adapter or 6 inch all the way?

[ramack]

I'm sure this has been address in a previous post, but I didn't find one that was similar to my situation.

I am putting in a 65000 BTU wood stove with a 6 inch flue in my basement. This will be replacing a Heatilator which has a triple wall 12 inch O.D., 8 inch I.D. steel chimney. Could I use a 6-8 inch adapter from the stove to the chimney, or do I need 6 inch pipe all the way out? This is a 15 foot straight vertical chimney.

The place I bought the stove is telling me I need 6 inch all the way. I'm thinking that I can use an adapter from the 6 inch stove pipe to the 8 inch chimney pipe since the change in diameter isn't large.

Rich

 

[Todd]

What does your stove manual say? 6" would probably be best but I bet the 8" will draft fine. I'd give it a try with the adapter first, you can always change it later on.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

It depends on what type of chimney you have on the heatalator. If it's a zero clearance fireplace, many use their own brand of chimney which is not listed for a woodstove.
You would then want to use the 6" chimney through it. If the chimney is an HT 2100 degree listed type, then this would be OK to use with an adapter. You'll always get a better draft, though, if you stay with the size chimney the stove was designed to use.

 

[Todd]

Oh yeah, if this is a heatalator fireplace, not stove, chances are the chimney isn't rated for a wood stove and you would need to either reline with an insulated 6" liner or tear it all out and replace with class A chimney.

 

[begreen]

+1. The current flue is probably not rated for high temperature woodstove use.

 

[Milton Findley]

This sounds like my situation last year. There were a lot of things that I did not think of or foresee when I thought to use the existing chimney with an adaptor for my hearth mounted stove. Some of them might be instructive here.

Code would not allow it due to the 2100 degree temperature requirement. Read the code carefully. I wound up reading it more carefully than the building inspector or any of the idiots who I tried without success to hire to perform the work. (When all was said and done, there was only one idiot, :red: whose signature appears below. I had a lot to learn during the installation process it seems).

The 6 inch to 8 inch adaptor would not fit the lower end of the existing chimney. The existing chimney cap, (recently bought, was 8 inches. An 8 inch adaptor will not mate with an 8 inch cap for some reason.

Were I you, I would run an insulated flex liner down inside the existing chimney, and I would make certain that I bought all of the components from the same supplier, preferably as part of an installation kit from cap to stove connector. Several of them advertise here on Hearth.com.

 

[ramack]

What does your stove manual say? 6" would probably be best but I bet the 8" will draft fine. I'd give it a try with the adapter first, you can always change it later on.

The manual specifies 6".

 

[ramack]

I still have the Heatilator manuals/info from the original owner of the house, I'll look to see what the temp rating is on the steel chimney.

If I do install a 6" stove pipe the full length, I had read on another site, where a 5" stove pipe was put into a 10" existing chimney and then the volume between the two was back-filled with vermiculite.

1) Should I fill the void between the existing 8" ID and new 6" OD?

2) What about pipe thickness? 24GA is significantly less expensive than 22GA, I would prefer 24 because of the cost.

 

[ramack]

Looks like I'm going to replace the existing chimney pipe...another project that snow balled, ha!

 

[Milton Findley]

Looks like I'm going to replace the existing chimney pipe...another project that snow balled, ha!

That is what happens when you start fiddling around with boats, campers, wood burning appliances, and women of any age. Think of how wonderful you will feel when it is all done. I am sitting in a room with lumber in it, as I am going to reface my mantle, and yesterday I put in LED strip lighting to illuminate the hearth corner and that required electrical work and a couple of trips to the hardware store. Tomorrow my new video inspection camera will be here so that I can look at the top of the old zero clearance insert to make sure that there has been no deterioration of the structure and no encroachments of flammables even though it is now just a metal chimney chase.

I might also get some useful work done, the kind I get paid for. :cheese: