To screw or not to screw. Simpson Pellet Vent Pro Installation questions.

The stove manufacturer (LOPI) says 3 screws and sealant are required for each connection

The venting has built-in o-rings at each connection with literature that states no sealant or screws are required (except at the stove connection).

The stove manufacturer says to always refer to the venting manufacturers instructions.

The answer seems clear but I don't want to call the inspector twice.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

http://www.ventingpipe.com/mediabase/specifications/pelletventpro10.pdf

http://www.avalonfirestyles.com/TravisDocs/93508074.pdf

mark2m said:

Some sealant and metal tape. I also used a band clamp at the appliance adapter to stove connection instead of screws. No leaks and everything is nice and secure. Duravent Pro pipe also.

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Got it. Now I have another problem. I sent Duravent an e-mail. The product literature states all connections have built in o-rings. Only the T-adapter I got has an o-ring. I checked the part numbers on the the factory-applied labels on each pipe and they all match the part numbers in the literature so I don't know if that's how the straight chimney sections are supposed to be or if the pipes are mislabeled/mismanufactured.

What did your straight chimney sections look like?

AVIVIII said:

Since you are using the PRO line, No additional sealant is required and where they are twist-lock, no screws are required.

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See my reply above.

j-takeman said:

Checkthisout said:

mark2m said:

Some sealant and metal tape. I also used a band clamp at the appliance adapter to stove connection instead of screws. No leaks and everything is nice and secure. Duravent Pro pipe also.

Click to expand...

Got it. Now I have another problem. I sent Duravent an e-mail. The product literature states all connections have built in o-rings. Only the T-adapter I got has an o-ring. I checked the part numbers on the the factory-applied labels on each pipe and they all match the part numbers in the literature so I don't know if that's how the straight chimney sections are supposed to be or if the pipes are mislabeled/mismanufactured.

What did your straight chimney sections look like?

Click to expand...

I helped a fellow down the road install his new toy. He purchase PVP at a local stove shop. We found the same thing "some pieces had the o'rings and others did not". All the part numbers were correct. I got on the horn and contacted Simpson on this issue. There reply was some of the pieces were old stock and would mate to the new stock no problem. They recommended we seal the inner pipe joints with hi-temp silicon to make the seal better. We found that the joints in the house still leaked and had to seal the seams and joints on the outside of the pipe as well. All the pipe on the exterior of the house were not sealed to allow easy removal.

So with any of the joints inside the house you probably will find the same thing. You will need to seal them well to stop the leaks.

I have since done other installs with PVP were all the pipe had the o'rings and still found serious leaks and had to disassemble the pipe to seal the crap out of them. They still leaked pretty badly so out came the silicon to seal the seams and joints on the exterior of the pipe. I am not very fond of PVP, But its the easiest stuff to get locally.

Tip, use any color hi temp silicon on the internal joints, But use permatex Ultra black on the exterior joints to make a neater looking install. FYI

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Wow, great reply! Nobody at Simpson had returned my e-mail this morning. I think they are closed down for the Holiday weekend. This makes me comfortable to go ahead and get this project done today. The stove is an XMAS present for the lady so I was really annoyed when I found the pipes that way.

These pipes better not leak after what I paid for them!

She's up and running after spending the day fabbing the "hearth", running the ground lead into the crawl space, installing the fresh-air intake, cutting the hole for the chimney etc etc.....

I applied a nice helping of orange RTV to the non o-ringed pipes.

When I was ready to fire it up I covered the chimney partway to increase pressure, filled the pot with pellets and put a little water on them so I would get a nice smokey start-up. I got a halogen worklight and shined it every which way on the pipes to look for leaks. I didn't see or smell any smoke so I think all is ok.

This thing is nice! It's at the opposite end of a 1200 SF Double-Wide and it's keeping the whole place warm in 40 degree weather on the 2nd setting.

Supposed to get into the teens and twenties this week so that will be the real test.

The stove store gave me a couple bags of "North Idaho Energy Logs" pellets and they seem to be much better than the bag of "Blazers" I picked up at Home Depot to break-in the stove before installation. Much less ash and much better burn consistency on low.


Just as an FYI, the Travis Industries. Fresh-Air kit is a joke. I only purchased it because I thought you had to knock out a plate on the back of the stove, otherwise I would have just fabbed-up something. I had to cut the hose to get a piece to go between the inlet screen and the butterfly assembly that sits on the wall on the inside of the house. I ended up with too-short of a hose after that to run from the butterfly assembly to the stove. It pulled apart as I tried to stretch it out. The kit comes with worm-drive hose clamps and the hose is about 3/16" larger than the fittings on the valve assembly and stove and thus crushes down and looks like absolute crap, not to mention it weakens the hose.

I am going to go the auto-parts store tommorrow and see if they have any bulk heat-stove hose for old, carbureted cars. (the hose that runs from the exhaust manifold the air cleaner assembly).