Exterior Clearance: Pellet Vent

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bigwalleye

Member
Jan 16, 2011
16
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Long time listener first time caller.

Background: I am going to have a pellet stove installed in the corner of my DR in the next couple of weeks. I am considering installing myself and examined the exterior of my home where the vent should go. I have a single story 60s brick ranch w/eight (8) foot ceilings and an attic. Right above the approximate location of the future pellet stove exhaust vent is an attic vent in the eave of the roof. Whether or not I do the install, I would like to place the vent high (~7 feet high) as there is a traffic path on the exterior of the home and I don't want people running into it. BUT I measure this future vent being as close 18 inches from my attic vent.

Finally my Q: Is a clearance suggested/required between the vent and the roof line/eave and/or attic vent? I certainly don't want hot exhaust gases or byproduct rising up into my attic via attic vent. Should the pipe be run straight up through the ceiling and mounted on the roof?

The Hearth looks like a great site for information with a lot of knowledgeable resources. I'm happy I can join it. Thanks for your guidance.
 
bigwalleye said:
Long time listener first time caller.

Background: I am going to have a pellet stove installed in the corner of my DR in the next couple of weeks. I am considering installing myself and examined the exterior of my home where the vent should go. I have a single story 60s brick ranch w/eight (8) foot ceilings and an attic. Right above the approximate location of the future pellet stove exhaust vent is an attic vent in the eave of the roof. Whether or not I do the install, I would like to place the vent high (~7 feet high) as there is a traffic path on the exterior of the home and I don't want people running into it. BUT I measure this future vent being as close 18 inches from my attic vent.

Finally my Q: Is a clearance suggested/required between the vent and the roof line/eave and/or attic vent? I certainly don't want hot exhaust gases or byproduct rising up into my attic via attic vent. Should the pipe be run straight up through the ceiling and mounted on the roof?

The Hearth looks like a great site for information with a lot of knowledgeable resources. I'm happy I can join it. Thanks for your guidance.
I would think about going straight up from the stove through the ceiling and vent out the roof. It will look a lot better from the out side eliminate messing with the brick work and not be a obstacle. Venting this way will be a more natural draft.
 
You will need to get the install manual for your particular model
before you can determine what the clearances are.
Many different models by the same manufacturer may have identical
clearances specified, but that's not always the case.
 
Even running at specifified clearances, you might still have a problem. Get it above the roofline and don't look back. You don't want that smoke blowing up into your possibly drafty attic.

You don't have to spend much more on pipe to just vent right out through the roof. In fact it might be less since you can probably eliminate a 45 or two at the termination.
 
I would go straight up and above the roofline as mentioned, you have a neater install, and a much better draft.
 
Think the major issues have been covered and I agree with the posters, only thing left is to welcome you to the hearth and encourage you to ask your questions as frequently as you need answers.
 
Great, thanks for that super fast feedback from everyone, it makes a lot of sense. It took me a little while to get my head around the idea of going straight up through the roof - esp since I was thinking it's gonna go a certain way (straight out the wall) and then you find out, hmm, that might not work so well.

I'm going to poke around my attic tonight to get a better feel for any obstructions / rafters that might impact stove placement/positioning in that corner of the DR. I do know that I have a fair amount of loose (blown in cotton fiber?) insulation in my attic right now - so my next question:

Q: will the pipe need to be insulated in the attic area?

PS: I don't think I'll have time to build a hearth base (for aestetics) this season. Will it be difficult to shorten the pipe if I end up raising the stove 6 or 8 inches on a raised hearth/platform? If at all possible, I'd like to factor that in when this stove is installed.
 
bigwalleye said:
Great, thanks for that super fast feedback from everyone, it makes a lot of sense. It took me a little while to get my head around the idea of going straight up through the roof - esp since I was thinking it's gonna go a certain way (straight out the wall) and then you find out, hmm, that might not work so well.

I'm going to poke around my attic tonight to get a better feel for any obstructions / rafters that might impact stove placement/positioning in that corner of the DR. I do know that I have a fair amount of loose (blown in cotton fiber?) insulation in my attic right now - so my next question:

Q: will the pipe need to be insulated in the attic area?

PS: I don't think I'll have time to build a hearth base (for aestetics) this season. Will it be difficult to shorten the pipe if I end up raising the stove 6 or 8 inches on a raised hearth/platform? If at all possible, I'd like to factor that in when this stove is installed.
Insulated pipe, just follow the pipe/vent manufactures recommendations to clearances and you will be ok.
 
Changing the height shouldn't be a problem. They sell a 1 foot long slide adapter that gives you about 10" of adjustment. Just make sure you have 2 straight straight pieces at a location that you can easily reach (one of them will need to be 1 foot long). Then you can replace the 1 foot straight piece with the slide adapter in the future when you install your hearth base. Just watch yourself, it's not unheard of to get a burn pot build up and have hot pellets come tumbling out. That can ruin a floor in an instant.

Good luck!
 
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