I can't afford a wood burning stove because of chimney. help

[nEWRfire]

Chimney savers just came round and had a great Idea. I'm going to knock chimney down completely. Keep existing furnace and hot water heater vent both out of top of house using b vent and vent stove via class a. Encase both in cement board.

Thoughts?

 

[WayneN]

If you are near an exterior wall, adding your own class A chimney is easy. My total all in cost for my Summers Heat 2000 ( England Madison ) 50-SHSSW01 was $2k US including the class A chimney, stove, and single wall kit. Here's all the part numbers for what i used. The hardest part was the single wall stove pipe kit. It ships almost flat and you have to clip it together which is a pain.




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[rwhite]

I would highly consider double wall or even prefab interior over the roll your own.

 

[maple1]

Re. the water heater, I second going electric. That will do away with one chimney requirement. They are cheap to buy, install & operate.

If the panel is a hindrance, I would put that on the upgrade list too. If your existing one won't handle an electric water heater, it will only be a matter of time before it will become a hindrance to something else too. And if you ever put the house on the market, a new panel will be a selling point. You don't have to do all this stuff at once, plan out annual upgrades for the next 2-3 years or so.

But is your existing heater natural gas, or propane? Or is it oil?

 

[VirginiaIron]

I reckon you don't have to start out with a $4000 woodstove but could probably get away with $1000 or less.

 

[nEWRfire]

Electric water heater sounds interesting - will do more research. For now though I'm thinking of keeping the existing hot water heater.

Wayne.nestor thanks for the very helpful post.

Can someone ball park a materials cost for me for class a and b vent for a 2 story house from the first floor. Straight line of course!

And I'm not totally broke but just can't afford to spend $15k to get stove. $6k is OK.

 

[sportbikerider78]

You don't need to spend tons of money to get a good woodstove. Don't think for a second that you can't heat a home just as well with a $800 NC30 Englander as with a $3,000 cast iron woodstove.

That plumber has you by the nuts for that hot water heater install. Good Lord man, figure out how to do it yourself with some friends. You must have at least one handy friend that trades labor for beer.

 

[Simonkenton]

I have a real good 50 gal direct vent water heater and it cost $700, installation included. I think your plumber is trying to take you to the cleaners for $2K.

 

[begreen]

Electric water heater sounds interesting - will do more research. For now though I'm thinking of keeping the existing hot water heater.

Wayne.nestor thanks for the very helpful post.

Can someone ball park a materials cost for me for class a and b vent for a 2 story house from the first floor. Straight line of course!

And I'm not totally broke but just can't afford to spend $15k to get stove. $6k is OK.

Download a couple stove manuals that you think you may be interested in and download chimney pipe installation instructions. M&G DuraTech manual is well illustrated. That will help you plan out your system so that you can make up a parts list specific to your install. This place has decent prices and are helpful. That will get you to a ballpark estimate. Under $6K is totally achievable.
www.woodstovepro.com (if you call for help, ask for Sean)

 

[nEWRfire]

I have a real good 50 gal direct vent water heater and it cost $700, installation included. I think your plumber is trying to take you to the cleaners for $2K.

I looked up the cost of the heater and it was $1300. 75gal a o Smith

 

[Pertzbro]

Check with your electric company. I got a 80 gallon electric water heater for $1 from my power company. Installed it myself for about $30 in shark fittings, glue and pvc pipes.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Check with your electric company. I got a 80 gallon electric water heater for $1 from my power company. Installed it myself for about $30 in shark fittings, glue and pvc pipes.

That's a good idea. Back in the last century , '80's, there was a gas company that practically gave their appliances away because you were in their district and would use their gas.

 

[Pertzbro]

That's a good idea. Back in the last century , '80's, there was a gas company that practically gave their appliances away because you were in their district and would use their gas.

They did have to come out, unhook the wiring and install a remote switch on it so they can turn the WH off when they are approaching max load for their entire system. I'm on a Electric COOP and they dont create power, they purchase it and get fined(surcharged by whoever the company is that actually produces the power) for overusing what they've purchased. I guess they've done over 4,000 water heaters so far. Typically they are $200 but were running a special for $1. The previous water heater was electric too, but 29! years old and only 50gal.

 

[maple1]

I looked up the cost of the heater and it was $1300. 75gal a o Smith

You shouldn't need one that big.

