Pellet vent installation

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

delwalk

New Member
Sep 27, 2007
18
Western Massachusetts
I'm somewhat confused about the requirements for installing a pellet vent. The place I'd like to install the stove, and consequently the vent, is between two windows that are approximately 3' apart. The regulations say the terminus of the vent should be at least 4' away from a window horizontal and 1' above. What does this actually mean? Does the terminus need to be both 4' away and 1' above or 4' away if at the same level as the windows and 1' above if above the windows?
 
Best not to direct vent a pellet stove at all
see this thread more on pellet venting
but if you do you have to be 4 feet away from a window SIDE to side
OR
be 1 foot above it.
 
Thanks for the info. I wasn't planning on direct-venting with a horizontal terminus. My hope is to run the pipe directly through the wall thimble to a Tee, then up 8 feet to a point 2 feet above the window which is 1 foot above the roof line. Seems like a simple enough run but I wasn't sure how high I need to go or if the pipe terminating above but within 4 feet of the windows was going to be a problem.

I'm glad those photos are just soot. I saw one of the houses around here with an improperly vented appliance (don't know what) and the vinyl siding had melted into a sagging mess. I'm hoping my fiber cement siding holds up better than that.

On a related note, what kind of clearance do I need from a tree? I have at least 6 feet horizontal clearance from a large maple but the higher I go the closer I will be to overhanging branches (about 8-10 feet above the roof).

Thanks again.

(edited to correct grammar)
 
It needs to be higher than 1 foot above the roof line. The rule is that it needs to be at least 2 feet higher than any point on the roof within 10 feet (measured from the bottom of the termination).
 

Attachments

  • pellet.jpg
    pellet.jpg
    22.9 KB · Views: 878
It needs to be higher than 1 foot above the roof line. The rule is that it needs to be at least 2 feet higher than any point on the roof within 10 feet (measured from the bottom of the termination).

Is that true of pellet vents as well? I thought that only applied to wood, coal, and oil fired appliances or appliances with chimney drafts. If that's true of forced draft type L vents then my flue pipe will need to be twenty feet tall (11 feet above the roof line of the addition with the stove) to clear the roof of the main house which is 9 feet away.
 
Wow... If that's true for pellet stove venting, the Harman dealer down the street here has got some serious reconfiguring to do. He's got about 8 stoves lined up right in a row, direct vented out the side of his showroom.
 
petejung said:
Wow... If that's true for pellet stove venting, the Harman dealer down the street here has got some serious reconfiguring to do. He's got about 8 stoves lined up right in a row, direct vented out the side of his showroom.

Now that you say that, wouldn't that eliminate direct venting entirely for pellet stoves? Is the same true for gas stoves as well? We may need to abort our pellet stove adventure and switch to gas or electric if those requirements hold for pellet vents. 20 feet would definitely put me into the maple tree.
 
See your owners manual
You only need to be about 18 - 24" out of the roof. for pellet
Each stove manufacture has different specks.
UNLIKE A wood stoves 2 and 10.

Im sure you will be fine if you have a vertical rise and you are above any windows.



Direct venting.
You can direct vent but that is the minimum.
if you look at most manuals they show direct vent but they also have a NOTE that is is recomended to have at least 5 feet of vertical rise.

I will NEVER direct vent a pellet stove.
due to soot on the side of house and you WILL get smoke back into your home if and when the power goes out when the stove is running.
 
hearthtools said:
See your owners manual
You only need to be about 18 - 24" out of the roof. for pellet
Each stove manufacture has different specks.
UNLIKE A wood stoves 2 and 10.

The manual, what a novel concept! I was looking at the Simpson Dura-Vent literature which stated the 12" minimum but I'm happy to do 24" or whatever is required by the stove.

Im sure you will be fine if you have a vertical rise and you are above any windows.

That was the original source of my confusion. I didn't know if I had to be 4' from a window, period, or just if terminating at the same level. As it stands, it looks like I'll be terminating 2' above the roof and 3' above the top of the windows for a total horizontal length of 1' and vertical length of 8'. At what length would you advise I should go to 4" pipe?

Direct venting.
You can direct vent but that is the minimum.
if you look at most manuals they show direct vent but they also have a NOTE that is is recomended to have at least 5 feet of vertical rise.

Aside from direct vents looking ugly (in my humble opinion), wouldn't that require the cleanout tee being placed inside the house oriented horizontally, and thus pushing the stove further away from the wall?

I will NEVER direct vent a pellet stove.
due to soot on the side of house and you WILL get smoke back into your home if and when the power goes out when the stove is running.

I hope not to lose power for longer than the battery backup will last. I suppose if it's the middle of the night I can't help it but during the day I should have plenty of time to shut off the burner. The concern does lend support for replacing the pellet stove with a wood stove when I remodel that room.

Thanks for the info.
 
my understanding has always been that if you are venting close to one or between two wall penetrations (doors or windows) that minimum clearance to the side is 4 ft. if this is not attainable, then the flue must travel vertically until the outlet is far enough above the top corner of the penetration that a measurement of 3 ft (measured diagonally down to the closest point on the penetration) and we at ESW recommend a minimum of 18 inches above roofline.

a good point was raised also by my learned colleague i too would never direct vent , and would work very hard todissuade anyone else doing it. biggest reason, as stated , if the power goes out and no "kickover" backup is available , smoke will enter the house

EDIT: most manufacturers will address length of pipe v/s expansion ours and i believe breckwells is at the 15 ft mark. check your stoves manual to see where it recommends transition. also check to see if you meet criteria for 4 inch pipe due to elevation , our recommendation is that if above 4000 ft use 4 inch pipe for the run.

hope this helps
 
stoveguy2esw said:
EDIT: most manufacturers will address length of pipe v/s expansion ours and i believe breckwells is at the 15 ft mark. check your stoves manual to see where it recommends transition. also check to see if you meet criteria for 4 inch pipe due to elevation , our recommendation is that if above 4000 ft use 4 inch pipe for the run.

hope this helps

Almost every Manual has this Point about over 15 feet then go 4"
You dont know how many stoves we go to service that are installed BY PROS that have 20 -30 feet of 3" pipe
BTW Most of our homes are at an elevation of 3k to 5k above sea level.
ALMOST every pellet insert we do we run 3" Stainless flex around the damper.
Trasition to Duravent using a 3012a adjustable with lots of RED RVT to slip over the stainless flex
and a 3-4 reducer and run 4" Duravent pellet pipe the rest of the way.

Back to the original topic.
Im still Cornfused on your question.

Can you show a photo of the side of the house you want to install
Or a chicken scratch drawing?

As long as you are out the roof I dont see where you wood be near any windows?
Windows are below the Eve of the house and you will be above the eve?
 
hearthtools said:
stoveguy2esw said:
EDIT: most manufacturers will address length of pipe v/s expansion ours and i believe breckwells is at the 15 ft mark. check your stoves manual to see where it recommends transition. also check to see if you meet criteria for 4 inch pipe due to elevation , our recommendation is that if above 4000 ft use 4 inch pipe for the run.

hope this helps

Almost every Manual has this Point about over 15 feet then go 4"
You dont know how many stoves we go to service that are installed BY PROS that have 20 -30 feet of 3" pipe
BTW Most of our homes are at an elevation of 3k to 5k above sea level.
ALMOST every pellet insert we do we run 3" Stainless flex around the damper.
Trasition to Duravent using a 3012a adjustable with lots of RED RVT to slip over the stainless flex
and a 3-4 reducer and run 4" Duravent pellet pipe the rest of the way.

Back to the original topic.
Im still Cornfused on your question.

Can you show a photo of the side of the house you want to install
Or a chicken scratch drawing?

As long as you are out the roof I dont see where you wood be near any windows?
Windows are below the Eve of the house and you will be above the eve?


trust me rod, i believe you. sometimes i believe some folks think "professional" just means getting paid for putting it in. no regard for proper procedures. i posted in another thread the other day how a fellow called in with one of my stoves that wouldnt burn , he kept harping on having a "professional install" and blamed the stove. when i finally got the guy to send me some pictures, turns out the "professionals" installed it with a 15 ft run of horizontal pipe to get the flue from the center of the basement where he wanted it to the outside. just piped it up to the joists and ran i along them to the outside. i usually recommend getting references and making darn sure they follow manual's specs or call in to see if what they are having done is going to be functional.but i'd recommend you in a second, aint hard to tell a when someone's a pro.
 
hearthtools said:
Back to the original topic.
Im still Cornfused on your question.

Can you show a photo of the side of the house you want to install
Or a chicken scratch drawing?

As long as you are out the roof I dont see where you wood be near any windows?
Windows are below the Eve of the house and you will be above the eve?
I'm sensing he may have a gabled window up there near the termination.
 
GVA said:
hearthtools said:
Back to the original topic.
Im still Cornfused on your question.

Can you show a photo of the side of the house you want to install
Or a chicken scratch drawing?

