Two story home with no chimney - is a woodburner even possible?

[Ravenly]

Hi everyone! I'm so thankful I found this site. I grew up with a free-standing cast iron wood stove and absolutely loved it! It was the best during those freezing winter nights.

A co-worker offered to sell me his Alladin/Quadra free standing wood stove for $50 so I jumped on it!

However, with all of the reading I've been doing I am not sure if its even possible to do - we have a two story home without a chimney...According to one website the stovepipe cannot be longer than 8-10 feet which would be impossible since we need to have the stove on the first floor in our living room. All the others talk about connecting it to a chimney, which we don't have...So not sure where to go from here other than see if anyone knows how we can accomplish this. I'm there has to be a way somehow. Also, I'm trying to avoid having the pipe run straight up through since it will intersect my sons room and I am worried the pipe will get to hot and he burn himself on it.

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

 

[Ravenly]

BTW, my dad says we can just run it through an exterior wall (45 it) and then outside, run the pipe up and side it in to cover the pipe going up the side of the house. But for what its worth not sure if he's knows this isn't a hazard for 100%.

 

[wendell]

Yes, you can but you will need to run Class A all the way once you penetrate the first floor ceiling and it needs to be enclosed so no chance of your son burning himself.

Not sure where they 8-10 feet came from but never heard of a maximum for a stove pipe length. My basement stove has 32 feet of pipe.

 

[begreen]

No problem, this is done all the time. Many of us have new flue systems in one and two story houses.

The confusion is with the terminology. The connector pipe from the stove to the interior chimney should only be 8-10 ft, but the chimney can be much taller. The chimney can be masonry or metal. In a metal flue system, the connector goes from the stove to the first floor penetration. Then there is a ceiling support box. At that point the metal pipe becomes class A pipe which has greater insulation. This continues up through the 2nd floor right up to daylight.

If at all possible, keep the chimney on the interior of the house for a better performing flue.

This article explains the new chimney in greater detail:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/htchimneyup_twostory

 

[Ravenly]

Wow what super quick great responses! Thank you SO much that article was exactly what I was looking for.

 

[RSNovi]

I am installing a stove in my basement and I need a chimney installed. The stove is going in this week and the installer wasn't too concerned with the 32' chimney that it is going to require.

 

[Badfish740]

No worries on the long length. Most folks have problems because their chimney is on the short side, which, combined with direction changes (elbows and tees), can cause problems with draft. My chimney is 22' tall and drafts nicely in any kind of weather. You should be just fine going longer, although you may find that you need to install a damper because the draft is too strong and you end up going through wood too quickly.

 

[Danno77]

I am installing a stove in my basement and I need a chimney installed. The stove is going in this week and the installer wasn't too concerned with the 32' chimney that it is going to require.

what stove are you getting? you'll probably be fine, but some stoves (I think mine does) say that there is a max chimney length.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum Ravenly.

Just to let you know, we put up an exterior SS chimney that runs up along the outside wall. It works fine with no chase needed as some would claim. One warning though, if you go horizontal, that horizontal section needs a minimum of 1/4" rise per foot. We went about 1/2" rise per foot and it works very well. Good luck.

 

[RSNovi]

Good point on the excessive draft. I was wondering about that too. I plan to attach the new chimney to the back side of an existing enclosure for my fireplace chimney. It is one of those cantelever type inefficient wood burners that I have gas logs in.

Given where I want the stove in the basement, this puts some constraints on where the stovepipe needs to exit the wall so it can just bolt right onto the back of the existing chimney. The installer felt using 2 90 elbows would be the most pleasing to the eye. I figure with the tall chimney that the 90 elbows shouldn't cause a draft problem. I hope. Some day I can enclose the new chimney by just extending the current enclosure if I don't like the looks of the stainless class A.

Chris

 

[firefighterjake]

Well by now as you can see you have a couple of options . . . go out and up like your Dad mentioned with Class A metal chimney (around here many folks call it by the brand name Metalbestos) or you can go up with single or double wall pipe and then have the transition to Class A chimney when you breach the roof. There are pros- and cons- to both ways.

In my own case I went with an out and up install due to the home's construction. While it may have been a little more expensive, it was an easier install (no cutting into the roof, second floor or second floor ceiling) . . . and as it turns out the draft is fine which is sometimes a concern for outside chimneys . . . I may lose a bit of heat with this type of install, but doing an inside install would have been a challenge.

I suspect the 8-10 feet figure you mention is a restriction on the horizontal run to the chimney and not the actual chimney itself.

Oh yeah . . . welcome to the forum.