Hearthstone Clydesdale Min Chimney Height vs optimal?

[Scott from Akron]

We're looking at the Hearthstone Clydesdale and the Blaze King Sirocco 25 inserts. Leaning towards the Clydesdale but are waiting for our local dealer to get their stock in this week so we can see it in person. Does anyone have any experience with chimney height and the Clydesdale? The manual says minimum of 13' from top of the unit/connection to top of chimney for draft. My question is whether there is an optimal height range that would be better for stove performance than just meeting the min. I currently have 12'6" in my masonry fireplace but will be replacing my old chimney crown. The new crown will be thicker and we'll also be raising the terra cotta liner height. I can easily meet the min 13' with that but would more height be better? My thinking is that, with a lot of things, there's min and there's max. In between, there's usually a window of what's optimal.

We have a raised ranch witha line of large oak trees to the east in our front yard @70ft from the chimney. One large oak to the west 50 feet away from the chimney. Tall woods 75 feet from the south side of the house/100ft from the chimney. Wind/weather generally comes from the southwest. The chimney itself is quite long 106"x22" (4flues) and rises 5.5ft from the roof. It's maybe 3.5 ft above the high middle ridgeline of the roof. I will be installing Forever Flex Hybrid pre insulated SS liner. Flue is 12x12 terra cotta lined.

The Blazeking has a 15' min height but unless we're turned off by the Clydesdale in person, we're going with Hearthstone.

Thanks in advance and thank you all so much for the invaluable information I've already gotten reading past posts!

 

[begreen]

The optimal is usually around 16-20', but some stoves like Regency, Pacific Energy, Osburn, will work fine with a 12-13' system. We have no data on the new Clydesdale design, so the manual's guidance is all one can go by.

 

[stoveliker]

Also note that the trees could result in some issues with wind curving down from the treeline, this potentially creating a downdraft in the flue.

Nothing to do about that now, but something to keep in mind if things don't work well.

And then the often voiced advice: make sure you have dry wood. As in <25 pct moisture content. Modern stoves really don't do well with wetter wood. (<20 pct is best).

The best way to get that is to stack your wood for two years off the ground and top covered.