Advantages / Disadvantages of tall chimney?

[Drifthopper]

Advantages / Disadvantages of tall chimney?

We’re finishing up the new roof, and a new Dura-Vent 8” chimney. At the bottom is a Woodchuck Model 4000 Wood furnace in the basement ducted into the existing forced air plenum.

Totally removed the old block and clay chimney and going with all metal.
From top to bottom, the old one was about 18’, it was approx. 5’ above the roof line, just low enough to where I could see the top and into it a bit, say just about chin height on me.

This new one will be 20’ , four sections of 5’ pipe, so it will be about 7’ above the roof, then plus the cap.

My dealer says that I’ll get a better draft, (which I don’t think I had a problem with before) and I’ll get less “puffing” …down draft / wind,, I guess.
(And ….yes…with this being taller out the roof, I bought the support (guy) bracket to hold it in place. )

My purchase has been made,,,I got everything I’ll need to finish the job, but I guess I just question the tallness of it,,???,,,and then how the heck I’m I gonna clean this thing..???
I’ll have to see once it all gets installed and set up, but I was thinking about building some type of little angled bottom step to place on the roof (4/12 pitch) to get me up to where I could work at the very top.

Any thoughts ..greatly appreciated.

 

[BrotherBart]

Hopefully some of the chimney pros will pass-thru with good suggestions. I just wanted to compliment you on taking cleaning into consideration prior to the installation. So many times it is a "whoops!" afterthought.

 

[blackgooseJT]

If you use a shorter section for the last joint(3 ft.) put your support brace below the last chimney joint, and use the locking bands to keep those joints secure.(You'll need to come up with a combination that is workable and still meets height requirements.) Then you can remove the top joint and set it aside on the roof when it comes time to service, even with the cap still attached. I've done this on a few.

blackgooseJT

 

[webbie]

Tall chimney is good........in most all respects.

It is much easier to cut a draft down (if needed) than to boost it up.

 

[Drifthopper]

Thanks Web...i'm going with all 20', i got it, and decided to go with it.

 

[fossil]

The suggestion made by blackgoose sure made a heck of a lot of sense to me. Rick