As long as you are out the roof I dont see where you wood be near any windows?
Windows are below the Eve of the house and you will be above the eve?
I'm sensing he may have a gabled window up there near the termination.

oh dang!!! gva you may be right
 
hearthtools said:
Back to the original topic.
Im still Cornfused on your question.

Can you show a photo of the side of the house you want to install
Or a chicken scratch drawing?

As long as you are out the roof I dont see where you wood be near any windows?
Windows are below the Eve of the house and you will be above the eve?

Well I just spent all this time creating a perspective line drawing of that side of the house only to have the program crash and my picture (unsaved) gone. I'll take a picture once I find my camera. There are practically no eaves on that side of the house - the roof ends maybe 2" past the wall, if that. The windows are 3 feet apart and the vent would exit the thimble below the sill line of the windows and travel vertically until it ends a couple of feet above the roof edge so there's no roof penetration involved.

I had considered running black pipe inside the house, placing the thimble above the windows but my wife vetoed that idea. The other idea, going straight up through the roof, is a scary because I'm not sure what I'll find above the ceiling. I already suspect a massive yellow jacket hive up there and who knows what critters have made it their home.
 
GVA said:
Do the curtains outside reduce the minimum termination requirements ;-P

Sorry I for got to put a note
I was just testing if a photo would show up if you just put the URL of the photo.

This is another job we fixed
the PRO's from a Fresno dealer just direct vented it with only 6" sticking out of the was
you can see the homeowner tried to clean the BLACK off the wall.
http://www.hearthtools.com/install/no_no.jpg

we put the pipe going up but I do not have a after photo but it would look like this
http://www.hearthtools.com/install/outwallandup.jpg

This house was in a snow area so we went a little higher than we would normally go.
 
hearthtools said:
Can you show a photo of the side of the house you want to install
Or a chicken scratch drawing?

I'm hoping to place the vent between the two windows on the left in the picture. That wall is 15' wide with 3' between the two windows and the vent would exit just below the windows and travel between them until 24" above the edge of the roof. As you can see there are practically no eaves there so I was thinking a pair of 45s would offset it enough to clear the edge of the roof (unless they make 6" standoff brackets to make it a straight shot). Hopefully that makes it clearer.

(I decided to color on the picture to make it even clearer what I hope to do.)
 

Attachments

  • ell_southview.jpg
    ell_southview.jpg
    83.6 KB · Views: 630
That is a No brainer install
Run the pipe just like your Artfull photo and you will be fine for you will be above the winders.

Most pellet pipe only needs 3" clearance. the New duraventPro is 1 inch so using a T support bracket at the top and keep the pipe 3" off the eve you will be just fine.
 
delwalk said:
I had considered running black pipe inside the house, placing the thimble above the windows but my wife vetoed that idea. The other idea, going straight up through the roof, is a scary because I'm not sure what I'll find above the ceiling. I already suspect a massive yellow jacket hive up there and who knows what critters have made it their home.

Off the stove topic, but a cautionary note - if you are suspecting a nest of any sort of stinging insects up in your attic, you should check it out (or get a pro to do so) and deal with them sooner rather than later. In some cases the insects will attack the sheet rock ceiling, or their wastes will tend to dissolve it, and you can suddenly learn exactly what is up there when the ceiling / wall lets go and drops the nest into the room with you - the occupants won't be happy about the change in living conditions, and will be looking for someone to take it out on.... :bug:

Once dealt with. the entrance also needs to be found and sealed tightly to prevent re-occupation.

In terms of technique, it is NOT a good idea to just bomb from a distance and forget about it. A large nest can have as much biological matter in it as a large animal, and can rot and stink the same way - if it does the smell will soak into the wood framing and become a constant contributor to your home's "atmosphere" :sick: After bombing, it is a good idea to remove the remains and dispose of them in order to prevent this, and to make re-infestation less attractive.

(This info comes from a fellow I know that is in the bee and wasp removal business)

Gooserider
 
Thanks for the info and sorry for the late follow-up - I've been very busy as of late.

I do plan on dealing with the yellow jackets, just not this year. I'm going to be replacing the entire roof (the ridge has a bit of a sway and the shingles are completely mossed over) and hope to cathedral the ceiling at that point so I can put in sky lights. I also will be replacing the aluminum siding with fiber cement as I have with the rest of the house. At that point I might also decide to change the vent to go up through the roof instead of outside along the wall. Maybe I'll just direct-vent for now since I don't care about that siding anyway. ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.