Drolet 1800 finally in

[Bootstrap]

A few months ago I posted up on my intent to purchase a Drolet 1800i to install in our fireplace. Since then I poked around at a few wood stove stores to compare pricing. The Drolet 1800i package (stove, surround and stainless flex liner kit) was $1600 shipped to my house. One particular store we went to in New Hampshire had nice stoves but the most comparable one to the Drolet was (at their "discounted rate") $2800 to load it in my truck. It was a Lopi stove of comparable size for $1700, flex liner at $700 and surround kit at $400. Biggest downfall there besides the much higher cost was there was no blower included and that stove would only take a 18" log versus the 20" log of the Drolet.

So for me, the Drolet was a no brainer. The blower is a very nice feature. I originally had the surround kit on but we actually like the look a lot better without it(doesn't add to the rustic look at all).
The flexible chimney liner seemed of adequate durability and I hope to get 10 years+ out of it. At the top of the chimney is a plate/cap think that has a hole at each corner. They recommended using high temp silicone to seal that to the top of the clay flue to effectively seal off the fireplace chimney and prevent heat from being sucked out of the house. I put 1 long masonry screw through each of the corner holes to secure the plate/cap to the chimney. Finally there is a rain cap that gets fastened to the top of the liner.

Installing the liner was a bit of a task. I found out in quick order that I had to remove the fireplace damper which came out relatively easy with a 4lbs sledge. I saved that in the unlikely case we ever wanted to convert back to a open fireplace but that's very unlikely.

The Drolet 1800i is not the most fancy stove on the market but it is certainly a good quality unit. It burns very nicely and is a pleasure to watch. It is going to heat my cape cod style house. Primary heating is hot water baseboard with an oil boiler but this stove should be going most of the time.

Since this picture was taken the stainless liner was painted black with high temp stove paint where it was visible to make it look better.

 

[cableman]

Good luck with it! I just helped my neighbor install his.
Did you install a block off plate above the insert?

 

[excessads]

The Drolet 1800i is not the most fancy stove on the market but it is certainly a good quality unit. It burns very nicely and is a pleasure to watch. View attachment 200887

I love my Century insert as well, SBI builds some quality stoves!



Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Bootstrap]

Good luck with it! I just helped my neighbor installed his.
Did you install a block off plate above the insert?

No I did not. I don't see any need for it since its sealed air tight at the top.

Edit: I did do some reading on block off plates and at this point I am going to see how well it does without one. There seems to be solid argument that blockoff plates were required back when you didn't have to line the chimney all the way up. Without a sealed blockoff plate the stove draft would be insufficient.
Now that we have liners with sealed plates at the top, heat wont be sucked out of the house and stove draft is good. Without a plate at the top the heat would get sucked out of the house. But because its got a air tight sealed plate at the top, no draft could suck heat out of the house.
The biggest concern of mine is condensation in the chimney. With a colder masonry chimney and a hot liner, moisture could potentially condense on the clay liner. By allowing some of the heat to warm the clay liner, that should be minimized.

At this point I will just see how it goes. If they heat output is sufficient I will leave well enough alone. But if we feel that I am not getting enough heat from the stove then I'll fabricate a block off plate for the bottom.

 

[cableman]

My whole fireplace wall is brick and it sucks the heat out of the room which is really felt when the stove is not running, i could only imagine it sucking even more heat having no blockoff plate.
At minimum i would have stuffed roxel tight up around the liner. Looks like you have a good amount of room above yours, i only have like 2"s!
See how it performs and if you get any cold drafts when not running, add a blockoff later if needed.

 

[Bootstrap]

My whole fireplace wall is brick and it sucks the heat out of the room which is really felt when the stove is not running, i could only imagine it sucking even more heat having no blockoff plate.
At minimum i would have stuffed roxel tight up around the liner. Looks like you have a good amount of room above yours, i only have like 2"s!
See how it performs and if you get any cold drafts when not running, add a blockoff later if needed.

