Existing Chimney Pipe, new woodstove installation project, plenty of questions

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Torv

New Member
Sep 25, 2025
3
Duluth, MN
Hello from Northern MN. I recently bought a house/cabin/shack it was a bit of a fixer upper and the previous owner removed the wood stove. The Class A chimney pipe is still in place. I plan to instal a Drolet Deco Nano (cabin is small) on the first floor and connect it to the chimney pipe with double wall stove pipe. This will connect right at the support collar where it passes through the floor to the second story. I actually have plenty of questions,
but I'll start with the easy one. The support collar where it passes through to the second floor is sheet metal (noncombustable) but it dosn't provide a full 2 inch gap? Does this count as acceptable clearance as it's a noncombustable material? See the pics below. Stay tuned for more pics of my wood stove instal conundrum...

[Hearth.com] Existing Chimney Pipe, new woodstove installation project, plenty of questions


[Hearth.com] Existing Chimney Pipe, new woodstove installation project, plenty of questions
 
It's good to ask questions. That doesn't look kosher. What is the ceiling support on the other side in the stove room? Also, unprotected chimney pipe usually is not allowed. It usually has to be chased (boxed in), to protect against bumping, objects placed against it, and from inadvertent touching, especially by tiny hands.
 
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It's good to ask questions. That doesn't look kosher. What is the ceiling support on the other side in the stove room? Also, unprotected chimney pipe usually is not allowed. It usually has to be chased (boxed in), to protect against bumping, objects placed against it, and from inadvertent touching, especially by tiny hands.
Yeah I'm hoping to not have to chase it in, but I may need to. I live alone and it passes through a storage room (currently empty). I expect the inspection will require some sort of chase. That's easy though compared to fixing some other issues. The clearance through the attic is tight, hard to get a good measurement though, the attic is a short inaccessible space. The roof trusses have sheet metal heat shields, super janky though, so I built a thick steel collar. Way safer but I'm still not sure if its up to inspection. Pics below are the collar from the 1st floor ceiling and the ceiling/attic collar I built.
[Hearth.com] Existing Chimney Pipe, new woodstove installation project, plenty of questions
[Hearth.com] Existing Chimney Pipe, new woodstove installation project, plenty of questions
 
That looks like it might be old Metalbest chimney pipe and supports. I don't have the clearance specs for that but more recent Metalbest is 2".
 
That looks like it might be old Metalbest chimney pipe and supports. I don't have the clearance specs for that but more recent Metalbest is 2".
It is Metalbestos and I assume its old. It's in good shape I stuck a sewer cam up to the roof cap inspected the joints. So when it says "2 inches to combustibles" does having a noncombustible material between the chimney pipe and the wood flooring satisfy that code?
 
I removed an old Metalbestos ceiling support that was supporting a 6” ID (10” OD) Class A chimney. The frame that holds the ceiling support was 12 1/4” X 12 1/4” leaving 1” clearance from combustibles. The new install(Selkirk) called for a 14 1/4” X 14 1/4 frame to hold the ceiling support giving me the 2” clearance. Original install was done in the mid 1970’s.

I wonder if code was only 1” back in the day?

I also didn’t have access to the attic space so 2 metal panels had to come off to allow access plus we moved the chimney so more cutting and support to the rafters.

Hopefully your’s will be as simple as removing the old, enlarging the hole and dropping in the new chimney and support.

Good luck.
 
If the inspection is by an insurance company, it may not pass for both the lack of a chase and inadequate clearances. The fact that it is in a store room makes it more vulnerable to things getting stacked near it over time. When inspecting, they should be thinking not only of current use, but also future use by other homeowners.