Hearthstone Install - need help

[ontheneck]

First post. Thanks in advance.
Lucky to have a stone fireplace (w/masonry chimney) in my kitchen. For eight years, I've had a Pacific Energy wood insert in there. Thing disappoints, majorly. Been burning wood in 3 other stoves for 30 years, so I know what good heat is.Currently have an old Jotul in my living room which heats that space (50% larger than kitchen) way more effectively with half the wood.

I bought a 12-year-old Hearthstone Hearthmount (OH) on Craigslist for cheap. Thing is in nice shape. I spent a couple of hours dismantling the insert and am ready to pull it out and connect the Hearthstone. Never did this so here are a few questions:

1) The stove came with oval-to-round and T-Connect w/cap but the T is a bit rusty (again, 12 years old)...surface rust that can be scoured off w steel wool. See attached. Looks serviceable to my neophyte eye. Can I go with it or should I splurge and buy a new one? If I can go with it, any paint product recommended to topcoat the scoured finish?

2) At points of connection - chimney liner into T-connect and oval into rear vent of stove - should I smear furnace cement on those connections? Seems like it would make a great seal, but if I have to remove the stove later on, seems like it would make that much more difficult. Is this necessary? Please advise.

3) Chimney liner should go INSIDE T-Connect - (or, more properly put) starting from top of chimney, all pipes moving downward toward stove should go INSIDE the other to reduce condensation problems? I read that somewhere. Is it true and necessary?

Thanks!

 

[begreen]

Without a block-off plate the insert may be heating the outdoors as much as the indoors. A block-off plate will be essential for the Hearthstone.

Replace the tee with a proper stainless steel liner T that has a top clamp for the liner. Order one with a long enough snout to reach the oval to round adapter on the stove.

The Hearthstone Homestead hearthmount will bring you back to a radiant stove. Can't fairly compare a convective insert to a freestanding, highly radiant cast stove. It's a different type of heat. It is a good heater, but has the highest hearth insulation requirement that I know of. Be sure to read the manual for the hearth requirements.

 

[ontheneck]

Thanks much, begreen. Block-off plate was not even a speck in my mind, though after the fact, it seems completely intuitive. Not an easy project - in the midst of other difficulties - but common sense says it'll make a big difference. Luckily, the hardware store had sheets of galv. material perfectly suited. Found this link: https://www.hearth.com/talk/wiki/make-a-damper-sealing-block-off-plate/ which was helpful.
As far as the insulation requirement goes: yeah, I read that. Stove will sit squarely on hearth. I can't and won't and don't need to have really hot and continuos burns. Long Island....rarely gets under 15 degrees.
While (if) I have your attention: How high can I reasonably extend 7 1/2" oval stain.steel flex pipe above the top of chimney?

 

[begreen]

How high can I reasonably extend 7 1/2" oval stain.steel flex pipe above the top of chimney?

Not much unless the cap base can hide it.

 

[webby3650]

I'm seriously interested to see if that stone heater will out perform that insert. If it does it's only because of it's radiant nature. Or possibly the block off plate. I felt like my hearthstone was seriously over rated. A huge stove that performed like a small iron stove. It seemed to heat the flue with no trouble though!

 

[ontheneck]

I'm seriously interested to see if that stone heater will out perform that insert. If it does it's only because of it's radiant nature. Or possibly the block off plate. I felt like my hearthstone was seriously over rated. A huge stove that performed like a small iron stove. It seemed to heat the flue with no trouble though!

Yeah, Webby. Lit the thing two nights ago, to see if my hook-up actually worked (it did! Draft was adequate even on a still night and no smoke leaks) and the difference SEEMED huge. Some kindling and only 3 logs (a 'break-in' burn? manual suggested this) and my kitchen was toasty. Then, again, it was in the high 50s outside AND I had just put in Herculean effort to do the install, so I was not in a frame of mind to objectively assess.I NEEDED that bad girl to crank to make my work seem worthwhile. I think, though, that it'll be a huge improvement. The insert just ate wood like a monster with precious little to show for it. I suspect not having a proper block-off plate may have been a contributing factor to its ineffectiveness.

Once I knew what a block-off plate was, fabricated and mounted my own, I looked at the removed insert and realized it had one mounted directly on top of the stove, which was super-stupid. Heat must've just wafted around the edges and flew up the chimney. I blame my own ignorance in not researching at the time of install and a lazy installer who did the job 8 years ago without ever suggesting it.

Sunday night, temps will drop into the low 40s and I'll get a chance to really test it. Will let you know then about the performance difference.

Thanks again to Begreen, who insisted on the block-off plate, a no-brainer to anyone experienced in this kinda thing, but not something I even considered when I thought through doing the install myself. It's a game changer - all for $16 worth of sheet metal and a large dollop of furnace cement. And a pound of creosote in my mouth and eyes.