Well like I said, there's a plate at the top that's sealed air tight. So no way for air to flow up the chimney. The only heat loss should be the heat that warms the actual clay liner and surrounding brick, but there's still no air flow going up it.
So yea experimentation will see. In the days the stove hasn't been running and its been in the 40's, the living room seems about the same temp as all the other rooms.
I think that not having a blockoff plate at the bottom and only at the top allows the clay liner to warm up which would help draft and reduce condensation.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Well like I said, there's a plate at the top that's sealed air tight. So no way for air to flow up the chimney. The only heat loss should be the heat that warms the actual clay liner and surrounding brick, but there's still no air flow going up it.
So yea experimentation will see. In the days the stove hasn't been running and its been in the 40's, the living room seems about the same temp as all the other rooms.
I think that not having a blockoff plate at the bottom and only at the top allows the clay liner to warm up which would help draft and reduce condensation.

I have the same setup, even with the top sealed, you're gonna lose quite a bit of heat up into that space if it's an exterior chimney. How do I know? I still haven't gotten that dang block-off plate fabricated and installed after 2 seasons, and I spend a decent amount of my BTUs heating the masonry in that exterior chimney.

 

[Bootstrap]

I have the same setup, even with the top sealed, you're gonna lose quite a bit of heat up into that space if it's an exterior chimney. How do I know? I still haven't gotten that dang block-off plate fabricated and installed after 2 seasons, and I spend a decent amount of my BTUs heating the masonry in that exterior chimney.

That's what I am assuming is going to happen. It will heat the masonry. Question is will it mean the stove wont heat our house to a satisfactory level? Only time will tell on that. I could fabricate something like that literally in under 2 hours so if it turns out I want it NOW I can make that happen.

If it is a tolerable situation then I would leave it. Its a solid argument that over 20 years you could deteriorate your masonry chimney from condensation.

 

[blades]

But if your chimney is sealed on both ends the moisture is a moot point. The moisture would be coming from in your home not from an external source. Also your liner is going to radiate heat into that area as well. At the least stuff a bunch of Roxul up at the damper level around the liner to block it off. A dead air space is a better choice than an active area for heat retention. Not a matter of heat rising up and out the top, but as was stated that masonry will just suck it up and create it's own thermal transfers internal to external along its length.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

If it is a tolerable situation then I would leave it.

Well, I could tolerate living in a single wall tent. But only if I had no better choice.

Its a solid argument that over 20 years you could deteriorate your masonry chimney from condensation.

How would moisture enter a masonry space, sealed at the top and bottom, and having a warm pipe running up the middle of it? It's only a solid argument if you can explain where the moisture comes from.

 

[Bootstrap]

Well, I could tolerate living in a single wall tent. But only if I had no better choice.



How would moisture enter a masonry space, sealed at the top and bottom, and having a warm pipe running up the middle of it? It's only a solid argument if you can explain where the moisture comes from.

Some claim that because no matter what you do its never 100% sealed that with the hot pipe in a cold flue pipe moisture can condense.
But I am looking into the Roxul stuff I keep reading about.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

That's what I am assuming is going to happen. It will heat the masonry. Question is will it mean the stove wont heat our house to a satisfactory level? Only time will tell on that. I could fabricate something like that literally in under 2 hours so if it turns out I want it NOW I can make that happen.

If it is a tolerable situation then I would leave it. Its a solid argument that over 20 years you could deteriorate your masonry chimney from condensation.

Would you come over and fabricate mine, please? It's been two years, and I haven't gotten around to it. I know it would be way better with it in there, but I'm experiencing some sort of ambition failure in this instance.

 

[Bootstrap]

Yea but I'm worth $100/hour.

 

[cableman]

Is the liner insulated?
I removed the clays so blocking it all off from the bottom was a must for me, it was like throwing a hot dog down a hall way dropping that liner in!
This is how i did my neighbors install...
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/drolet-1800i-install.162974/

 

[Bootstrap]

The liner is not insulated. I didn't remove the clay but it still went in pretty easy. The hard part was hauling that 25' long flex pipe up a 12 pitch roof.
When it gets to the bottom where it connects to the stove, its about the same as that install you did but I didn't need a 45 degree pipe section, the offset wasn't as bad.
The surround kit looks great on that guys fireplace. On mine it just looked out of place.
Im gonna grab some of that insulation and eventually I will make a block off plate.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Some claim that because no matter what you do its never 100% sealed that with the hot pipe in a cold flue pipe moisture can condense.

