The Chimney Costs More Than The Stove!!!!!!

What brand class A did you go with? I have heard very good reviews on that stove at least the posts i've seen. The way i look at it is yes it is expensive, but then so is oil and gas. Eventually sooner than later it will all pay for itself im sure. Then its money back in your pocket!

SS chimney sections add up fast. It's a small price to pay for not burning your house down!

Yes, Class A chimney is expensive. When the installation configuration allows (and I fully understand that quite often it doesn't), it's a lot less costly to go up in the interior with single or double wall connector pipe to a ceiling support box, then Class A to daylight...even if you need to pass through a second story & attic, or whatever. In any case, with a properly installed system, you can rest easy and burn a raging fire in a big steel box inside your house and know that you're doing it safely. I think you'll find that the stove lives up to its hype, once you get used to operating it. Rick

Got mine for $800.. That was stove, 18 Ft of Triple wall Simpson (along with Thimble, inside pipe, etc), and a cord of wood. Guy bought it one month before he wanted to sell it. That was the whole reason I bought it. I knew how much the flue cost. I had an Old Timberline in the basement that I got a Quote for a flue on. Never mind.. I know I already told you all of this.. Just realized who you were.. Good luck with your install. I just came in from Stacking more wood. its really wet and soggy here in Ohio. My feet are like prunes. Hope your install goes as planned.. Good luck Bill.

One quick question.. Are you gonna use the pedestal or the legs on your 30????? Been going back and forth.. I think I like the legs more and will get better airflow underneath, for better heating. Maybe??? (if that even matters). But the Wife likes the pedestal... Just like to see if others are sticking to one or the other, for any particular reason??

I chuckled when I saw your post. I bought our stove in 1990 for $400, the stove still heats our house, 24/7. And the Class A chimney also cost more than the stove, and it too still operates 24/7. For 21 years of service and still going strong, a wise investment.

That's not unusual for a chimney system to cost more than the stove, especially for a through the wall system with a Tee and more Class A than going through the roof. We get people coming into our store with a $50. used stove and are floored when they hear the price of the chimney. If you don't want to burn your house down, you have to do it right, and a $50. stove needs the same chimney as a $2000. stove.

BeGreen said:

Considering some of the bargains that were found on the Englander 30s this Feb. I'm not surprised. This is infrastructure. Price out a septic system for comparison. To put it into perspective, divide the cost of the pipe by say 30 for the actual 30 year cost, which is not unlikely with a good class A system. If the piping cost $1200 that's only $40/year for peace of mind and good service.

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30 years? Geez, mine has a 100-year warranty!

I read this and laughed. I just bought a Keystone last week and now I'm getting buyers remorse after pricing out the chimney and hearth materials. We are looking at over 5k altogether. We are going to be warm this winter but eating Ramen noodles and the unfortunate squirrel that wanders into my back yard.

Well, when installing a wood burning stove, one has to consider that is only part of the cost. It does cost more to go through the wall and up the outside of the house but we did not figure it was a terrible lot more in cost and it worked out fine for us. One thing that did surprise us is that we ended up with a bit shorter chimney and still got a good draw. A combination of new SS chimney and cat stove and we find the chimney stays clean and the stove works great. It was dollars well spent in this case. When we do have to clean this thing every few years it is easy to do from ground level. It is also easy to check to see if it needs cleaning and my wife does check it often. I guess she still is not convinced that this stove and chimney will be different from the old one. lol

I know what you mean. I just spent plenty on class a double wall pipe and a new hearth buld to boot and the new Woodstock fireview. It will all pay off I hope over the long haul.
Dennis a question for you on pipe cleaning and checking. I opened the top of the stove and as it has not been run yet I wanted to see how easy it might be to put amirror set in the t at bottem back of stove and put a flashlite in there to see in future up the pipe to see how dirty it gets in season. Because of the tight area there on the fireview I cannot manuver enough with mirror or light to see right up pipe as it is on that one elbow coming off back of stove. Any suggestions how I might get a better sight without taking anything apart on my applicatiom? I might add other than the one elbow it goes straight up through the roof.

Sappy, you are right in that I do not see how you could get a mirror in there to see good enough. However, it should not be difficult to change that elbow for a tee and that would do the trick nicely.

Naturally, we have a tee where the horizontal meets the vertical. Ours is about 4' off the ground so it is easy to remove the cap and look up the pipe. Well, easy for my wife at least. I have a neck problem so getting into that position would not be fun at all and I doubt I could even do it so I'd have to use a mirror but that would be easy.

