DIY wood stove install on existing chimney

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Gralic

New Member
Aug 27, 2022
1
MA
Hello everyone!

I’d like to install a wood stove in my house and I would like to do it myself. The thing is that I’ve never done it before. I’ve started doing some online research already, including this forum (very helpful!). I came up with an idea but I’m not sure yet if it’s doable or safe. If you can give me your thoughts and advices, that would be very helpful!

Here’s the situation: I would like to connect on the first floor a wood stove to the existing chimney. The chimney is located at the center of the house and start in the basement. There are 2 clay flue liners in the chimney. One flue is connected to the oil burner located in the basement. The other flue is connected to an old wood boiler that hasn’t been used for decades (and won’t be used in the future), located in basement too, next to the oil burner.

Would it be ok to connect the wood stove on the first floor to the flue that was used for the wood boiler?

On the first floor, I will have to pierce an opening through the chimney brick wall and the clay flue. And I was thinking about installing a flexible liner with insulation wrap into the clay flue. The clay flue looks ok (no cracks) and its size is 6.75‘’x 11‘’. There is some creosote deposit though. Also I noticed a little bit of old brown leaks along the exterior of the chimney. I think I read that having an insulated pipe would be safer and more efficient. I don’t realize yet how hard it would be to do.

Do you think it is a plan that makes sense? And do you think it’s doable and safe?

Thank you
 
It's possible, but the liner will need to be oval. There's not enough room to drop a 6" round insulated liner in that common-sized clay tile liner. DuraLiner makes an oval liner system for this purpose that will easily fit.
 
I do suggested a professional cleaning of the clay liner before adding a steel one. (As code demands.)