Bought a house with a Better'n Ben's wood stove.

[new_stove_owner]

I bought a house last year with the same stove in this picture (only difference is I dont have a glass door on mine):

http://s297.photobucket.com/user/jrz126_86ss/media/house/E32nd030.jpg.html

The installation is exactly as you see in the picture. I had a chimney inspector come and inspect the chimney and he said the chimney is very clear but that he couldn't approve the inspection because it is what they call a "slammer". I am new to owning wood stoves...I have had fireplaces in the past but not a wood stove. My question is whether or not I should use this? He says it is not up to code but I got the feeling that if it was his stove he would use it.

What could be the potential issues with it?

 

[begreen]

A slammer is a stove that simply vents up the chimney with no connection to it. The stove relies on the surround for a seal. This is no longer code legal. Depending on the setup this can be a creosote maker. The solution is to drop a stainless steel liner down the chimney and tie it directly to the flue outlet on the stove. Or replace the old stove with a modern EPA fireplace insert. This would be more efficient if the goal is to heat with wood all winter.

 

[new_stove_owner]

Thanks for the reply! We have oil, this wood stove, and electric heat. My goal is to supplement all of them this winter. I live in NY and was hoping to get by with just a couple cords of wood and then get just 1 refill of oil this winter.

How is this current hookup any different than just using the fireplace by itself?

 

[begreen]

An open fireplace is the least efficient method of heating. It pollutes the most and actually will suck heated air out of the house as the fire cools down.

 

[new_stove_owner]

Yea I get that...sorry I was wondering more about the safety issue. This stove will do a great job of heating a good portion of the house considering it is in a room with vaulted ceilings.

I was just wondering how this is more unsafe than just using the actual fireplace since the back of it is just simply blowing the smoke up the chimney. My concern is more around the safety aspect of the stove rather than the efficiency of it.

 

[begreen]

There is a chance of draft reversal causing smoke and CO leakage. There is also a much greater chance of creosote buildup in the chimney and firebox due to the smoke hitting colder masonry and a much larger flue than on the stove. This would be a particular concern if the chimney is exterior.

 

[new_stove_owner]

This definitely explains it better for me!

Because of the way it is setup you cant really see in the chimney at all unless you look from the top down.

I will make sure to have it cleaned out again during the winter time just to make sure there is no build up.

 

[begreen]

Depending on the seasoning of the wood, this type of setup can gunk things up quickly, especially with an exterior chimney. Burn only fully seasoned wood.

 

[new_stove_owner]

Thanks again! I will only be using fully seasoned wood that I will definitely keep dry. I am not sure what you mean by an external chimney. The chimney is attached to the house but is not in the center of the house but rather on one end of the house with siding over the chimney.

 

[bholler]

Yea I get that...sorry I was wondering more about the safety issue. This stove will do a great job of heating a good portion of the house considering it is in a room with vaulted ceilings.

I was just wondering how this is more unsafe than just using the actual fireplace since the back of it is just simply blowing the smoke up the chimney. My concern is more around the safety aspect of the stove rather than the efficiency of it.

The problem with "slammers is that there is no connection from the stove. This causes several problems first there is quite a bit of air that leaks in around the surround diluting the smoke and cooling it leading to creosote. Also when the smoke leaves the stove it has lots of room to expand which also leads to creosote buildup. The air leaking in around the stove reduces the draft going through the stove leading to cooler burns and more creosote buildup. Then there is the maintenance issue to clean it properly you need to pull that heavy stove out every time and get up in there and clean the smoke chamber getting out all of the accumulated creosote. All of that adds up to more creosote in the chimney and smoke chamber which is a fire hazard. And if you do get a chimney fire all that air leaking around the stove means you cannot shut the air off and the fire will burn out of control.

I would not feel safe burning a stove installed like that in my house and would strongly recommend against any customer doing it. In fact we will not even work on setups like this anymore other than to install them correctly with a liner.