New woodstove setup questions

[dsil]

I purchased a 1900 farmhouse that has 2 chimneys, both run inside the house from the dirt floored basement. Chimney A runs up between the living room and small parlor, exposed on the parlor side, and there is a patched hole in the living room plaster wall where something was hooked up at one time. It now being used for the furnace. Chimney B runs up through the kitchen and large entry/mudroom, and from what I was told was used a few years ago to run a coal stove. Both are brick (where exposed) over concrete block, with a clay liner. The general home inspector said they appear to be in good shape. My thoughts are: move the furnace to chimney B, and install a wood stove in the living room on chimney A. How expensive would this be, would it be easier to put a new chimney outside the home, would it be cheaper in the long run that say a propane stove. Who do I contact to check the chimneys extensively, and what steps in what order should I take to carry out this project fully. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks Doug
Please!, Pretty Please!!

 

[begreen]

What you are proposing 'may' be quite feasible, but at this point it's hard to estimate a price range. There are questions a plenty to answer so that we know more about the setup. Pictures help too. To start with, hire a good local chimney sweep to assess each chimney, top to bottom.

1) Changing the furnace over to chimney B:
a. how far is the furnace from B? Is there a clear space for the furnace exhaust to run to chimney B?
b. what is the liner size, same as chimney A?
c. what is the age of the furnace?
--- If this is an easy change and the run is short, estimate $2-300 assuming the furnace doesn't need to be moved. If it does, this could be expensive.

2) Assuming connecting the furnace to B is feasible,
a. what is the flue size of chimney A?
b. are there clearances necessary for a wood stove?
c. what is the intended use - 24/7 heat or room warming with a nice fire view?


--- This is harder to estimate so here are just some general figures, they may vary greatly depending on what was found, what stove, whether a liner is necessary, whether the chimneys need re-pointing or recapping, heat shields, etc.
sweep both chimneys $250
hearth for new woodstove $250
stove pipe & fittings to connect new stove - $250
inexpensive area stove like the Englander 13-NC - $1000, expensive area stove like a soapstone $2000+

 

[JimWalshin845]

A good chimney sweep can give you a good idea what shape the chimneys are in.

The furnace move, depending upon the type or heat you have (FHA, baseboard, radiator) could run around $500-$1500.

The other chimney for the new stove will have to be lined and probaly a new hearth pad installed so add a low end stove in and you are starting around $1,700 with no bells or whistles and doing it yourself.

I'd move the furnace first, you don't want to be without heat for any length of time and this flue will probably not need a new liner.

As long as you have a decent fire wood source it should pay itself back pretty quickly with a drafty old farmhouse.

Good luck with the project and welcome aboard!

 

[fraxinus]

You've already received excellent advice, so I'd just add a couple of things.
By all means have the chimneys inspected. Old chimneys in Maine are grandfathered (and there are probably tens of thousands of wood stoves and furnaces venting into unsafe unlined chimneys), but if you make any changes the chimney must be lined.
Brick over concrete lifts over clay tile would be a very unusual (but very safe) method of construction pretty much unheard of in a 19th century house.
If venting the furnace into a different chimney requires a long pipe from furnace to chimney, you will run into some code issues. A power vent may be required in the pipe - expensive, uses electricity and are notoriously short lived. Long runs of pipe also tend to rust out quickly.
Outside chimneys are impractical in cold climates. They cannot be kept hot enough to avoid condensation and excessive creosote buld up.

 

[eernest4]

Some body has to play the devil's advocate on the side of cheap & easy, so, it might as well be me.

First, you have already recieved excellent advise in the previous posts of this thread, but I like to turn things upside down & shake them, just to see if any money falls out! :lol:

So, that being said, what's wrong with leaving the furnace where it is , hooked up to chimey A, which it is already in & placing the wood stove in chimney B in the Kitchen.

In my house , the kitchen is the room where every one always is anyhow & where the heat would be most appreciated.

It seems that the previous owner may have had a coal stove in the kitchen , so my idea is not without some merit.

Fans can be used to move the hot air from the kitchen into the living room as follows:
1.
Cold air fan , along the floor, typically a box fan, blowing the cold air from the living room into the kitchen & aimed at the stove. the cold living room air goes towards the stove , where it displaces the warm kitchen air & forces the warm kitchen air out into the living room. Now this cold air from the living room is near the stove ready to be heated & recirculated back into the living room.

2. warm air fan. Above, we used the bottom half of the door between the kitchen & the living room, but now , lets use the top half of the door too, to double the air circulation.

They sell a triangular doorway fan , about $32.oo at lowes or home depot that goes in the upper corner of the doorway , aimed into the living room, to suck hot air out of the kitchen & blow it into the living room.

This system works , as I have tested it in my house for two years now. I have a 50,000 btu pellet stove in my living room,
but we dont use the living room, we use the kitchen all the time & so the heat needs to be transfered from the room it is in to where it can be enjoyed.

There was no place in the kitchen for a pellet stove, as the kitchen was my first choice of where to locate the stove, but no outside wall to vent through , even if room could have been created for the stove.

ADVISE buy a EPS rated secondary burn stove big enough for the sq footage of your house
in fact, oversized a little, as you will be heating both the kitchen & the living room and maybe the next room over from the living room as well,if the stove is big enough to do so.

There is nothing wrong with overheating a room that you are not spending a lot of time in so that the rest of the house can be comfortable. a bigger stove can be set on low & the fuel load can be reduced as well, to have less heat output.

