Help I think my inspector just broke part of Meridian stove flue

[ratedgforgraeme]

I have a meridian wood stove in a house I purchased last year.

It ran all winter with no issues. It ran last week with no issues.

Yesterday I had my annual inspection and cleaning. The technician was super nice. He was a little perplexed by a pipe coming off the side of the chimney (or maybe it’s not the chimney yet, forgive my ignorance).

He stuck his and in and was quite aggressively pushing the pipe inside. It made me a bit nervous but let him do what he was doing because he’s the tech not me.

They left and said the stove was safe to operate and even had a photo of the detached flue in the report.

It’s a completely open path to the inside of the chimney / flue.

So I have a few questions. I’m capable of inserting a crimped male duct into a female duct. Is this something I could possibly do myself?

Second, should I have a concern that a photo of this as it is now was marked as safe to use and satisfactory? It’s dumping smoke into the house (I tested with a tinyfat wood stick) I can put my hand inside the side of the pipe and see it from inside the fireplace.

Any thoughts as to why that little offshoot might’ve been there to begin with?

Any tips on contacting the company? I don’t want to be accusatory. I didn’t see what they did. The only facts I have are that it was working the day before the cleaning and the inspection, and the day after it was dumping smoke into the room, and prior to me letting them do their thing, they seems to be quite rough and confused by the part that is now problematic.

Thank you for your help I appreciate it.

 

[bholler]

I have a meridian wood stove in a house I purchased last year.

It ran all winter with no issues. It ran last week with no issues.

Yesterday I had my annual inspection and cleaning. The technician was super nice. He was a little perplexed by a pipe coming off the side of the chimney (or maybe it’s not the chimney yet, forgive my ignorance).

He stuck his and in and was quite aggressively pushing the pipe inside. It made me a bit nervous but let him do what he was doing because he’s the tech not me.

They left and said the stove was safe to operate and even had a photo of the detached flue in the report.

It’s a completely open path to the inside of the chimney / flue.

So I have a few questions. I’m capable of inserting a crimped male duct into a female duct. Is this something I could possibly do myself?

Second, should I have a concern that a photo of this as it is now was marked as safe to use and satisfactory? It’s dumping smoke into the house (I tested with a tinyfat wood stick) I can put my hand inside the side of the pipe and see it from inside the fireplace.

Any thoughts as to why that little offshoot might’ve been there to begin with?

Any tips on contacting the company? I don’t want to be accusatory. I didn’t see what they did. The only facts I have are that it was working the day before the cleaning and the inspection, and the day after it was dumping smoke into the room, and prior to me letting them do their thing, they seems to be quite rough and confused by the part that is now problematic.

Thank you for your help I appreciate it.

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I don't know what happened with the cleaning but that setup is absolutely unsafe. And I can't see how it was safe before they worked on it. I would most likely have refused to work on it until it was fixed.

 

[ratedgforgraeme]

I don't know what happened with the cleaning but that setup is absolutely unsafe. And I can't see how it was safe before they worked on it. I would most likely have refused to work on it until it was fixed.

Thank you for replying. Are you able to elaborate on what is unsafe about it and what in your mind needs to be fixed?

 

[ratedgforgraeme]

It looked funky to me too. When I moved in it was cleaned and inspected and I presumed it was ok.

If it’s helpful, this install was permitted and inspected by the town building inspector and Fire Marshall in 1984. I’ve got that documentation and the OEM documentation that specifies it was UL rated.

The installation specifications say 2.5 inches from the back wall and 4.5 inches from the sidewall.

Thank you for replying. Are you able to elaborate on what is unsafe about it and what in your mind needs to be fixed?

 

[bholler]

Thank you for replying. Are you able to elaborate on what is unsafe about it and what in your mind needs to be fixed?

The random pipe stocking out the side. The pipe and adapters just shoved up inside a chimney. It makes no sense at all

 

[begreen]

I will have to do some digging but I recall the Meridian having a single-wall 7" stove pipe. This setup looks like there is an outer wall jacket with a basic heat exchanger at the top. Based on the videos, it looks like the inspector broke a connection in the inner stovepipe.

Here is the Meridian manual for reference.

https://hearth.com/images/uploads/Meridian_Stove_-_Installation_and_Opertion_Instructions.pdf

 

[ratedgforgraeme]

I believe this is correct based on the documentation I have. The jacket around it in the manual is referred to as a decorative sleeve (if my presumptions are correct. The offshoot is on the jacket itself, and since it appears that it can be installed with a single 7” C stovepipe (according to what I’m reading) I’m having a hard time understanding what the problem with this setup would be.

Is it normal for the C pipe to be press fit into the chimney?

I will have to do some digging but I recall the Meridian having a single-wall 7" stove pipe. This setup looks like there is an outer wall jacket with a basic heat exchanger at the top. Based on the videos, it looks like the inspector broke a connection in the inner stovepipe.

Here is the Meridian manual for reference.

https://hearth.com/images/uploads/Meridian_Stove_-_Installation_and_Opertion_Instructions.pdf

 

[begreen]

No, each section of the type C stovepipe needs to be screwed together, typically at 3 places around each joint, 120º apart. It should be screwed to the chimney support box too so that it can not come apart unless unscrewed.

 

[ratedgforgraeme]

No, each section of the type C stovepipe needs to be screwed together, typically at 3 places around each joint, 120º apart. It should be screwed to the chimney support box too so that it can not come apart unless unscrewed.

Thank you. All very helpful info. I appreciate it.

 

[bigealta]

I'll guess the outer pipe with the mesh and short T pipe are a heat "recovery" system, Trying to pull some heat from the inner stove pipe. Clearly the inner pipe where the smoke from the woodstove should be going up got disconnected from either a pipe above it or possibly it went into a terracotta flue above.

Hard to tell exactly from the pics and vid.