Newb Fire Starter - Seeking Knowledge

If I'm looking at what I think I'm looking at on the rear wall of the firebox...looks like a rear outlet for the flue. I believe what you're calling the "slide door" could be a bypass used for startup...intended to give the gases leaving the firebox a minimum resistance flowpath until the fire's established, then the bypass is closed. But maybe it's not, I'm not recognizing the stove. In any case, it looks as though the flue leaves the stove horizontally from the backwall, goes through a thimble into the chimney structure and then there's a 90° bend up...all of that could be packed with creosote and be just a big ugly fire hazard. What's known about the flue gas path after that? Has any sort of stainless steel pipe been added to that 90°...or is this thing just dumping straight into the chimney flue? The (brand new) chimney flue, of course, looks terrific. The interior of the stove & what I assume to be a glimpse into the exiting rear exit flue collar look terrible. I'd get a pro over there to thoroughly examine the entire system and get some recommendations on where to go from here. You didn't mention whether this chimney was completely interior to the structure, or has one or more walls exposed to the outside. It makes a difference in evaluating the operational "health" of the flue system. Total height of the flue from the stove to daylight is also of interest, as is the treatment (if any) of the flue top. Personally, I wouldn't get all excited about burning in that thing before getting good answers to a lot of questions that have to do with the safety of its operation. Rick

C'mon, even with all the tile busted out, how could a mason of anything approaching normal human size be lowered all the way down that chimney flue? I think the first item of business would be to pull that thing out and away from the masonry and find out what's really going on in there behind it. I bet the connection to the chimney flue doesn't meet code. I don't like the looks of any of it, personally (not talking aesthetically here), and I think my recommendation would be to scrap this old thing, and install a nice, modern, efficient woodburning insert into that fireplace...(into which we have yet to peer, but could be ugly)...adding a full-height stainless liner up the flue at the same time. Your home, your call. Me? I'd do it right or not do it at all. Rick

Yeah, I know the chimney is a massive structure...but it only has three little flues that are open clear down into the house, judging from the pic of the top. I can certainly understand that replacing the appliance with an all new system could be out of reach for the time being. That fact, unfortunately, doesn't make this present installation any safer or ready to burn. As I said, I'd get a pro over there and I'd really like to see the thing pulled out for inspecting the fireplace behind, and finding out how it's vented. This kind of installation is (at best) referred to as a "Direct Vent", and there are some specific requirements which must be met to make it considered safe to operate. At worst, it's a "slammer"...no stainless pipe up into the chimney flue from the unit at all. Not good. I'd pull it and thoroughly inspect/investigate before proceeding. Rick

Oh, duh...I just looked more closely at the one pic from the side. This is not an insert...it's a free-standing stove set in front of the old fireplace and venting out the back through a big plate that closes off the fireplace. Interesting. Doesn't really change anything substantially though. Take it apart and see what you've got there, and get a pro involved...that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. Rick

Well, that's at least someplace to start trying to run down any available info on the old appliance. Doesn't really change much about the situation, though. Looks to me as though it could have been burned incorrectly and the system never properly cleaned in all those 32 years. I'd give at least $1.00 to see a pic of that flue before all the old tile was bashed out & replaced. My gut tells me it was pretty ugly/scary. Maybe it never burned, maybe it did...if it looked like the inside/back of the stove & exit piping (which it most certainly must have) I'd have to speculate that at least one chimney fire was experienced, or a chimney fire was inevitable. In any case, a chimney fire can ruin your day (or night)...and take your whole house away from you...not to mention the people who may be in jeopardy. I'm not trying to be alarmist or overly dramatic...just emphasizing the point that there are good reasons for the codes/standards/regs/guidelines, including appliance testing & certification. I burned in a little old side-load Sierra stove in a weekend place we had back in Virginia. Nice little stove. Had all the documentation, it was quite obviously installed carefully and correctly, and well cleaned/maintained. My homeowners insurance agent (a savvy guy, BTW) came out, looked it over, took some clearance measurements, and gave it a thumbs up. If I was your homeowners insurance agent and knew poop from Shinola, I'd give that setup an immediate thumbs down. That's the way I see it. Rick

CBG - I completely agree with Rick on getting a pro out there, or at least, pulling the old Sierra out and taking a look-see at what is behind the block off plate. You could do so and post pics here. The collective knowledge of this place is amazing.

Basically - we KNOW the stove was not burned properly just by looking at it. Fuel, draft, user all come into suspicion at this point. If you are going to bring fire into your home, do it correctly. You don't know what is behind that plate and that is enough to scare the crap out of me. Maybe it is right, maybe not. Even if not it should not be hard (or overly expensive) to make it so.

Personally - I would line the new clay chimney (more $$$), but that is not always a requirement (although HIGHLY recommended).

That's a seriously gunky mess of creosote in the pipe. It looks like the stove was filled with poorly seasoned wood, lit, then shut down and left to smolder for hours. I suspect this is just dumping above the smoke shelf. Lord knows if they even bothered with a block-off plate. Pretty scary stuff when one considers the chimney fire potential. It just gets worse further up the chimney as the smoke cools and condenses.

Personally I also would pull the unit and consider replacement. If you decide to keep it for a season, pull the unit and figure out how it's connected to the liner. And get the driest wood you can, ash if possible for this season. For burning info, BrotherBart had a similar model for many years and can offer some pointers.

Paging BroBart. New Sierra club member in the lobby.

The main thing is to try to avoid a smoldering fire. Give it enough air to burn the wood steadily, particularly at the beginning of the fire or after a reload. Once the fire is mostly coals the air can be closed down further. You can use your chimney as a visual guide. If dark smoke is constantly billowing out of it, the fire is smoldering.

BroB can probably give some very specific info, but there are some generalities to go by as well. FIRST thing I would recommend is getting a thermo on that stove. Pretty inexpensive and is kinda like the speedometer in your car. You can drive without it, but it is really good info to have.

Be aware that with the stove in this gunked up condition - the first fire or two may no be indicative of its real operations. I would start by starting a small/medium HOT fire. Cook some of the gooey flammable stuff off of the inside of that stove. The idea of the small fuel load is to reduce the amount of available fuel if this thing decides to light off.

EDIT: I would seriously consider trying to clean the stove and stove pipe of excess gunk. That is a whole bunch of available fuel that if it lights off is gonna scare the crap out of you.

Uhhh...no. Sounds like you are gonna need to mechanically remove it (screwdriver??). If it is just one section of pipe - replacement may be the easy route.