Are you talking natural gas, propane or oil?

 

[VirginiaIron]

Maybe this is a myth, I seem to remember someone saying that all new installation water heater's had to be the new hybrid type, unless you were replacing an old electric unit and could find a replacement- because the non-hybrid units weren't being made anymore. If he was required to replace the new water heater with a hybrid, due to code, then $1300 is probably correct.

 

[begreen]

Maybe this is a myth, I seem to remember someone saying that all new installation water heater's had to be the new hybrid type, unless you were replacing an old electric unit and could find a replacement- because the non-hybrid units weren't being made anymore. If he was required to replace the new water heater with a hybrid, due to code, then $1300 is probably correct.

Do you mean heat pump hw heaters? That seems premature considering the early failures of the units and now GE ceasing production.

 

[Pertzbro]

Maybe this is a myth, I seem to remember someone saying that all new installation water heater's had to be the new hybrid type, unless you were replacing an old electric unit and could find a replacement- because the non-hybrid units weren't being made anymore. If he was required to replace the new water heater with a hybrid, due to code, then $1300 is probably correct.

Mine is 100% electric, (2) - 4500 watt heating elements.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Yes, stand alone gas expansion heat pump water heater's or Hybrid as I know them.

https://m.lowes.com/pd/GE-GeoSpring...c-Water-Heater-with-Hybrid-Heat-Pump/50335967

 

[begreen]

Yes, stand alone gas expansion heat pump water heater's or Hybrid as I know them.

https://m.lowes.com/pd/GE-GeoSpring...c-Water-Heater-with-Hybrid-Heat-Pump/50335967

That is being discontinued
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com...ing-news/ge-will-drop-heat-pump-water-heaters

 

[VirginiaIron]

That is being discontinued
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com...ing-news/ge-will-drop-heat-pump-water-heaters

It was the first link I found, but that's the type I'm referring to.

 

[begreen]

There are just a handful of manufacturers and reliability is in question. I'd fight the local building dept. tooth and nail if they tried to impose this restriction based on the small number of choices it affords.

 

[kennyp2339]

The stove of choice to run in the main living area of a leaky rather open floor plan of a house would be the Englander NC30, ($799) right now, good discount come spring time. If you treat the stove good and say just put 3 yrs on it I would suspect that you can get between $350.00 and $600.00 on resale (which is pretty dam good)

 

[Marshy]

Yes, stand alone gas expansion heat pump water heater's or Hybrid as I know them.

https://m.lowes.com/pd/GE-GeoSpring...c-Water-Heater-with-Hybrid-Heat-Pump/50335967

I have one of these and love it.

 

[English BoB]

I bought an old house (1896) in NJ and really want to install a wood burning stove. Unfortunately my chimney is in terrible shape. The piece of chimney which is external to the house is going to fall down in next few years, the chimney has 2 flues but one has been filled in with rubble. The 'working' flue is currently used for the hot water heater and 1of the 2 furnaces. There is no flue for the existing fire place. The working flue isn't really working very well either and has cracks and spalling.

So to get a wood burning stove I am going to have to:

• replace the current hot water heater with a direct vent model. The current hot water heater is 10 yrs old and a little undersized for my family. Cost to replace with 75 gallon direct vent $2k - quote from plumber
• replace 10 yr old furnace with direct vent model cost $4k. quote from hvac (I can keep existing furnace as a replacement for when the other direct vent furnace breaks)
• Tear down exterior part of chimney - cost $0 - I will do myself
• New liner in chimney and new extrior steel chimney incl labor i'm guessing $5k
• Blaze ashford 20 or 30 -$4kish or Jotul $2k ish

So I'm guessing the total cost of putting a wood burning stove in is going to be about $13/15k which is really disappointing because it is more than I can afford. I sort of have to do the new hot water heater and furnace but the wood stove if I'm being honest is an indulgence. Do you chaps see any ways I can find some cost savings?

Get more quotes.

bob

 

[JA600L]

Tell us more about the room this stove is going in. Can you draw a layout? What are the materials that the room is built out of?
Are there a lot of walls or is it an open floor plan? This will help us help you figure out what stove would work well in that area. I'm from Lancaster, PA and if your getting the same cold we are you need a big stove but one that doesn't overheat the room. 3 cuft or higher is what I always recommend but not all 3 cuft stoves act the same.