Stove placement questions

  • 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.

trucha

Member
Jan 26, 2009
30
MONTANA
i have had 3 installers over to look at installing a wood stove. They have all recommended different layout options so now I don't know what to do. I do not have a chimney so I would have to put in new pipe. I have a very open house with about 500 sq foot living/kitchen area. It has 16 foot ceilings. Plus a loft area with two bedrooms off of it.
One area to put the stove would have 16 feet strait up in side then go through the roof to near the peak and have a few feet sticking out outside. Which is what one installer recommended

The other option would be to go up 14 inside then out. However this is on the low side of a very steep roof so there would be a lot of pipe on the outside of the house. At least 9 feet to make the clearances. However, for the inside layout this would be a much better option.

I think that would be an issue having so much pipe on the outside due to draw and being difficult to access for cleaning. Am I right? Would it be much better to go out near the peak?

Also this installer said that with the new efficient stoves you should only use double wall pipe inside and out. I have the space so I thought that using single wall, for the inside part would be fine. Other installers said that I would be ok with single wall inside.?
 
Double wall is definitely better for maintaining flue temps, really it will depend on what stove you are lookibg at getting. Cat stoves specifically tend to run a cooler flue so double wall helps alot. A double wall will help keep your flue hot and in turn be cleaner due to less buildup. As far as location, either will work. Cleaning can be done from the bottom up with something like a sooteater.

The real question is which of those two locations is a better location for actually heating the house. Ideally it would be centrally located in the house with an open floor plan.
 
Your installer is correct about recommending double-wall for you interior connector. It is always a good idea, especially when the interior run is longer than 8 ft.

What makes the #2 placement better? Better for for heat distribution, looks, safety, clearances? Will you be having the chimney professional swept or DIY?
 
If the room is open with cathedral ceilings like mine, there's not much of a difference between the center or corner location. If it's a well insulated house. From me the corner makes the room work better. But with the corner install there is maybe 8 ft of free standing chimney above the roof. I have it braced. Cleaning is another issue. I designed the house with a lower pitched shead roof above the stove so I could get up there to do a top down cleaning.
 
The interior placements are all good for heat distribution. Aesthetically, the place to put it would be on the outside wall. That would leave a lot of exterior chimney. Would this be bad for draw? Can you clean from the bottom? I think the stack would be tough to clean since you wouldn't be able to access from roof.
The stoves I am considering are the pe t5 or jotul Oslo.
 
The interior placements are all good for heat distribution. Aesthetically, the place to put it would be on the outside wall. That would leave a lot of exterior chimney. Would this be bad for draw? Can you clean from the bottom? I think the stack would be tough to clean since you wouldn't be able to access from roof.
The stoves I am considering are the pe t5 or jotul Oslo.

My stove vents up about four feet, then out and up alongside the end of the house. Draft is not really an issue except for early fall and late spring. Cleaning is wicked easy ... I remove three screws from a cap in a T outside, remove the cap and sweep from the base ... a ten to twenty minute project.
 
The main advantages of an interior chimney are better draft and it stays cleaner. A tall exterior chimney is going to cool the flue gases more. If they drop below 250F creosote will start to condense. It usually costs a bit less too.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.