Although theirs quite a few seasoned pyromaniac wood stove veterans on this site that at the same time there's always new burners that venture on looking for help and tips. I came across this web site for stove pipe and found a great detailed diagrams of different ways to vent the stove. Hope this helps to shed a little more light on a few questions. Please don't interpret that I'm promoting a product. Just offering some help from this Adobe pdf file. http://www.northerntool.com/images/downloads/manuals/36628.pdf