BeGreen - 26 November 2007 01:56 PM

Here is a rough illustration of what I am thinking, please feel free to poke at it and suggest changes. I don’t have a lot of time of experience in making elbows, so for the pellet air intake you’ll have to visualize this on the drawing. I’ve added a crude illustration, but here is what I propose. Onto the pellet air intake stub, put a 90* elbow, then a 6” stub to clear the chimney, then add another elbow pointing down toward the roof. Cover the end with 1/8” hardware cloth screening to keep bees and bugs out.

I like your drawings and your propose, BeGreen.

“then a 6” stub to clear the chimney” means to have a 6” diameter pipe or to have 6” length of 3” diameter horizontal pipe?

Begreens approach seems like oversimplifying to me.

I could be wrong, but I think that with a little modding,
those three caps can exist together.  I see no problem
with them being at the same level other than of course
the fresh air intake.  Never heard of smoke getting sucked down
into a 15+ ft flue.  If that were possible then one cap covering
two and three flues would never exist and I see them on tons
of homes that have multiple flues.

If this were mine, I would see if it’s feasible to #1, trim the sides of the base
of the chimney flashing for the pellet stove so as to be able to comfortably fit the other two
caps on either side, and #2, see if I could use a hole saw to cut a hole in the base
to bring the fresh air intake up through it.  If both of these proposed ideas worked,
I would get the pellet pipe and stove all set up and leave the other two flues to deal with
in the Spring when it’s warmer.  Nothing is going to nest in them in Massachusetts in the winter,
and waiting a few months isn’t going to harm the insides of the flues.
Just my 2c, and oh, I don’t claim to be a “professional” pellet stove installer
by any means.

lmei007 - 26 November 2007 04:28 PM

BeGreen - 26 November 2007 01:56 PM

Here is a rough illustration of what I am thinking, please feel free to poke at it and suggest changes. I don’t have a lot of time of experience in making elbows, so for the pellet air intake you’ll have to visualize this on the drawing. I’ve added a crude illustration, but here is what I propose. Onto the pellet air intake stub, put a 90* elbow, then a 6” stub to clear the chimney, then add another elbow pointing down toward the roof. Cover the end with 1/8” hardware cloth screening to keep bees and bugs out.

I like your drawings and your propose, BeGreen.

“then a 6” stub to clear the chimney” means to have a 6” diameter pipe or to have 6” length of 3” diameter horizontal pipe?

6” stub of 3” pipe if needed. You may be able to make this work by just mating 2 elbows together (to create an inverted U) and not need the 6” filler stub. If the 2 elbows together clear the edge of the chimney, then no need for the connector.

zeta - 26 November 2007 05:08 PM

Begreens approach seems like oversimplifying to me.

I could be wrong, but I think that with a little modding,
those three caps can exist together.  I see no problem
with them being at the same level other than of course
the fresh air intake.  Never heard of smoke getting sucked down
into a 15+ ft flue.  If that were possible then one cap covering
two and three flues would never exist and I see them on tons
of homes that have multiple flues.

Do you mean overcomplicating things? Could be, I’m all for a simpler approach. Maybe Rod, Shane or Craig have one.

As to the multiple flue issue, it’s very real. That’s what the extendacap system cures. Search through the threads in the main forum for people complaining about smells in the basement and 2nd fireplaces. Some folks just put up with it, others find it intolerable.

http://www.extendacap.com/

I too have experienced this. My father in-law has a 3 flue chimney, one gas, one pellet and one on the outside at a sitting area. when you use the outside fireplace you get the smell of smoke in the basement. all three flues are the same height.

moralleper - 26 November 2007 06:03 PM

I too have experienced this. My father in-law has a 3 flue chimney, one gas, one pellet and one on the outside at a sitting area. when you use the outside fireplace you get the smell of smoke in the basement. all three flues are the same height.

I guess that is because there is no damper block off. If we have a damper gate, we close it when that fireplace is not in use and the warm air cannot go through it. When we use it, we open the gate and that fireplace is warmer than outside, no air will come down.