bardos said:
here's my question: a two story house. a small woodburning stove in a 1st floor room whose round metal flue passes through the floor and into the 2nd floor room, heating it as well and then the pipe moves out into the attic and roof via a brick chimney that begins in on the attic level. My question is, can I place a second similar wood burning stove in the 2nd floor room and connect it up with a T-joint to the existing metal pipe? Or is this a big no-no? would it screw up the drafts etc.?
Wow, such passion in the other answers.....
Let me be a little more longwinded.
In industrial and commercial applications AND in the case of equipment fired by natural gas, it is VERY common for multiple appliances using the same fuel to be vented into the same chimney. You will find lots of tables and references to this in codes and in the literature of B-Vent and A-Vent producers.
Codes have changed and continue to change in both directions, and since Elk will most surely quote them correctly, I will not bother. However, I will say the following:
In my home state of Mass a law was actually passed in the early 80's ALLOWING Multiple appliances AND fuels to share a common flue! This was done after extensive testing by both the state and by certain test labs. I assume that code change is no longer on the books.
There are, of course, numerous multi-fuel appliances on the market including Tarm and Yukon which are UL approved for use of multiple fuels and fireboxes into a single flue.
MANY older homes used common flues for fireplace on multiple floors without adverse effects.
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Given these facts, I didn't think your question was so far out - and I must apologize for anyone who was less than civil with you. That is not the intention of this forum and I will not hesitate to ban members who continue rude behavior.
Ok, back to the subject at hand......
I assume (again, not reading them right now) that most current codes call for a single flue for medium heat residential appliances (I think this is what oil/coal/wood are classified as...if not, they are high heat).
BUT, IMHO, this does not mean situations where it is done are dangerous to a families home and health. I think that it is due to mainly this - when you open a can of worms, you never know what is going to crawl out - meaning, in this case, that if you allow multiple units into a single flue, there are a bunch of parameters (chimney capacity, etc.) that have to be followed, and doing do would put strain on builders, inspectors and also probably cause the great unwashed masses to do things incorrectly....
If we were to spell out the pros and cons (independent of code):
1. Pros: Warmer chimney, better draft, less creosote, less cost
2. Cons: Chimney must be larger to handle combined max, possible (although doubtful) backing up of smoke into upstairs appliance and/or feeding of chimney fire from air inlet of second stove....
I'd appreciate anyone adding to these pros and cons if I missed anything.
I am neither a code enforement officer nor a car emmissions station - nor even an inspector.....rather just giving a little history and also the opinions of some experts I have talked to.