DuraBlack help needed

[Mojappa]

Getting together a list of what DuraVent DuraBlack parts I’ll need to hook my Drolet Heatpack to the chimney (yes, it’s gotten a new liner) and am a little confused on just what I’ll need. I know I’ll need 2 - 45° elbows and a T for the barometric damper, just not sure if I’ll need an adapter to attach the 45 to the flue on the furnace or at the wall. Also a bit lost on the telescoping sections, would be nice to use one so I don’t have to cut but not sure exactly which pieces I need to make it work. A possible factor is that the furnace is only 30” from the flue coming out of the wall, the tee will take up 10 of those inches. Have some pics and a crude drawing for reference. Hopefully this thing will heat the house like I hoped the fisher would. It’s a little chalet (32x24’) with a loft, mostly open, and a basement. There are definitely inefficiencies with the house (one wall is almost all glass and the other windows are old metal frame janky ones) that will be addressed in the future, step one was to try getting the heat out of the basement more effectively hence the upgrade to a wood furnace.

 

[Mojappa]

My current helper isn’t much help, oddly enough. Lol

 

[brenndatomu]

Cool lookin cat!

Yeah this looks like a bit of a challenge...can you raise the furnace up 4-5" more? Do without the elbows then...not ideal, but if you have a good chimney system otherwise, it will work fine...you need 1/4" rise per foot of run as a bare minimum. I currently have a pipe that runs kinda like that...3" rise in 4'...works well...goes into a lined 25' chimney though too...

 

[Mojappa]

She’s our newest addition. Lost my best buddy in November (one in my avatar pic) and had to get something to fill the void, so I got another bengal.

I’d have to raise it 6” to make it even with the thimble, but then I’d have no rise. if it isn’t even with the flue wouldn’t there need to be elbow pieces? Just curious, why would I wanna get rid of the rise I do have? Wouldn’t that make it technically a horizontal run from the from of the furnace where the flue pipe starts all the way to the back of the thimble, that would make for like a 5’ horizontal run.

Thought about starting off with just two 45’s and a straight piece (no tee) so I can get it running and see if the barometric damper is actually needed. Knowing my luck though, my draft will be wonky and I’ll need all sorts of extra stuff to make this work.

Attached a pic of the chimney (On the left), not sure how tall it is but it goes down to the ground. I know it doesn’t meet the 10’ to the roof clearances that I’ve read about. Hoping I don’t have to extend it, this install is getting more and more involved as I go.

 

[Mojappa]

Another thought, is there any reason I couldn’t push it closer to the wall? There are no combustibles nearby aside from the floor joists which have 6” of clearance from the plenum. Eventually I plan to install a return duct to the back, does that take any more space than the existing “filter box” on the back? What’s the closest I’d want that box to be to the wall for airflow purposes?

 

[brenndatomu]

That's why I said raise it 4-5"...so you still have a little rise...it could be a challenge getting the pipe together depending on how tight everything fits together. (due to the slight angle) But with that short of a chimney it might be a bad idea to ty that.
This is starting to look like a good place to put some single wall adjustable elbows instead of rigid 45's. I'd use stainless though...we have a little amish metal shop that makes stainless chimney parts near here...pretty reasonable too.

 

[brenndatomu]

Yeah I sure wouldn't run any ductwork until you sort the stove pipe out...may need to scoot it closer or further away from the chimney to get things to work out

 

[brenndatomu]

I didn't realize that the Durablack elbows were adjustable...looks like they are now...didn't used to be I don't believe...

 

[Mojappa]

Yeah, once I saw that they’re adjustable now it seemed reasonable to use them. If they were rigid 45’s it would be a nightmare for sure. So that should prevent the “need” to raise the stove, correct?

I was also a little surprised that the barometric damper has a gap around the outside of the flap, not sure why but I figured that would be pretty much closed unless the damper has to open. I assume it’s supposed to be that way, just seemed odd to me and my limited knowledge of these things.

Still not quite sure how the telescoping function of the durablack works or which pieces I’d need, if they come short enough that is.

Anybody out there know if I’ll need any adapters to attach the flue pipe to the stove or thimble?

