Help - Safety Hazard

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dpoppo

New Member
Jan 26, 2008
1
virginia
Please help. We have a pellet stove that is directly vented to the outside. I noticed the sparks flying out and hitting the bush right under the vent. When I asked the guy who installed it if that was ok, he said that it wouldn't be a problem. My stupidity for trusting the expert and not listening to common sense. Last night the bush and leaves under the vent caught fire. Luckily no one was hurt and the fire burned itself out. THe scary thing is we could have lost the house and our lives. Has anyone heard of the danger of direct venting and is there a way to get rid of the sparks or make this safer? I do not want to waste the $4000 investment and never use the stove again, but I am terrified. I have searched the internet all night and I have not found any information about something similar happening to anyone else or any way to resolve it.
 
the stack should have a vertical rise, this is important to allow sparks and flyers to extinguish while still in the pipe , also it lifts the exhaust duct higher getting it up over the hedges. i truly hate a direct horizontal vent. by the way if you have a power outage while the unit is running with that install you are much more likely to have smoke spillage in the house than if you have a vertical addition to your vent. i'd invite the installer back out to add this pipe, or do it yourself , its quite easy to do, i'll guide you if you have questions how, feel free to ask.
 
Mike Holton gives you good advice -
look into extending the stack upward.

Additionally I would like to say that the "guy"
who installed your stove is an ass. While
the manuals do provide instruction for direct
venting straight out a wall, they also clearly
state the exhaust clearances to things like
shrubs, walkways, etc.

I would still go vertical with the pipe as the
first choice.
 
dpoppo said:
Please help. We have a pellet stove that is directly vented to the outside. I noticed the sparks flying out and hitting the bush right under the vent. When I asked the guy who installed it if that was ok, he said that it wouldn't be a problem. My stupidity for trusting the expert and not listening to common sense. Last night the bush and leaves under the vent caught fire. Luckily no one was hurt and the fire burned itself out. THe scary thing is we could have lost the house and our lives. Has anyone heard of the danger of direct venting and is there a way to get rid of the sparks or make this safer? I do not want to waste the $4000 investment and never use the stove again, but I am terrified. I have searched the internet all night and I have not found any information about something similar happening to anyone else or any way to resolve it.

I have an 8' rise on mine with a T at the bend.
 
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