Chimney question from a newbie

[mikemackin]

Hi All,

I'm planning on taking the wood stove plunge this summer. I just climbed up the 35' chimney yesterday to measure my tile (exterior) liner and found there is 6 1/2" x 10" of space for a liner plus insulation. I plan on putting in a free-standing stove and venting out the back and then up so I can set it in front of the existing box. I have 1400 sq ft to heat.

I see most stoves have a 6" vent so I'm thinking I won't be able to get 6" stainless plus +- 2" of insulation down the chimney???

Any comments? How about reducing the flue down to 5"? Could my chimney have one smaller tile on the top and then be larger the rest of the way down? Do they make stoves with 5" vents?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[BrotherBart]

At 35' a 5.5" liner should do fine with most stoves spec'ed for 6" flues. Your challenge is finding a rear flue exit stove that you like and that will do the job. Several out there. And lots of folks here to help you through the project.

 

[chimneylinerjames]

You could definitely use a 5.5" liner. You could use 1/4" insulation, instead of the 1/2", that would give you about 6.25" overall outside diameter. It may still be tight but with a pulling cone and a rope it should fit. If it has some turns in the chimney or flues that are offset, I would break out the flues and just use 1/2" insulation.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum Mike.

With what you have stated, I would highly recommend you look closely at the Woodstock line and the Fireview would be my preference. Also look closely at what Woodstock offers including a six month money back guarantee on their stoves. You'll also find they are second to none when it comes to customer service.

fwiw, your home and ours would be about the same size and we heat very comfortably with the Fireview. In addition we can heat our house on less than 3 cord of wood per year. In addition, this is a clean burning stove (if you give it good fuel). We've cleaned our chimney exactly one time in six burning seasons and there is zero creosote!


One good hint that I really hope you take no matter what stove you buy. If you have not yet done so, get your wood now. Yesterday if at all possible and do not plan on burning oak for a few years. That is because oak takes so long to dry out to burn as it should. If you are buying wood, beware that they will all tell you their wood is "seasoned" and ready to burn. My recommendation is to not believe even one of those sellers. If you did a search on this forum you will find that almost all new wood burners have problems in their first couple years and want to blame the stove or chimney when it is nothing but the wood they are attempting to burn. So do yourself a favor and get the wood before you get the stove. Stack it off the ground and out in the windiest spot on your place. Pray that Mother Nature will dry that wood enough for you to burn good this next winter.

Good luck.

 

[dougand3]

Like Dennis said, get your wood split and stacked in the sun and wind now. If you can get a softwood like southern yellow pine, it will be ok to pretty good for winter 2013-14.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like 5" Duraliner was made for this job. It is preinsulated so you don't need to account for an insulation wrap. At 35' it should do ok. There are a few European stoves with ~5" vents, but I don't think you will need that. 35' of pipe is going draw well unless there is some serious negative pressure in this location.

Tell us more about where the stove is going and what you want it to do? How large an area do you intend to heat with it?

 

[skinanbones]

with those measurement you have a 8x12 tile and in our experience unless those tiles were setup perfect and straight, it going to be a struggle to get the 5.5 with insulation all the way to the bottem. Realistically 5" with a thin insulation may go down through there. You might want to consider using loose fill insulaltion that you can pour in. As for the reduction at 35' of chimney height 90% of the stoves out there will work on a 5" liner system