 

[brenndatomu]

So that should prevent the “need” to raise the stove, correct?

Yeah.
You'll find that the baro is open (at least a little) most of the time when you are running anyways, so that little gap doesn't amount to much.
As far as the telescoping...what ever the full length is...fully collapsed will be about 50%...slightly more than.
I'd order the shortest telescoping piece they have...then figure up the installed length of (2) elbows, (1) tee, (1) telescoping pipe, and then (1) short rigid pipe section, length as calculated. The good thing is you can move the furnace a little if you need to.

Looking at their catalog...its kinda confusing...I think I would call them...see if they can help you figure out what you need.

 

[Mojappa]

Hard to tell but looks like the double skirted one could work. If I u n it correctly it seems like it slips over the pipe from the back of the furnace but there’s a male end inside that also goes inside the stovepipe, otherwise creosote could flow out of the joint. The other adapter they sell seems to be for top exit stoves. Ultimately I guess I’ll have to invest some time talking to them, just hoped for an easier answer to the adapter thing. Thanks for the help so far, it’s hard to get legit advice around my area due to too many old timers stuck in the “you can’t burn pine” mentality. Seems most people know just enough to cobble something together and call it good, even more so when it comes to the ducting aspect of this.

 

[brenndatomu]

it’s hard to get legit advice around my area due to too many old timers stuck in the “you can’t burn pine” mentality. Seems most people know just enough to cobble something together and call it good, even more so when it comes to the ducting aspect of this.

Yeah those guys are everywhere it seems...heck, even HVAC shops can't/don't install wood furnaces right half the time.

 

[maple1]

Would it help to, and can you, turn the furnace 90°?

 

[Mojappa]

Would it help to, and can you, turn the furnace 90°?

Turning it would put the door at a weird spot either way I spun it and the distance from the bottom of the steps would go down too, especially if I pointed the return box towards the steps. Also I don’t think turning it would make the stovepipe install any simpler and could just add another turn that reduces my draft.

 

[maple1]

IMO I think it might make pipe install easier. But whether it could be turned or not from operational aspect is another matter.

 

[Mojappa]

This pic shows the space it’s in fairly well. It’s almost 6’ from the wall to the right of it and about 5’ from the bottom of the steps. Turning it 90°CW would put the door about a foot closer to the steps.

The initial plan was to tap into the end of that trunk line and put a damper at the air handler plenum, but the trunk line isn’t rated for solid fuel, so now I’m gonna have a boatload of ducting running along the basement ceiling. Guess it’s good that I wasn’t planning on fully finishing the basement, function over form at this point

 

[brenndatomu]

I think I would try to not use the appliance adapter...might need one on the chimney end though...hard to tell what it is gonna take to get things hooked up properly there. (why is there no liner tee snout sticking out into the room?) (is there enough sticking out to get 3 screws into it once assembled? Really need a proper mechanical connection...the first time you have a large "backfire" you'll be glad you did)
I think I'd just put a elbow into the back of the furnace, use a section of telescoping pipe up to the chimney (hopefully the other elbow will just slip right over the liner snout) ...so with the telescoping pipe extended, it is just singlewall pipe over most of its length...use the pipe adapter that comes with the baro (assuming you got the Fields baro) instead of a tee to install it on the pipe.
Bam, done.
Oh, I dunno the price difference, but consider ordering the stainless pipe...this is from experience, steel stove pipe only lasts a couple seasons on wood furnaces in the basement. Stainless is "buy once, cry once"
If you are going steel, might as well use the cheap stuff from the hardware/big box store...might not be a bad idea for the first round here anyways...until you get this figured out how you wanna configure things.

 

[Mojappa]

Had the chimney lined in Jan of 2016, but it seems maybe not as quality of a job as should have been.... the tee snout is the existing one before the chimney was lined. I assume it’s not done well from the sound of it, which is reassuring. Lol

I reckon I’ll get the 45’s and such and see where that gets me and go from there. Good thing about most of the durablack stuff is I can have it shipped to store so won’t have to worry about shipping costs.

Also, the Fields did come with the adapter, was just hoping to avoid needing to cut the pipe to use it. No biggie, if I can’t accomplish it with the tools I have my brother should be able to.