Hooking pellet stove to chimney questions.....

[lessoil]

Talking about putting 2nd stove in basement. We have a single flu chimney which had the furnace and Memco wood boiler hooked to when we bought the house.
The Memco unit is gone so was thinking of using the chimney for the stove hookup.
I know that a dealer can not hook 2 devices to one chimney but I can.
I just wonder how the natural draft in the chimney would affect the stove draft.

I want to warm the basement up plus try to fabricate a coil etc to assist the boiler so as to reduce oil consumption further.
Any thoughts on this??

Thanks!

 

[rickwa]

do not hook 2 appliances to one flue! what else is hooked to it now that the others are gone

 

[rickwa]

I assume the other pellet stove? Is there enough room to run 2 liners down it or upgrade to a bigger stove

 

[lessoil]

I assume the other pellet stove? Is there enough room to run 2 liners down it or upgrade to a bigger stove

The basement would have the furnace and pellet stove (2nd one in house) hooked to chimney.
The other stove is on 1st floor vented direct through the wall.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Two stoves in one flue is a basic no-no on everything you read. Besides screwing up the draft, pushing carbon monoxide into the non-working appliance from the working one would worry the crap out of me! Like someone said, if the flue is big enough, run a 3-4" liner all the way up and terminate at the top with a rain cap. Of course, you could run a separate flue out the wall and up the outside wall.

 

[lessoil]

Two stoves in one flue is a basic no-no on everything you read. Besides screwing up the draft, pushing carbon monoxide into the non-working appliance from the working one would worry the crap out of me! Like someone said, if the flue is big enough, run a 3-4" liner all the way up and terminate at the top with a rain cap. Of course, you could run a separate flue out the wall and up the outside wall.

Even though the previous owners had 2 devices on one chimney, as you stated it would not be wise to do so.
Thanks for the info. Will go back to the drawing board!! Will look at the ease of venting it outside.
I could sacrifice one basement window. The one facing the North Pole!

 

[rickwa]

I know was common to vent two or more gas appliances into 1 flue back before everything went to forced air combustion. Then the stack was in a slight negative pressure pulling the gases out. as soon as you start forcing flue gasses in the stack becomes positive pressure and it will come back out wherever it is easiest, like through your furnace and into your house. Same principle as having a fire in your open fireplace, it works fine. Try hooking up a pellet stove and just pointing the vent pipe into the fireplace, it dont work

 

[rickwa]

Me. now allows for install of 2 appliances into 1 chimney so check with ins. co. & code inspector. I see no problem with a clean burning pellet stove & oil furnace sharing the same chimney. A window vented flue might get cooled too much by contacting snow.

I can hardly believe that any code would allow 2 positive pressure venting appliances share a flue. There is no "check valve" or reverse flow damper built into appliances that I know of. I definetly would not concider it at my house. In a wind/bad down draft situation the stove would not shut down, the exhaust would take the next easiest path which would be to back feed into your furnace then into your house. I would like to see that section quoted.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Me. now allows for install of 2 appliances into 1 chimney so check with ins. co. & code inspector. I see no problem with a clean burning pellet stove & oil furnace sharing the same chimney. A window vented flue might get cooled too much by contacting snow.

There are a lot of conditions that need to be met for that to be legal in Maine, and under the home rule provisions of Maine Law any minor jurisdiction can impose a more restrictive set of conditions.

 

[maineislandgirl]

There are a lot of conditions that need to be met for that to be legal in Maine, and under the home rule provisions of Maine Law any minor jurisdiction can impose a more restrictive set of conditions.

As a fomer Fire Fighter in Maine let me also add that the laws in Maine only apply as a grandfathering to old construction with existing double hookups (prior to 1998 that is) no new construction of this type or new installation, is allowed. Your home would also be required to be regularly inspected for chimney safety and you are required to have a CO2 monitor installed near a bedroom. Personally I think that part should be ammended to having one near each of the two heating units as well. . . And if the house is large, one near the main area of the house where the most time is spent just for the sake of being safe. The idea behind this law was to not rob people who already had the systems installed from being able to heat their homes as they had been. People would have had to choose between their furnace and woodstove and use only the one. Wood being cheaper would likely have won in many cases and though it is great it is not a perfect system as you can't go away and leave your home for long without someone to tend your fire. Going only to oil could bankrupt some people. . . Especially those who were already purchased into a season or twos worth of wood. . .
I grew up in a home with wood and oil on one chimney and even with a fire fighter father who took excellent care of our chimney. . .we had chimney fires several times. Its dangerous in many ways. . .the fire danger and the possible CO2 poisoning. . . it is however, how many folks in this state have actually survived economically in some pretty cold winters.
Maine was not looking to be careless. . . We were trying to help people the best way we could and put safety measures in place as a fail safe. We do have more chimney fires. . . And our FDs are trained to look for the double hook ups in both those cases and suspected CO2 poisonings. . . Nothing is black and white with regulations. . . We are just trying to do what will be for the greater good for the greatest number of people.

 

[pen]

Since this thread is 3 years old, I'm going to close things up. If there is a need to re-open the discussion just PM me or one of the other mods.

pen