Fortunately, if you have good fuel, that Fireview will burn so clean you won't be troubled with dirty chimney very often. We've cleaned ours once in 4 years. Well, my wife did stick the pole up there to bang just a small amount that she could see at the top. It surely was nothing I would have been concerned with as so little came out it was not worth the time or effort.

I added a new stove last fall and while it was coming [a three-month wait], I began shopping for pipe. Last time I bought Metalbest was maybe 20 years ago. It was pricey back then, but I was quite surprised at current costs.

But, what you gonna do. As is normal with me, it took me a while to get accustomed to how much money I was spending. I eventually thought about the thirty yr. I've gotten out of some of my pipe, trouble-free, and the years of safe stove burning, and got over it. Sort of. I just ordered the pipe and assembled it.

In my earlier days, I lived for a ten-yr. stretch in an old miner's cabin which had a wood burner already in it when I moved in. I had a sweet deal where I paid less rent [a lot less] but for that I had to do all maintenance and even buy what I needed, such as rolled roofing, glass if a window broke, etc. So, naturally, making only a little paycheck, I went cheap. Cheap as I could. I bought the old blue single-wall steel stovepipe [which was what was there when I moved in and probably always had been] but had to replace it every two yr. and clean it out for serious ash-buildup four or five times a winter, getting on a snowy roof to do so. And, once I had a smouldering fire in the attic where the sawdust insulation was ignited by heat from the cheap pipe. Luckily I was home and woke up and noticed the smell before it was too late.

There is no way around the expensive pipe unless someone gives you some used stuff. I wish it were less expensive, but at least now when I am in bed at night, I spend zero time worrying about my stovepipe igniting the house.

Hey Dennis thanks for the reply. I do have a tee on the back of my doublewall pipe. It is about 18 inches of my hearth. Like a dummy I forgot about that. It acts like it has 3 screws that hold the bottem cylinder piece in. It is new now but as it gets grainy with ash if I back the screws off I hope I can match them back up again when putting it back up in there. Like mentioned with the rigHt wood it prob will not be an issue anyway. Still not liking the just barely 6 inch clearance to wall with the D pipe though. Seems like the wall will get hot. Hope to see you at the woodstock if you are in area. We live around 7 mile from there. See you that is at he pig roast.
Take care.
P.S. Do I understand you ride a motorcycle. I have a Harley electraglide.Don't get on it as often as I should.

If you can see the tee ok, then put a mark with Magic Marker or whatever on the edge of both the cap and the tee. I do this with all stovepipe sections and it works well. If the pipe is visible in the room, doesn't matter as the mark can be tiny. Then upon reassembly the screw holes will be perfectly aligned. If the hole is, for all that, not quite perfectly aligned, stick a small nail through both holes and use it to lever the cap to the perfect position. Takes about two seconds after you find the right size nail. Works with stovepipe sections as well. The two holes have to be partially aligned so the nail will go through both...obviously.

Backwoods Savage said:

Well, when installing a wood burning stove, one has to consider that is only part of the cost.

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That is the problem here too!

We often see adverts for wood stoves that draw you in, without any mention of the fact you actually need a chimney too.

Bit like an advert for a cheap car, then you find you need to buy the engine and exhaust separately ;-)

Well, I'm certainly in the same boat myself. Did plenty of research on the stove but not nearly enough on the chimney. A rude awakening to be sure.
But shortcutting is not an option for me so the completion date will have to be pushed out a bit.
Luckily, we live in the desert and the burn season doesn't really start until Nov.

On a happier note, I just picked up my Fireview this morning. Waiting for the kids to show up this weekend to unload it and get it into the house and set it
next to the gaping hole in my wall. I'm thinking it will inspire some ideas.

Yup, I spent 2-1/2 times on the flue and installation than I did on the stove (I did buy a used stove, though) but as it was accurately explained to me: The flue drives the stove - The stove does not drive the flue. True statement and I am glad I took the advice!

yup its expensive even if you do it yourself it seems.

Wood Heat Stoves said:

That's not unusual for a chimney system to cost more than the stove, especially for a through the wall system with a Tee and more Class A than going through the roof. We get people coming into our store with a $50. used stove and are floored when they hear the price of the chimney. If you don't want to burn your house down, you have to do it right, and a $50. stove needs the same chimney as a $2000. stove.

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i am going to have to use this line in my shop. you are so right! tahnk you