Installing OAK through brick chimney

[Jeffrey.bean]

Hello all,
I bought an Enviro M55 insert, 3 years ago when we moved into our new home.
I installed the pellet stove in the existing fireplace, ran 15’ of 4” SS flex tube for the exhaust up through the chimney.
I have been very disappointed in the heat output of the unit. Our house is approx 1800sf rancher.
This year I want hook up the fresh air intake to the outside and see if that helps.
How do I go about drilling a 3” hole through fire brick and regular brick on a vertical surface?
Or can I run a 3” flex tube through the ash clean out to the out side?
Thanks

 

[BigJohnfromCT]

Hello all,
I bought an Enviro M55 insert, 3 years ago when we moved into our new home.
I installed the pellet stove in the existing fireplace, ran 15’ of 4” SS flex tube for the exhaust up through the chimney.
I have been very disappointed in the heat output of the unit. Our house is approx 1800sf rancher.
This year I want hook up the fresh air intake to the outside and see if that helps.
How do I go about drilling a 3” hole through fire brick and regular brick on a vertical surface?
Or can I run a 3” flex tube through the ash clean out to the out side?
Thanks

I wish I had the answer for you but I don't. Having said that I would seriously give second thoughts to drilling through your masonry chimney. Have you explored all possibilities? I ran my stove for a couple of years before installing the OAK. Can't say I feel like I'm getting more heat from the stove just feel better about not constantly pulling unheated air in. Is your house that air right that it's starving the stove? Before I start drilling I'd run the stove with a window cracked a couple of inches. If it does not improve don't drill. Good luck

 

[Jeffrey.bean]

This will be my 4th winter using the M55 in this house.
I feel that it’s pulling in outside air thru my cheap windows. Always feel cold, even with it cranked up.
I’ll run a flex tube thru the ash clean out and see if that helps.

 

[BigJohnfromCT]

This will be my 4th winter using the M55 in this house.
I feel that it’s pulling in outside air thru my cheap windows. Always feel cold, even with it cranked up.
I’ll run a flex tube thru the ash clean out and see if that helps.

Below in the URL for a cheap thermocouple thermometer $(20 bucks) from Amazon. I have one on my stove. It will give you some idea regarding the temperature of the heated air coming out of your stove. Then when you make changes you will be able to tell what/if it's having effect. Trick is to make sure the thermocouple tip is in the air stream and NOT touching any metal.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NFDTXQ6/?tag=hearthamazon-20
ie=UTF8&qid=1539619591&sr=8-29&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=thermocouple+thermometer

 

[Jeffrey.bean]

Thanks Big John

 

[quietcorner dad]

Hello all,
I bought an Enviro M55 insert, 3 years ago when we moved into our new home.
I installed the pellet stove in the existing fireplace, ran 15’ of 4” SS flex tube for the exhaust up through the chimney.
I have been very disappointed in the heat output of the unit. Our house is approx 1800sf rancher.
This year I want hook up the fresh air intake to the outside and see if that helps.
How do I go about drilling a 3” hole through fire brick and regular brick on a vertical surface?
Or can I run a 3” flex tube through the ash clean out to the out side?
Thanks

Dear Jeffrey Bean,

I ran an OAK up the same chimney as my intake... my installer was able to find a piece at the cap that bent away from the direction of the exhaust, creating more distance and reducing the odds of--or amount of--oxygen-depleted exhaust that would just get sucked back in, as this clearly is a downside, and a reason that code in some places calls for the exhaust to be higher [6" higher? been a few years since i researched this] than the air intake]

anyway, you could learn more about what i did here:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...chimney-m-55-other-stuff.143588/#post-1960978

I wanted to avoid using the ash clean out, as that would just suck air into my basement rather than my first floor. good luck!

tom

 

[Jeffrey.bean]

Dear Jeffrey Bean,

I ran an OAK up the same chimney as my intake... my installer was able to find a piece at the cap that bent away from the direction of the exhaust, creating more distance and reducing the odds of--or amount of--oxygen-depleted exhaust that would just get sucked back in, as this clearly is a downside, and a reason that code in some places calls for the exhaust to be higher [6" higher? been a few years since i researched this] than the air intake]

anyway, you could learn more about what i did here:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...chimney-m-55-other-stuff.143588/#post-1960978

I wanted to avoid using the ash clean out, as that would just suck air into my basement rather than my first floor. good luck!

tom

 

[Jeffrey.bean]

Tom, I thought about doing that, but decided to try the ash clean out first.
I ran a piece a 3” aluminum flex duct from the stove to the outside ash clean out.
I screened the opening of the duct to keep critters out and protected from the elements.
I think it will really help keep the drafts down in the house. Just waiting on a cold day to test it out.

 

[jrex]

Curious as to the length needed to go through the clean out down to basement and outside? I had a short chimney similar to you so decided to go up vs the clean out. Although right now I am having some issues that may or may not be related to the OAK. Probably will run without the OAK this year and next year run the OAK pipe all the way up to just below the chimney cap. I have the Harman cap with louvers build in to be able to pull air into the chimney from the outside.

 

[Jeffrey.bean]

Curious as to the length needed to go through the clean out down to basement and outside? I had a short chimney similar to you so decided to go up vs the clean out. Although right now I am having some issues that may or may not be related to the OAK. Probably will run without the OAK this year and next year run the OAK pipe all the way up to just below the chimney cap. I have the Harman cap with louvers build in to be able to pull air into the chimney from the outside.

My run was only about 6’ with 2 90 degree angles.

 

[bostonfan49]

Hello all,
I bought an Enviro M55 insert, 3 years ago when we moved into our new home.
I installed the pellet stove in the existing fireplace, ran 15’ of 4” SS flex tube for the exhaust up through the chimney.
I have been very disappointed in the heat output of the unit. Our house is approx 1800sf rancher.
This year I want hook up the fresh air intake to the outside and see if that helps.
How do I go about drilling a 3” hole through fire brick and regular brick on a vertical surface?
Or can I run a 3” flex tube through the ash clean out to the out side?
Thanks

Hi Jeffrey, same stove and same chimney set-up. I had a Chimney/Masonry cleaning company drill a 4” hole through the chimney...Louder than 100 leaf blowers! All the benefits of an OAK! Will be firing up the stove in a few days, but have to pull the Johnson out first to do some house cleaning and checking stuff. If it’s of any value I can send pics of how my stove exhaust connects to the OAK as I slide the stove back in...
Bill