How to test if my wood stove is worth installing?

Hi There,
Recently joined the forum, and I had a few questions. I have tried using the search feature, but came up short, so I figured I would introduce myself and start a new thread. I purchased a house here in Golden CO about a year ago, and when we moved in it had an old earth stove 100/105 (not quite sure which). Where they had it was possibly the worst place, and the way that they had it routed was nowhere near correct. We removed the stove, the chimney, and decided to try and move it and put it in our basement. I found the instruction manual here, and have taken the care to build out the wall with metal studs, cement board, stacked stone, and the floor is a porcelain tile. I haven't placed the stove yet, because I had a few questions that I was hoping to get some help with before taking the steps of moving that beast back into the house

I have two major questions, posted below:
1.) Is there a way to test the stove to make sure it is functioning prior to moving it inside? I don't want to go through the hassle of installing the stove if it turns out it is really going to do more damage than good. How do I test seals, etc?

2.) Chimney Install: The house is an interesting layout, but basically I am going through a single ceiling and flat roof. The ceiling is anywhere between 6"-8" deep, and I have enough room with my layout to make sure I am not hitting any studs. My question is, what sort of pipe am I looking at? I was thinking a triple wall, but not sure if that needs to be just through the roof and above? Would it be ok to do a double wall black pipe below? what are thoughts on a damper within the flue? I am looking at probably 12' of total chimney (4.5' to the ceiling, and then 6-7' of pipe above roof). do i need to go that high?
the stove
the location where it is going, before the wall is up


Thanks all!

begreen said:

Welcome. Is the stove flue collar 6" or 8"? My concern is that this is a high altitude install. If the eventual goal is to have a more modern, cleaner and fuel efficient stove then a 12 ft flue is not going to cut it for most new stoves. Most need a 15' chimney at sea level. Pre-epa stoves are less fussy in this regard.

You can check the stove door gaskets with the dollar bill test. Close the door on a dollar bill. If it pulls out with no resistance the gasket is not sealing at that spot. If there is tension then try another location. Try all around the door perimeter. Also take a bright flashlight and look for any signs of cracking.

There are some threads on this stove in the classics forum here. This is an example:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/the-earth-stove-100-series.9041/

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Flue collar is 6". I could go taller with the flue, I was just trying to not go too high if I didn't have to.

mellow said:

Honestly, that earth stove has seen better days, one thing you will really need to check with the bimetallic controls and see if it is working still.

I would pick up something newer that has a glass window to enjoy the fire and will burn a heck of alot cleaner.

Here is the manual: https://www.hearth.com/images/uploads/Earthstove100_manual.PDF

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Most of the rust on the back cleaned up, it was pretty superficial. it sat outside for a little bit as we were trying to figure out where to move it to. We were trying to save a bit of money and not buy a new stove if this works, since I have a lot of wood to burn, and our budget is tight after the major unexpected expenses with the remodel.

Ideally, we would just put a new one in now.... but not sure if we can make that kind of commitment at this point.

I got the stone all set up and the wall next to it finished!

So I tested the seals, and it is not going to be worth installing. Looking at a Vermont Castings Encore 2040? I haven't seen a ton of reviews on the newer models, anybody have any thoughts?