another newbie with Jotul(?) stove... and questions

[budgetburner]

Hello- I am new to stoves, but have dealt with a few fireplaces. Moved this summer into a nice, small rental house with ancient electric baseboard heat, but a ready-to-go hearth setup which vents into a good brick chimney with terra cotta sleeving. There was a stove here in the recent past, but a previous tenant took it or got rid of it. The house is bi-level (on a cliff overlooking the river); total space is maybe 900 sq. ft. The chimney extends about 20 feet from the opening in the hearth (hearth is on basement level, and there is a peaked attic space above the ground floor).
Being budget-conscious and very DIY-oriented, I wanted to get a used stove and install it myself. I shopped and researched older stoves, and settled on what is most likely a Jotul knock-off... perfect size, and delivered (to the hearth) by the seller's sons. A good deal, I think, for $300 delivered, but I'm still hoping to avoid paying anybody to help me install it.

First, here's the thing itself: has the flip-down, roll-under door, and the screen, like a Combifire. But no mfr. name anywhere, and the "leather grain" finish and other details make me think it's not a Jotul.I reckon it will behave like a Jotul, though. The seller had it about 10 years, and it was last used earlier this fall. Bricks are all there, no cracks, door mechanism works fine. It even has the bar that can be inserted to keep wood from rolling against the screen when in "fireplace" mode.



This pic shows the hearth... the brick walls extend to the edges of the photo. There's an iron plate in the corner of the ceiling above the hearth. There's room to scoot the stove back a few more inches. I think there is adequate protection/clearance here... ?? The hole into the chimney can be seen (with cover).



There were some various pieces of stove pipe and elbows left behind, but I don't think I will be able to use any of it.
My questions: is it kosher, or even possible, for me to connect this stove, with its approx. 6 1/4" I.D. collar, with the iron pipe insert into the chimney, which has an I.D. of 5 1/4" ? I know that male ends should go towards the stove to prevent creosote dripping, so I need to start with something that fits inside the stove collar, right?
Is there any simple way to fit 6" pipe to this?



Some anchor holes around the chimney opening indicate some sort of plate or collar was mounted there, but I'm not sure. Whatever was done here, it dripped... you can see it on the brick. I'd like to make my pipe go inside the iron sleeve inside the chimney (it extends about a foot into the chimney), but I guess to do that, I'd have to put a reducer on there. But there may be a tendency to drip anyway, because the 12" run from the room to inside the chimney has minimal rise to it- almost level.



Anyway, I know I will figure something out (before the spring, I hope), but if anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.

 

[begreen]

Greetings. Most likely this is a Taiwanese Scandia copy of a Jotul Combifire. The stove shows signs of overfiring (light grey paint) possibly due to poor air sealing on the door. If there is a chance of returning it I would.

 

[fbelec]

check out the clean out at the bottom of the chimney itself. i had the same stain from leakage down my bricks also it was creosote that built up from the bottom up and when i seen it after our chimney fire it was up at the thimble hole so when it rained it washed the black stuff in.

 

[budgetburner]

The cleanout had a fair amount of ash (and a plastic bag!) inside,but not piled all the way up to the hole. As for being overfired, I don't see any cracks, and the door passes the "dollar bill test", except in one corner of the bottom... where the gasket is a bit beat-up. I think if I replace the gasket, it will be fine.
Just have to figure out how to connect it to the chimney properly...

 

[defiant3]

Isn't 51/4" equal to 125mm? There is an adapter available for this size, a so called "Jotul adapter". Woodman's Parts Plus has them.

 

[defiant3]

Oh wait, I misunderstood the post. It's th eCHIMNEY that's 5 1/4 ". So yeah, not cool

to reduce it.

 

[budgetburner]

FWIW, I made it work... while looking at pipe parts at a local store, I got to talking with another customer who turned out to be a sweep. I described my situation and everything I was planning to do, and he told me it would be fine (despite the reduction). Several burns later, I would say he is right.
FWIW, here's what I did (after replacing the door gasket) :

Since the ID of the stove outlet itself is such an odd size, I tried going over the outside of it... turns out the big end of a "big end crimped" 7" to 6" fits very snugly over the outside of it. I jammed that on there, then back-filled the joint from the inside with cement. Adjustable 6" elbow goes into the small end of that, then a 12" section of 6" pipe, another elbow, then a second reduction, to 5", to get through the odd-size iron tube embedded in the masonry. A previous tenant had left behind a good piece of 5" stainless pipe, so I used that. I cut it so it just peeked out into the clay flue liner (which is a square 6"), wrapped some gasket material around the outside and slathered it with cement before sticking it in there (making sure to keep the rise angle). The 6-to-5 reduction goes right up against the brick, with a decorative ring to hide the fairly crude hole that was made originally. Also got a chimney cap for the top of the clay flue, which extends a few inches from the top of the concrete chimney.

Did a few small burns, then a few bigger ones... so far, it seems to draft normally, and no dripping seen at the stove outlet or on the wall. I get the point of "male ends toward stove", but in the one place where I broke that rule (at the stove outlet) there is no sign of fluid leakage. I have a CO alarm in the room with the stove... so far, no problems with that, either.

The stove itself seems to perform the way the real Jotuls do (based on what I've read here): it can get real hot real fast, but usually needs some babysitting (and a little more feeding) to get a prolonged, steady burn. In "fireplace mode" it's pretty but not very efficient... although it's good for keeping an eye on the fire when I've just lit it, or when I want to burn it down a bit before going out or whatever.
I'm still learning and experimenting, but so far it works fine for my needs.

 

[georgepds]

I had one just like that for ~30 years... Towards the end the door would not close properly..

It had two modes: blast furnace and stone cold

 

[KFC]

This is an American Seating knock off made briefly in 1976-78 of the Jotul Combi 4.
Little to NO info out on the web.
After 43 years, the axle on the rolling door assembly sheared off at one roller.
I am looking for parts diagram to figure out disassembly to weld broken axle.
ANY info would be helpful
Thanks