Couple of questions for my new install

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mespork

New Member
Jan 7, 2008
13
Central NY
Hello everyone,

First of all I have to say I love this forum. I have been searching and reading for weeks now. There is so much good information in here it is unbelievable.

Anyway, I have been working for a couple of weeks now to prepare for a new wood stove install. I had quite a bit of work to get to this point. Our fireplace upstairs was falling through the floor because it was not supported enough when originally constructed. My brother in law and I were able to jack the fireplace back into position (after several hours of removing all the motor they had pured to fill the gaps).

After that issue we were able to remove the old franklin stove that had been built into a brick surround downstairs. When removing this surround we found that it was properly tied into the wall and could of fallen had enough force been applied. Now I am in the process of building a new hearth and just had a few questions before I install a new wood stove.

- The floor in the room that will have the wood stove is concrete(lower level of raised ranch). I am laying down ceramic tile where the stove is going to be then putting engineered hardwoods in the rest of the room. Do I need to put backer board (durock) under the tile or should I just put the tile right on the concrete? And should the hearth still stay at 4' X 4' even on concrete?

- I am hooking into an existing masonry flue. The problem that I have is that the flue is an 8" X 8" and the stoves that I am looking at are 6" round. What is the best way to adapt to this (ie. sheet metal, or are there adapters for this, or should I try to pack in refractory cement).

- I have to put this pipe through a wall (tile and durock), should I use double wall stove pipe?

- And finally, I am still trying to make a final decision between on the stove. I am considering an englander 13 or a napoleon 1100c. What are peoples opinions on these? Is there another stove around 1000 that might work better. Is the 1100c worth the extra $500?

Thanks,

David
 
mespork said:
Hello everyone,

First of all I have to say I love this forum. I have been searching and reading for weeks now. There is so much good information in here it is unbelievable.

Anyway, I have been working for a couple of weeks now to prepare for a new wood stove install. I had quite a bit of work to get to this point. Our fireplace upstairs was falling through the floor because it was not supported enough when originally constructed. My brother in law and I were able to jack the fireplace back into position (after several hours of removing all the motor they had pured to fill the gaps).

After that issue we were able to remove the old franklin stove that had been built into a brick surround downstairs. When removing this surround we found that it was properly tied into the wall and could of fallen had enough force been applied. Now I am in the process of building a new hearth and just had a few questions before I install a new wood stove.

- The floor in the room that will have the wood stove is concrete(lower level of raised ranch). I am laying down ceramic tile where the stove is going to be then putting engineered hardwoods in the rest of the room. Do I need to put backer board (durock) under the tile or should I just put the tile right on the concrete? And should the hearth still stay at 4' X 4' even on concrete?

- I am hooking into an existing masonry flue. The problem that I have is that the flue is an 8" X 8" and the stoves that I am looking at are 6" round. What is the best way to adapt to this (ie. sheet metal, or are there adapters for this, or should I try to pack in refractory cement).

- I have to put this pipe through a wall (tile and durock), should I use double wall stove pipe?

- And finally, I am still trying to make a final decision between on the stove. I am considering an englander 13 or a napoleon 1100c. What are peoples opinions on these? Is there another stove around 1000 that might work better. Is the 1100c worth the extra $500?

Thanks,

David

The tile can go right on the concrete. There is no "R" or "K" value consideration, because the concrete is non-combustible. It is also several inches think and therefore stable - so the tile is unlikely to crack. One reason to consider cement board is if you want to raise the hearth a little. You can put a few layers down and get the stove up a few inches. This could be for looks or to assist in loading. The hearth should stay at 4' x 4' because the hardwood that it meets it is combustible and this is the clearance to combustibles the manufacture specified (I assume that's where that dimension came from).

The best way to connect to your chimney is by running a 6" SS liner with insulation (if an exterior chimney) down the flue and use a "T" to connect to a proper '"wall pass through" - you then connect to the pass through with stove pipe - single or double wall. Single gives you more heat in the room, double is safer and keeps the flue hotter, lessening the chance for creosote formation.

The Englanders are very highly regarded here - from the home page, find the "rate your stove" section for info on the Napoleon.

Good luck, be safe.
 
Make the hearth full-sized or even several inches larger. Otherwise, if find you want a larger stove later on, you'll be ripping up the engineered flooring to accommodate the larger hearth needs. A big hearth is nice. There's a lot of mess that goes with burning wood and a big hearth helps contain it. You might even consider an extended hearth to store a rack of wood on. (Just keep it a safe distance from the stove). I'd go with double-wall pipe. It will reduce your clearance requirements and will keep the flue gases hotter. This is a good thing if dumping into a cold exterior chimney.

How large a place are you trying to heat? How will the heat get up to the second level? Is there a large open stairway nearby or will there be another stove on the upper level?
 
Note, Rick will probably be here shortly with his magnaflux calculator to verify, but is this 8x8 flue interior or exterior? Is the 8x8 measurement ID or OD?
 
It is an exterior. The flue is completely separate from the fireplace (which sits above this area). I am not sure if the diameter is interior or outside, I will check when I get home.

Do I need to use a T connector? The connection is going into the bottom of this flue. Could I just use a 90 degree elbow?

The entire house is about 1600 Sq Ft. There is a stair way that leads up to the landing by the front door which is very open. The house is well insulated with newer windows.

Thanks for the help!

David
 
Ok, so I just measured the pipe. The outside diameter is 8", the inside is closer to 6". The other thing that I forgot to mention about this pipe is that there is a 45 degree bend in the pipe before it proceeds up.

Do I need to line this entire flue? Also I am constructing the area where the wood stove is going. I have decided to be extra safe by building a heat shield (1" gap between pieces of durock with tile). My question is do I need to go up more than 4 feet with this shield?

Also I am leaning towards the double walled pipe and the Englander 13.

Thanks

David
 
Any way you could shoot us a few pics of what you're doin' there, David? The stove location and the existing flue into which you're connecting it, specifically... Rick
 
fossil said:
Any way you could shoot us a few pics of what you're doin' there, David? The stove location and the existing flue into which you're connecting it, specifically... Rick


I will try to get some for tomorrow. My digital camera needs some new batteries.


Thanks for all the help.

David
 
Ok, Here are the photos that I was promised:

The first photo is of the opening where the old Franklin stove used to sit (never put off heat there). The next photos are of the flue from two different angles.

As you can see this basement has turned into quite the project.

David
 

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Ok,

So I was able to talk to a local fire official about my flue situation. He said that as long as I am burning wood and not coal the clay flue should be fine. He said that this was because the wood stove should create a strong enough draft without installing a liner. Does this sound right??

David
 
Those flue pics look scary to me! What is holding that clay in there? After that crazy angle is it straight? Can you see from the top down with a big light? Do the joints look good? Im not sure the best way to adapt to that, you should use a tee, and I would support the tee just to make sure it can't come out. Either way, it looks like you will need to tear down the whole setup to clean it every year, make sure it's done in a way that you can take it apart. I bet you can drop a liner for about the same price as a your deductible. ;-)
 
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