small and the stove pipe is 6", but it goes to a 11x7 inch chimney. I was thinking of putting 6" stove pipe [I]inside[I] the chimney, would that solve my problem? Any advice would be great.

In the 11 X 7 inch chimney you have a lot of cold air to move upward before the little stove will start to vent, I think your idea of putting the 6" stove pipe inside the chimney would be a very good idea.
If you have an electric paint remover that blows a very hot air you might be able to get the vent to venting with that or a good hair dryer.

In the 11 X 7 inch chimney you have a lot of cold air to move upward before the little stove will start to vent, I think your idea of putting the 6" stove pipe inside the chimney would be a very good idea.
If you have an electric paint remover that blows a very hot air you might be able to get the vent to venting with that or a good hair dryer.
True. Anything to get the airflow upward started. Have you thought of the Supa-Flu System. It worked great for me with chimney draw and created a great thermal mass, to boot. Ask me (I'm not in cahoots... just a happy customer )

Remember heat rises and cold air drops to the lowest level. On the coldest days you probably have cold air trying to come back down the pipe as well. Do you have a damper in your flue pipe? Usually you can keep it closed when not using your stove and open it slowly as you start building your fire. Also make sure your not running any exhaust fans in your house when you start up your stove. You don't want to create a negative pressure in your home which will also cause the air to come back down the vent pipe. You'll probably find that a damper is your solution to your problem. Be real careful reducing or restricting the vent pipe, this can also make a spot for the ashes to build up and causing a chimney fire.

Remember heat rises and cold air drops to the lowest level. On the coldest days you probably have cold air trying to come back down the pipe as well. Do you have a damper in your flue pipe? Usually you can keep it closed when not using your stove and open it slowly as you start building your fire. Also make sure your not running any exhaust fans in your house when you start up your stove. You don't want to create a negative pressure in your home which will also cause the air to come back down the vent pipe. You'll probably find that a damper is your solution to your problem. Be real careful reducing or restricting the vent pipe, this can also make a spot for the ashes to build up and causing a chimney fire.

I have a damper, but the draft is so bad that even when it's closed I can still feel the cold air.

Do you have a damper in the vent pipe itself? Is it the same size as the pipe? If so you should be able to almost completely shut off the down back draft.