wood stove into chimeny that had been for oil...

[mhyde71]

okay guys... nice forum... and thanks for welcoming me.

heres the story / question:

i am in old building... old chimney etc etc

I built a double barrel stove...

heretofore I/we had always heated the shop with #2 oil and/or off road diesel...last 3 years it has been off road diesel...

BUT now i want to get into heating with wood. is it okay if i remove the oil burner (completely) from the equation, and pipe in the stove...? the concern is that the soot or whatever is left over from diesel burning...is it okay to run with the wood behind it w/o cleaning chimney...? Now, i have no clue how long it has been since the chimney was cleaned...

what can, or is there anything, i can do as a "diy'er" to clean and get chimney up-to-snuff for safe wood heating? My plan is to fully remove funace, and hard pipe the stove into chimney...NOT like you see it now. Last night i had a slight scare, and in full disclosure i had installed stove and used for last couple weeks...but yesterday i was given a scare, as there was smoke coming from the oil burner...as you can see in pic...while the oil burner is not seeing any service, it is still "piped" in...for the first couple weeks it was going fine...but yesterday there was smoke coming from oil burner, so i had to pull pipe off, and sprayed water down there until the smoke was stopped...

So i need/want to pull the furnace right out and get rid of that "T" up top and just straight pipe the stove in.... ? Do-ABLE? or a thimble (as i was suggested from buddy)...? my concern is that perhaps while not "in code".... BUT and/or what would i have to do to make it a safe configuration... not sure if it out of code...but for the time being so long as it is safe i am okay...codes i will deal with later...unless there is nothing here that looks to be out of code? idk...

Chimney and stove pipe cleaning? what/how does one do and need to be aware of cleaning a chimney
fwiw- i have huge sandblaster (we do coating and blasting work) and i could and would be happy to run blaster up through the chimney and remove the crap from the base chimney...? good idea? or are there better, more efficient, more reliable ways of cleaning?

 

[mhyde71]

allo- allo...anyone around?
30+ views...no feedback...??
Am i asking dumb or stupid questions?
I have googled it, but get conflicting reports.
Guess i'd just like to hear from someone that might have some idea as to weather or not it safe, ideally even in code, to run wood behind diesel use for 3 years... (after oil burner removal of course).

 

[raybonz]

Welcome to the forum! I can't answer that question but someone will, if not tonight then tomorrow morning..

Good Luck!

Ray

 

[mhyde71]

thanks neighbor!

 

[ansehnlich1]

That's quite an interesting setup ya got there. General code, from what I understand, is one fuel burning appliance per flue.

If it were me, I'd clean and inspect the chimney before doing any more burning.

Is that chimney lined? If not, I'd consider a stainless liner. If it's lined with clay flue tile I'd sweep it and inspect it for damage and still consider lining it with a stainless liner.

The double barrel stove will likely be a creosote producer. You will want to watch for creosote formation for sure.

If you're set on using the double barrel stove, (which I personally would not do) then I'd suggest removing the oil furnace, shortening the distance between the double barrel stove and chimney (keeping in mind clearances to combustibles, including the wall the chimney is on), clean/sweep the chimney and inspect prior to burning, and certainly line the chimney with stainless if it isn't already.

 

[mhyde71]

cool thx.... what is it about the barrels that make them creosote producers?

no clue about chimney if it is lined or not idk.... will have to look into it later tomorrow

just to clarify however... and maybe i am missing the point...but i am looking to only burn wood...no oil or diesel burning any more... so for the start i simply had the exhaust pipe from oil burned left there merely as a support for the stove pipe... there ios no diesel in tank, and power has been discontinued to burner. all thats left is to remove it out from behind the barrels.

oh and this is my shop space, not home...fyi

m

 

[ansehnlich1]

New wood stoves available on the market today meet EPA regulations, meaning they burn fairly clean. They use different ways to burn clean, one being a catalytic converter and the other being one of several methods to 'reburn' the smoke so as to achieve a clean burn. Both methods reduce creosote dramatically if operated correctly.

Your double barrel stove setup likey has no way to burn clean. When EPA stoves burn you cannot see smoke coming out the chimney. Old stoves, lovingly called 'smoke dragons', often produce creosote.

So, for your setup, if you are dead set on using that double barrel stove, I'd remove the oil furnace, move the double barrle stove no closer than 36 inches from the back wall, and run a pipe straigth off the double barrel stove and into the thimble in that chimney.

Then I'd keep an eye on the chimney for the first several weeks and months so as to monitor creosote buildup.

Nobody wants to have a chimney fire.....no fun at all

You hang around here for a bit, there'll be several other opinions on the matter, I am sure.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

2 things i see (bear in mind im trying to help not beat on ya)

1. you should never vent two appliances into the same flue if they burn dissimilar fuels (and really shouldnt do it anyway)

2. even with the oil stove hooked up and not running it allows cooler (not through a fire) air to get into the flue, this cools the chimney and can easily drop it into the creosote zone.

sound advice i saw in the post above mine. completely eliminate the appliance you arent going to use, if the oil stove is not being used, disconnect it from the flue completely and run pipe only from the woodburner. when making your horizontal run from the stove to the chimney, ensure that you have a 1/4 inch rise per foot on the horizontal pipe to help promote draft. burn only dry wood as with the setup you have you are already having to fight to keep stack temps i expect, wet or green wood with drastically increase your risk of a flue fire with the barrel stove setup you have.

hope this helps ya. be safe

 

[mhyde71]

whats this mean> "to keep stack temps i expect"


okay so i will completely remove oil burner from equation... and follow as you suggested with the stove pipe with 1/4" incline per foot...and have chimney guy come out to clean, then line with stainless...

now how does one go about lining inside the chimey... this is two floors tall.... eeek!

m

 

[remkel]

To do mine I took the easy way out- I hired someone.

My run to the top of the chimney is over 30 feet- and I have a 10/12 pitch roof, so I do not go up there!

 

[Shari]

To do mine I took the easy way out- I hired someone.

My run to the top of the chimney is over 30 feet- and I have a 10/12 pitch roof, so I do not go up there!

Yup - hire someone to do it. No sense in you falling off the roof. As I get older I have learned to work smarter and hire out the job when I get the little niggle in the back of my mind....

In order to think this whole thing through, when working on your chimney bear in mind how it will be accessed for cleaning once it's in place. Hah! You say, "It's two stories tall. Do I have to get up on the roof now to clean this dang thing?" Answer: No you don't. We use a Soot-Eater, found here: http://www.sooteater.com/ and do all our cleaning from right inside the house. On the Soot-Eater, the poles that come in the kit have a 18' working length - but that won't get you to the top. You can order additional rods to get you to the top of your chimney but many people find it is less expensive to just or another full kit or two and use the extra kit rods to get you up to the length you have to reach. If you include a T-cleanout with your chimney install, cleaning from the inside will be a snap.