Vertical Venting

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xraycer

Member
Nov 2, 2011
162
Pelham NH
I've read that you want to have at least a few feet of vertical venting to create draft incase of power outages to prevent smoke from back-flowing into the house. Is there a magic number that works best, or is it the taller the better?
 
the Code laws dictate your minimums with regard to your home, .........check with your local Town Hall Inspection Department for particulars. As for how much HIGHER you want to go beyond that, ............depends on your elevation and location.

Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania for example, is surrounded by hills and therefore sits in a gully (essentially). If there isn't a wood stove BAN there, there SHOULD be. Towns that sit in gullies, if inundated by wood-burning citizens, would have a permanent haze settling in over their town, because the smoke would be trapped by the surrounding hills, creating an air quality issue. Wouldn't matter HOW high they raised their chimneys above their roof peak.

-Soupy1957
 
soupy got lost again.

check your manual.

taller is better. IMO
 
Our Accentra FS was installed about 3 weeks ago by the dealer. The venting is horizontal, save a low degree of pitch between thge stove and the thimble. Should I be concerned about this?

Interestingly a friend I haven't seen in a while who has 5 pellet stoves between his two houses, alerted me to the vertical venting issue the same day this thread was started. The Harman book that came with the stove is clear that vertical is optimal, but the dealer still says not to worry. Now I am not so sure.

Obviously it would not be a big problem to rework the venting. Should I?

If I had any idea how to insert a photo here, I would.
 
xraycer said:
I've read that you want to have at least a few feet of vertical venting to create draft incase of power outages to prevent smoke from back-flowing into the house. Is there a magic number that works best, or is it the taller the better?

Typically 4 feet is a good vertical vent for draft issues in case of a power outage. That's what I would shoot for.
 
RKS130 said:
Our Accentra FS was installed about 3 weeks ago by the dealer. The venting is horizontal, save a low degree of pitch between thge stove and the thimble. Should I be concerned about this?

Interestingly a friend I haven't seen in a while who has 5 pellet stoves between his two houses, alerted me to the vertical venting issue the same day this thread was started. The Harman book that came with the stove is clear that vertical is optimal, but the dealer still says not to worry. Now I am not so sure.

Obviously it would not be a big problem to rework the venting. Should I?

If I had any idea how to insert a photo here, I would.

The reason for the vertical venting is to prevent the smoke from entering the house, this usually happens in a couple of ways a frequent location is via the air intake, the Harman has an air intake flapper that closes if the combustion blowers stops running.

The other places are via small leaks in the exhaust system you don't have any of those do you?

Air washes.

The hopper, yours I believe is sealed.

Usually if the stove is cranking and the venting installed properly whatever is left for smoke will exit the vent.

Consult your stove installation manual.


You can insert a photo a couple of ways one is via the attachment feature if you are not using the fast reply mode. You have to make sure the photo passes the size requirements imposed by this site.

The other is to provide a link to a photo hosting site to which you have uploaded your photo.

Check the link at the top of the forum about preparing images for both emailing and web use.
 
As always, hat tip to Smokey. I will work on the photo.
 
If this works, then the pic is of my exterior vent set up.
 

Attachments

  • Outside Vent 2.jpg
    Outside Vent 2.jpg
    61.8 KB · Views: 300
Well how about that!! Thanks again to Smokey. Now that you all can see it, comments are welcomed.
 
I thought so too and asked the installer about that. He said it was fine, and he is probably right (the perspective might distort the distances in the photo). I say he was probably right because the stove has been running since 10/24 and not even one leaf has curled up and died from the heat. But we will watch to make sure the ivy and such does not grow too close.
 
Those dried leaves seem pretty close to the termination in that pic.
 
We removed the leaves the day after the pic was taken, which was the day of the install and before the stove was turned on. Some keep blowing back, but my 15 year old son has been detailed to check every day and make sure we are clear.
 
smoke show said:
soupy got lost again.

check your manual.

taller is better. IMO

Manual doesn't give any recommendation on how tall the vert section should be. Lady on the phone from the town hall says that the inspector just goes by the manufacturers guidelines. I'll try to get in touch with the town's code inspector to see what he has to say.
 
I have a very short horizontal exhaust & lost power several times while running & had no excessive smoke. At least not enuff to bother momma. :)
 
xraycer said:
smoke show said:
soupy got lost again.

check your manual.

taller is better. IMO

Manual doesn't give any recommendation on how tall the vert section should be. Lady on the phone from the town hall says that the inspector just goes by the manufacturers guidelines. I'll try to get in touch with the town's code inspector to see what he has to say.

I beg to differ page 10 if this is a free standing stove.
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
xraycer said:
smoke show said:
soupy got lost again.

check your manual.

taller is better. IMO

Manual doesn't give any recommendation on how tall the vert section should be. Lady on the phone from the town hall says that the inspector just goes by the manufacturers guidelines. I'll try to get in touch with the town's code inspector to see what he has to say.

I beg to differ page 10 if this is a free standing stove.

good call smokey.

25-EP manual http://englanderstoves.com/manuals/25-EP_EPI.pdf
 
smoke show said:
SmokeyTheBear said:
xraycer said:
smoke show said:
soupy got lost again.

check your manual.

taller is better. IMO

Manual doesn't give any recommendation on how tall the vert section should be. Lady on the phone from the town hall says that the inspector just goes by the manufacturers guidelines. I'll try to get in touch with the town's code inspector to see what he has to say.

I beg to differ page 10 if this is a free standing stove.

good call smokey.

25-EP manual http://englanderstoves.com/manuals/25-EP_EPI.pdf


From the Englander manual. Thanks guys this is good info!
We require a minimum vertical rise of 36 in. (3 ft.) of pipe to create natural
draft in the system, which helps evacuate smoke from the stove in the event
of a power failure or combustion blower failure.
 
Yep... All Englanders require 36" of vertical. And an OAK.... To be up to snuff and pass inspections.
 
SmokeyTheBear said:
xraycer said:
smoke show said:
soupy got lost again.

check your manual.

taller is better. IMO

Manual doesn't give any recommendation on how tall the vert section should be. Lady on the phone from the town hall says that the inspector just goes by the manufacturers guidelines. I'll try to get in touch with the town's code inspector to see what he has to say.

I beg to differ page 10 if this is a free standing stove.

How the heck did I miss that? Total brain fart :red:
Thank you sir.
Love this site!
 
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