But, if your anything like me, I bought the biggest btu pellet stove I could afford, almost a pellet furnace,at 50,000 btu & it heats my whole first floor , single handedly , from the living room it heats the kitchen, my bedroom, mom's bedroom, the bath room & the stairway to the second floor, as well as warming up two rooms on the second floor.Not enough to make the 2 second floor rooms comfortable, but it do break some of the chill.

There is a lot you can do with your house's natural convection air flows to transfer heat , from room to room to room, as I do as long as you have enough heat to start with & that means a larger stove.

Hot & cold air registers can be cut in the ceiling of the kitchen to heat the second floor, assuming you do have a second floor. The air registers can be bought electric fan forced as well.

HOW MANY SQ FT IS YOUR HOUSE ???? Stove ratings go buy sq ft needing to be heated.

 

[JimWalshin845]

A power vent may be required in the pipe - expensive, uses electricity and are notoriously short lived.

Maybe decades ago, but they run around $300 for 3" exhaust and I had one for over 10 years with never a problem. My unit was also under service contract for the boiler. Certainly a heck of a lot cheaper than a new chimney.

 

[eernest4]

Sorry, I forgot to address the cheapness issue.

Wood heat is the cheapest. It is hard to be cheaper that free wood.

There are posts in this room , bullitin board that tell you how to get wood for free.

I am heating 2700 sq ft all winter 07/08 for free, burning 24/7 for free. I turned off my $7,000.oo per winter oil burner and cut the electric wires to it, so i wouldn't be tempted to be lazy & run the money burner.

I call up company that want to dispose of 6 dump trucks full of wood pallets & say ,dump everything you have to get rid of for free in a big pile, in my driveway.

It is like they just gave me $1000.oo & thanked me for doing it, too.

All I have to do is break pallets apart with a 12 lb sledgehammer, cut the wood in half with my table saw & burn it.

If you have to buy wood, something I have never done yet, it cost 160.oo /unsplit cord, delevered. Unsplit are logs in the round, called rounds & you need to split them before they will burn well. a round log burns very slowly & smokey, while a split burn faster & with less smoke . 1/8th sized splits burn quick,bright & clean.

You can buy split wood delivered for $200.oo, 225.oo,250.oo 260.oo per cord, depending on what the wood seller rip offs feel like overcharging you. And they lie & say it is seasoned when it was cut only 6 months ago & has high moisture content.

So, you will need to learn to tell seasoned from green or high moisture content wood; there are wiki articles here & post as well to educate you. click on hearth wiki on upper right of any page. When wiki page comes up , see menu on left & click on list of wiki topics. This open page of 200 article topics. Click away &read;.

A smart man, commited to wood burning, will buy a chain saw, 1 gas & 1 electric, because lectric chain saw dont vibrate & a huskee 22 ton log splitter from www. tractorsupply.com for 1000.oo & a 4'x8' trailer from www.harborfrieght.com for 350.oo + ship, to haul the wood in
& build a wood shed to keep his wood dry.

Seasoned wood is cut in march, april & may & then split to dry in the sun for june,july ,aug & sept. Wood cut in march is 9 months seasoned by nov & fully seasoned by march of the next yr.

You can burn 6 mo old wood, 9 mon old is better & 1 yr seasoned is best.

Moisture content : 1 yr seasoned is susposed to have below 20 % moisture content,
9 month is maybe 25 % moisture & 6 month 30 % moisture.
The wetter/ greener the wood is ,the worst it burns & the more it smokes.
Wet/ green wood give a relativly cold fire & a relatively cold stove. Lucky to get 400 * stack temp or stove top temp.

Do buy a magnetic stove thermometer that stick to either the stove vent pipe or the stove top
to tell you what temp the stove is burning at.

Always mix some 1 yr seasoned wood with the 6 or 9 month wood to get it hot & burning.

Pellets are more expensive than wood to heat with, about 25% to 30% of the cost of oil heat,
unelse you buy your whole years supply of pellets in aug , when they are plentiful & cheap & on sale.

$4.50 a 40 lb bag seems to be a reasonable price for 2007, but If I had to buy them in jan 08 ,
I wouldn't be suprized to pay 5.oo to 6.oo a bag. IT PAYS TO SHOP HARD & find the guy thats
still selling for 4.50 a bag.

One bag = 1 day 24/7 burn in cold weather as a primary heat source. In mild weather 1 bag=2 day or even 3 days
as an occasional heat source 1 bag=1 week.

Pellet stove is push button- set & forget- thermostat opperation, even when you away from house. Fill 80 lb hopper with 2 bag pellet every 2 days. no wood cutting splitting seasoning.
pellet stove need daily clean out of ashes& yearly maintainance.
1 bag day$5.oo x 30 day=$150.oo month x 6=$900.oo /winter
Your usage & cost may vary.

Pellet stove thru the wall vent kit $120.oo if you DIY & buy parts seperately. Many newbees buy a 375.oo kit in a box that makes you pay for many parts your installation wont ever use
& you pay double for parts you dont need. It costs money to be ignorant.

POINT IS , pellet stove vents are way cheap compaired to stove chimney & can go right thru any outside wall. Only prob is pellet stove need electricity to run in a power outage , you need small portable generator if you want heat or buy pellet stove with 12 volt dc motors & run off car battery for 6 or 8 hr, then need way to recharge dead battery. back to small generator
or start up second car to recharge stove battery.

decisions, decisions, good luck with yours.