Can I put the wagon before the horse? (I need help)

[jeffatus]

We have decided to buy a woodstove this winter, but we (because of the tight Christmas budget) can not afford the whole setup until January. I was thinking that maybe I could just buy the Chimney (basically everything but the stove) and install it before it gets really cold in the middle of winter. Does this make sense? My thought was to get it all set up, plug the whole (chimney) leading outside, and just "insert stove" when we can afford it. I am a little concerned about the exact placement of the chimney, I don't want to bring in the stove and find out I was 5 inches from where I needed to be. I am thinking, though, that some good planning, measuring and manufacturer specs I could guestimate pretty accurate placement.


Also, could you recommend a good online merchant for chimney supplies? I am looking to run the chimney from the basement of my ranch, through the bedroom and roof.

thanks in advance for any advice.

jeff

 

[Rodney]

Thats what I did in my case a few years ago Jeff. As long as you get your measurements of the stove that you are going to purchase and the clearances that you have to follow it is no problem. It is always safe to have clearances greater than are specified for your particular stove in case you end up purchasing a different stove down the line with greater clearance requirements. Good Luck!!

 

[saichele]

I'd argue the chimney is the horse. Your chimney install (esp. if you're trying to run liner through an existing masonry chimney) can rapidly eat up as much money as the stove. Figure out how big a flue you can install, then buy a stove that goes with it. Anymore, pretty much everything but the biggest stoves are 6" round, so if you can get that through (usually not a problem) you have about 85% of the market available to you.

Steve

 

[Sundeep Arole]

jeffatus - I first build the hearth area where the stove would sit. Or get a hearth pad of the size that you can manage to fit properly. First place the hearth pad. Then install the chimney. Then the stove. It will make your planning a bit easier.

 

[babalu87]

If you wanted to install the chimney in January you should have ordered it in November
PAINFULLY slow production and they were backed up last month

I agree, the chimney is the horse

 

[begreen]

We have decided to buy a woodstove this winter, but we (because of the tight Christmas budget) can not afford the whole setup until January. I was thinking that maybe I could just buy the Chimney (basically everything but the stove) and install it before it gets really cold in the middle of winter. Does this make sense?
jeff

Jeff, no problem doing the chimney first. Be sure you know what stove you are getting so that last minute offsets don't need to be added. If possible, don't work clearances down to the last inch. Give yourself a little breathing room, especailly at the point of connection to the stove. What climate zone are you in? Check to be sure that the roofing compounds will work in the current outdoor ambient temps. It would be a bummer to install the stack and have it leak. If it's not too cold outside, consider keeping the roofing tar indoors just until it's needed.

 

[Rick]

The first thing I did was to build the hearth. I wanted a big stone looking thing so I made it 10' by 6' with 4" thick stones. I had a rough idea of my clearances, and made it way over-sized. Good thing, when I finally went into the "attic" (there was no scuttle, I had to make one) I realized that I had an obstruction so I had to move my stove over about a foot. Then I installed the chimney. Maybe a month later I put in the stove, which was by far the easiest part.

Rick

 

[ChrisN]

Jeff, When I put my system in the first thing I did was make a cardboard template of my stove (Jotul Oslo), and then built the hearth to fit. It was very handy to put my mind at ease as far as clearances go and also gave me a visual picture of how the end product would look in the room.

Chris

P.S. The forum spell-checker doesn't recognize jotul. Geesh.

 

[begreen]

Good suggestion Chris. I did the same thing to visualize and check clearances.