New member question here.
Background info: We are reconstructing a recently purchased house and are building two side-by-side chimneys to replace one that failed and was torn down. The house is two stories over a full basement, with a basement kick-out space on an outer wall designed for chimneys. We are bringing the chimneys into the insulated envelope of the house with additional framing/insulation.
The side-by-side chimneys will be constructed of 16x16x8 concrete block (9-1/2” ID), starting in the basement and extending through the roof for a total height of 34’. Chimney One will service a first floor wood stove (PE Summit) which we will use this winter, and Chimney Two will be built for a possible whole-house wood furnace installed at a later date. We would like both clean-out doors to be located in the basement.
Though having a personal preference for traditional clay flue, we have decided to go with an insulated 6” stainless steel liner (Forever Flex) for the first chimney installed by the dealer. Cost is about $800 for a 19’ run from thimble to cap, plus some additional labor cost.
When the dealer installs the first-floor liner, he is planning to simply leave the bottom cap off of the T connector, allowing the creosote to fall into the empty cavity of the 16x16 block where the clean-out door is located. My question is whether this is the best approach, both for potential drafting issues and cleaning? Two other options include: A) extending the stainless down an additional 15’ to the clean out door (expensive) or B) running 7” round clay flue up from the clean-out door to the bottom of the stainless T connector. Or... just leave it open as the dealer suggested?
On Chimney Two, we are debating whether to simply leave the 16x16 block flueless for now and go with a stainless steel liner when we add a wood furnace, or build a flue now, using 7” round clay. The estimate for installing the clay flue is about 35% the cost of putting in an insulated stainless steel liner later. One advantage of finishing the second flue now is that we could experiment a bit this winter to see how the old, existing behemoth steel stove sitting in the basement might work. Thoughts??? TIA for your help.
Background info: We are reconstructing a recently purchased house and are building two side-by-side chimneys to replace one that failed and was torn down. The house is two stories over a full basement, with a basement kick-out space on an outer wall designed for chimneys. We are bringing the chimneys into the insulated envelope of the house with additional framing/insulation.
The side-by-side chimneys will be constructed of 16x16x8 concrete block (9-1/2” ID), starting in the basement and extending through the roof for a total height of 34’. Chimney One will service a first floor wood stove (PE Summit) which we will use this winter, and Chimney Two will be built for a possible whole-house wood furnace installed at a later date. We would like both clean-out doors to be located in the basement.
Though having a personal preference for traditional clay flue, we have decided to go with an insulated 6” stainless steel liner (Forever Flex) for the first chimney installed by the dealer. Cost is about $800 for a 19’ run from thimble to cap, plus some additional labor cost.
When the dealer installs the first-floor liner, he is planning to simply leave the bottom cap off of the T connector, allowing the creosote to fall into the empty cavity of the 16x16 block where the clean-out door is located. My question is whether this is the best approach, both for potential drafting issues and cleaning? Two other options include: A) extending the stainless down an additional 15’ to the clean out door (expensive) or B) running 7” round clay flue up from the clean-out door to the bottom of the stainless T connector. Or... just leave it open as the dealer suggested?
On Chimney Two, we are debating whether to simply leave the 16x16 block flueless for now and go with a stainless steel liner when we add a wood furnace, or build a flue now, using 7” round clay. The estimate for installing the clay flue is about 35% the cost of putting in an insulated stainless steel liner later. One advantage of finishing the second flue now is that we could experiment a bit this winter to see how the old, existing behemoth steel stove sitting in the basement might work. Thoughts??? TIA for your help.
) Out the backside presents even more problems, though there may be a small chance to get to it from the side. In either case, I expect I would need an extension of some small length from the T bottom to the clean out door. The other option, which is what is looking more likely, is that I would need to pull the stove pipe and clean out the T from there. If there is an easy way to temporarily remove the cap (don't know how Forever Flex attaches it) and let it drop to a basement clean-out door, that might be preferred, though no less work than cleaning out at the T.