need advice

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willywil

Member
Jan 29, 2012
19
Long Island
I would like to be able to install stove or insert in a screened room that I plan on making a 4 season room. Does anyone know what special material I should on the exterior wall? The fireplace is very close to the wall.

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This depends on the stove clearances. What is the plan? Are you intending to cover up the brick? This is an unconventional setup, so I'm not sure whether an insert would work or not. Regardless, with the short chimney, options may be limited.
 
Eyeballing it, I'd say you have roughly 8 feet of chimney. Are there any stoves designed to work with such a short pipe?
 
That short chimney also caught my attention. That is not enough for a wood stove.
 
Pre-epa stoves may work ok if the local authority allows this. I'm thinking a Jotul 602 for example.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I also thought about putting a stove on the hearth in the living room and/or a insert in the basement. I plan on waiting until the spring to purchase anything. From reading past posts from all the super helpful members I know a insulated liner is a must for any of these plans. The chimney for the living room is about 4 feet longer than the screened room's. Will it be long enough for a EPA stove or insert ? Thanks EveryoneIMG_3325.JPGIMG_3329.JPG
 
The living room may be just barely adequate if it is 12 ft or greater, though it looks like it terminates at the same height, so measure first. The issue will be the same here, so an easy breathing stove will be best. The basement looks ok for a good sized insert and that additional 8 ft will help a lot. You will want to add a little height to the primary heater anyway, just to stop one flue from back-siphoning down the other and creating a stinky burnt wood smell out of the other fireplace.
 
I hope the chimney height wont be a issue in the living room. The wife and I enjoy burning wood and both of us like the idea of wood stove. We are not completely against a insert but the idea of the fan running all the time didn't seem great. The house is about 1600 sq. and well insulated. The basement fire place has it's own chimney.

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That 12 foot chimney is border line to me i think you need at least a 14 foot chimney.
 
Willy, since you are looking at perhaps next spring, this might be ideal for you to begin gathering wood this winter. You know that most wood needs a year to dry after it has been split and stacked out in the wind, so this is a great situation for you. Just don't cut oak and expect it to be ready to burn next winter because it won't. We give oak 3 years in the stack before burning.

Even if you plan on buying your wood, for sure, get it now! Don't fall into the common trap of new wood burners and install a good stove then go looking for wood. That is a terrible situation for anyone to be in because it always brings problems. So get wood as soon as possible while you are doing the planning for the stove. You may not know the correct length but if you get 16" you will be fine for most stoves.
 
I have been cutting and stacking for about 6 months now. Everyone on this site stress the need for dry wood and I have taken the advice. I have 6 cords stacked half is red oak. The other half is locust, hickory and some hard maple. I cut the pieces to 18''. Hopefully it I'll be in good shape next winter.

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Great Willy. Nice neat stacking job too. Just beware that red oak will not be ready to burn next fall. I've no experience with locust but is seems most say that also needs extra time to dry. Hickoy rocks! So does hard maple and that will probably be the first wood you should burn. If at all possible, try to get 3 years ahead on the wood stacks. You will never be sorry for it and it is better than money in the bank. It pays great dividends and is non taxable.
 
Long Island... can you get any Ash? Cut and split now, that'll be your best shot at having good hardwood ready for next fall. Ash dries remarkably fast.
 
I hope the chimney height wont be a issue in the living room. The wife and I enjoy burning wood and both of us like the idea of wood stove. We are not completely against a insert but the idea of the fan running all the time didn't seem great. The house is about 1600 sq. and well insulated. The basement fire place has it's own chimney.

It looks like the fireplace is sitting below ground level in the picture with maybe a 14' flue? That might give you the best performance depending on how that space is insulated and how well heat can get upstairs. Can you also post a picture of the basement fireplace from the inside and include dimensions for the fireplace opening and depth (top and bottom)?
 
IMG_3334.JPGIMG_3335.JPG The fire place is 36'' x 27'' . It has a heatilator that i guess was part of the original construction. The house was built in 1959.
 
So far that looks like the best option I have seen. How well insulated is the basement and how large is the area where this fireplace is located? Is there a stairway open to upstairs in this room?

PS: You're doing great with the wood. Locust has dried out pretty quickly for us so I'm guessing it will be ready for next winter.
 
Half of the 1500 sq. or so basement has what looks like 4'' fiberglass insulation behind the sheetrock. The other half is not insulated. I had all the joist ends sprayed with closed cell spray one inch. The half of the ranch house that was redone after i purchased has 1'' closed cell over all walls covered with r-15. The ceiling has r-38 fiberglass. The basement doorway is about 10' from the fireplace.

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Looks like you are pretty well set for using the basement stove/insert for heating then. It's not ideal, normally I would recommend putting the heat upstairs, but with the short upstairs chimneys this is the route I would consider. It looks like you could go with an insert or some free-standing stoves. Inserts that project out onto the hearth will work better in a power outage. Some have fairly good designs to convect heat well without the fan running. But a free standing stove will do the best for convecting heat. Maybe a Woodstock Fireview or Progress Hybrid?
 
Looks like you are pretty well set for using the basement stove/insert for heating then. It's not ideal, normally I would recommend putting the heat upstairs, but with the short upstairs chimneys this is the route I would consider. It looks like you could go with an insert or some free-standing stoves. Inserts that project out onto the hearth will work better in a power outage. Some have fairly good designs to convect heat well without the fan running. But a free standing stove will do the best for convecting heat. Maybe a Woodstock Fireview or Progress Hybrid?
What is the min. chimney length that I would need for either of those stoves. My wife and I think they look great and I love their reputation and that they are made local.
 
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