If they are saying the moisture comes from the combustion then there is a bigger problem than condensation. Because that would imply the combustion gases are escaping from the flue. That shouldn't happen because the flue should have a lower pressure than the surrounding air inside the chimney.

 

[cableman]

The liner is not insulated. I didn't remove the clay but it still went in pretty easy. The hard part was hauling that 25' long flex pipe up a 12 pitch roof.
When it gets to the bottom where it connects to the stove, its about the same as that install you did but I didn't need a 45 degree pipe section, the offset wasn't as bad.
The surround kit looks great on that guys fireplace. On mine it just looked out of place.
Im gonna grab some of that insulation and eventually I will make a block off plate.

That does sound like a pita roof. I like the look without the surround as well, its like a stove without the legs installed.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Yea but I'm worth $100/hour.

Not at auction, you're not. ;-)

On the other hand, $100/hour for you sounds reasonable. The check will be in the mail.

I have a prediction- You'll burn this season and be disappointed by the output. The good news is you'll know why. You'll be stuffing that new stove with all that firewood that you worked so hard to accumulate, and, instead of heating your living space, you'll be warming that giant heat sink brick chimney. But, I understand that you want to see for yourself rather than trust the words of kind strangers who have had the identical situation before you. We can be a stubborn lot. Have to be. Heating with wood is real work. I, having done exactly what you are doing, will eventually rectify my situation and install the block off. If I ever get around to it.

 

[Bootstrap]

Not at auction, you're not. ;-)

On the other hand, $100/hour for you sounds reasonable. The check will be in the mail.

I have a prediction- You'll burn this season and be disappointed by the output. The good news is you'll know why. You'll be stuffing that new stove with all that firewood that you worked so hard to accumulate, and, instead of heating your living space, you'll be warming that giant heat sink brick chimney. But, I understand that you want to see for yourself rather than trust the words of kind strangers who have had the identical situation before you. We can be a stubborn lot. Have to be. Heating with wood is real work. I, having done exactly what you are doing, will eventually rectify my situation and install the block off. If I ever get around to it.

I already mentioned that I'm going to make it. At the very least for now I'm going to stuff the chimney with insulation.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I already mentioned that I'm going to make it. At the very least for now I'm going to stuff the chimney with insulation.

I said exactly the same thing two years ago, also stuffed insulation around the liner, even built steel retaining things to hold the insulation up in the smoke shelf. Bought the steel plate, took measurements, then, stopped. Just can't bring myself to finish the job.

 

[Hogwildz]

No insulation, and no block off plate. That's a whole lot O heat getting sucked through the masonry. As far as condensation, yet another issue solved with insulation. This is the one place you always want to go overkill.

 

[bholler]

After years of working in the field I can tell you without any hesitation that block off plates do not cause moisture issues. How could letting air flow up into that cavity pretty much unrestricted all year only to be trapped at the top be better than sealing off almost all of the air? I have seen lots of inserts without plates with lots of rust on top from water dripping down onto them. And we just don't see moisture issues from the inside with a plate. And you should have insulated as well but that is a whole different issue

 

[Bootstrap]

And you should have insulated as well but that is a whole different issue

Why

 

[bholler]

Why

Well for starters do you have the required 1" of clearance between the outside of the masonry structure of the chimney and any combustible material? If not (which the vast majority of chimneys do not) you need insulation for code and safety. Was your liner tested for use with solid fuel without insulation? I have never seen one that was and if not you need insulation for ul listing and code. And regardless of all of that the chimney will work way better with insulation. Especially because it is external

 

[Bootstrap]

Well for starters do you have the required 1" of clearance between the outside of the masonry structure of the chimney and any combustible material? If not (which the vast majority of chimneys do not) you need insulation for code and safety. Was your liner tested for use with solid fuel without insulation? I have never seen one that was and if not you need insulation for ul listing and code. And regardless of all of that the chimney will work way better with insulation. Especially because it is external

Could you reference such code so I can read it myself? Seems strange I would need insulation with the chimney flue intact.
Perhaps it would draft better. But as of now I can have a smokey fire going and it wont leak smoke in the room.