Installation questions (cathedral ceilings)

[dbvanw]

I am in the process of installing a "new to me" Vermont Castings Resolute. This is the older (early 80's) version. I do realize that this is not an EPA compliant stove, but I needed to get something on the cheap and I found this stove for $100 including a whole bunch of almost new stove pipe. I will be checking this stove from top to bottom before it is installed and will replace parts as needed.

The stove will be installed in a "cabin-style" home which has a 2-story tall (18') kitchen and living room and a 2nd floor loft which overlooks the kitchen/living room. The stove will center on the outside 18' tall wall. I have attached a picture... the stove will go where the chair is currently.

I am not sure if I want to install the pipe straight up, or go up 6'-8' and out the side wall. My preference would be to go up and out because I am not crazy about seeing 14' of 6" pipe, but I don't want to sacrifice function. I am also concerned about sealing the penetration as my roof is corrugated sheet metal (12/12 pitch) and those rubber boots look like they would be hard to seal up compared to a wall penetration.

My questions are:

1- Is going out the side wall a bad idea (creosote, draft, etc)?
2- Is it hard to clean the chimney with the up and out configuration. I can imagine that the outside section would be easy by coming straight up from the tee, but how would I clean the interior vertical and horizontal pipe? Do they make a 4 way "t" instead of a 3 way "T"?

Thanks in advance for your wisdom-

Dave

 

[LLigetfa]

My questions are:

1- Is going out the side wall a bad idea (creosote, draft, etc)?
2- Is it hard to clean the chimney with the up and out configuration. I can imagine that the outside section would be easy by coming straight up from the tee, but how would I clean the interior vertical and horizontal pipe? Do they make a 4 way "t" instead of a 3 way "T"?

1 - Yes, bad idea. A chimney going up the exterior has much less draft and a much greater propensity for creosote buildup. Right angle Tees are a death trap for falling creosote. Been there, had a chimney fire.
Running the pipe straight up the interior will scavenge much more of the heat and be much cleaner as well as improve draft. If creosote buildup sheds, it falls back into the stove.

2 - Chimneys are best cleaned from the top. Better to not be under the opening that soot is pouring out of.

If you penetrate the roof close to the peak, there is very little roof above the chimney to shed runoff from.

 

[fossil]

Straight up's the best, but certainly not the only, configuration. The roof penetration gets sealed by proper installation/overlapping of the components involved...including the roofing material. Lots of cathedral installations are done with interior stovepipe all the way up (including the one in my house) and I think they look just fine. You can do it either way you prefer, there are pros and cons for each. Rick

 

[dbvanw]

thanks guys.

Fossil- Any pics of your cathedral setup?

Dave

 

[fossil]

I'll get one today...house is in the final throes of a major remodel, but you'll be able to see the stove installation amidst all the industrial debris. There have been a number of folks who've posted pics of nice interior installs w/cathedral ceilings, but I don't know how you'd ever go find them in all the miscellaneous threads. Maybe some of them will see this thread and re-post their pics. I'll add mine after a while. Rick

 

[LLigetfa]

I don't think chasing in the chimney on the interior would look good in your home but in my last two houses, with cathedral ceilings I chased in the chimneys. I vented the chase and recovered an amazing amount of heat and the convection made the heat really even.

If you are considering going up the exterior (don't!) unless you don't have roof overhang, you would still need to penetrate the roof so not going up the interior wouldn't avoid penetration.

 

[Prada]

The corrugated metal roof is your biggest problem when going straight up. We had the same problem and other than having a custom made flashing, the only other road we could take was the Metalbestos Selkirk Rubber Boot Flashing Kit and it runs about $200 which is NOT chicken feed when you add up all of your other costs during installation. I do have to say that it looks tricky to install and Hubby was apprehensive but it went up real easy. It laid right in there and fit like a glove. They fit chimneys from 5" to 8" and up to 12/12 roof pitches. There is a gal that lives near me that is the 'National Selkirk' info person and anyone can call her and she will help through any type of questions that need answered with all of the Selkirk products and installation etc. Here is her info: 1-800-848-2149 Ext: 2212 or 1-740-385-5666 Karen (Logan, Ohio) Selkirk Tech Support

We went the 'straight up' stove pipe method ourself and we selected the double wall interior black pipe, because our Buck 81 stove puts out tons of heat and we didn't need the extra heat that the single wall would help put out. Plus we wanted the extra 'clearance' factor that the double wall combined with the optional heat shield gave us (along with the increased draft factor etc).

I do need to mention that when there's a Loft above, the heat that naturally flows up-wards can make it hardly livable up there especially if you have a single wall pipe running all the way to the top. I have 2 different neighbors that have Lofts and they have a heck of a time with their heat distribution to even be able to be up there at all during wood burning season.

 

[fossil]

Pardon our mess, but this'll give you an idea of one such installation. Rick

 

[Bill]

I have a cabin with cathedral ceiling in the family room, you get some nice heat from the chimney being inside, plus better draft. I clean my chimney from the bottom with out a problem. I slide the rods through a box, with a sponge on the bottom, keeps the dirt inside the box. It's impossible to clean mine from the roof. Unless maybe I had a cheery picker.