Lenght of pellet stove chimney???

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pedsdpt

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Nov 25, 2007
1
Agua Dulce, CA
Hello,
I installed a pellet stove by myself, more a reason of finances than inclination. I bought the appropriate chimney kit for my pellet stove, hooked it up and ran it directly through the wall (according to instructions) and put the cap on it. Now I am being told I need to run the pipe up to and past the roof. T or F. If so I want to do it right away!!!!!

Thanks, Teresa
 
Welcome to the forum Teresa!

I know that the manuals do show instructions on how
to properly direct vent out a wall but personally I
would go out and terminate up over the roof line if I had to go out a wall.
You'll get a better natural draft that way should you ever lose power.
 
You'll want to check your stove manual otherwise you might not please your local inspector when he comes to check your install.

Many stoves do not require any vert pipe. Mine did not but I installed it into an existing masonry.

It could however get nasty junk on the side of your house and if there is a power failure you could get some smoke in your house.
 
"Now I am being told I need to run the pipe up to and past the roof."

Who is telling you this? Stove shop, manual, local inspector? If the manual says you can't then you can't, if the inspector says no then you may have problems, if it is someone here, then it is probably just their opinion, if it is your local stove shop they may have prior experience that tells them it is necessary.
 
What does the stove manual show? It's generally recommended to run the pipe vertically outside for at least 5 feet. This is so that in the event of a power failure there is some natural draft.
 
The stove manual for the stove I bought said the vent could be terminated 12" from the wall, but recommends that there be at least 5' of vertical pipe. I was going to just run it thru the wall and terminate it there. If I had problems I'd run some pipe up the wall. I changed my mind when I saw the pictures at www.hearthtools.com/install/pellet.html. I'm going to run the vent pipe up above the roof line. I don't want to have to clean the soot off the cedar siding.
 
Philip said:
The stove manual for the stove I bought said the vent could be terminated 12" from the wall, but recommends that there be at least 5' of vertical pipe. I was going to just run it thru the wall and terminate it there. If I had problems I'd run some pipe up the wall. I changed my mind when I saw the pictures at www.hearthtools.com/install/pellet.html. I'm going to run the vent pipe up above the roof line. I don't want to have to clean the soot off the cedar siding.


My pipe is like this but it sticks out farther. ive never had black anything on my wall. its a Big-E pellet stove.

John
 

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Metal said:
Johnnywarm-I can see soot in about a
4 foot area on both sides of your vent and above it (from your picture), or were you
trying to be sarcastic when you said you never had black anything on the wall?

That's not a pic of his stove - he said his is installed like that one
in the picture.
 
I will NEVER install A DV pellet venting not just from the soot but WHEN the power goes out smoke WILL spill into your home if you do not have a vertical rise to draw the smoke out of the stove.

You can get much more accurate air adjustment out of your stove if you have a vertical rise


Also Pellet exhaust Smells bad
If you have an window near by it could come into the home.
 
Metal said:
Johnnywarm-I can see soot in about a 4 foot area on both sides of your vent and above it (from your picture), or were you trying to be sarcastic when you said you never had black anything on the wall?


Thats not my pic.
 
hearthtools said:
I will NEVER install A DV pellet venting not just from the soot but WHEN the power goes out smoke WILL spill into your home if you do not have a vertical rise to draw the smoke out of the stove.

You can get much more accurate air adjustment out of your stove if you have a vertical rise


Also Pellet exhaust Smells bad
If you have an window near by it could come into the home.


The power did go out once and we did get some smoke in the house. it was originally installed under a deck. the deck is on the second floor.


How high should the vertical pipe be???
 
I like a min of 5 feet but the more the better
 
hearthtools said:
I like a min of 5 feet but the more the better


So put a clean out then go up? Are clean out is inside because we have a 12" tall concrete wall to go over. the house has a walkout cellar.
 
johnnywarm said:
Metal said:
Johnnywarm-I can see soot in about a 4 foot area on both sides of your vent and above it (from your picture), or were you trying to be sarcastic when you said you never had black anything on the wall?


Thats not my pic.

Sorry, my mistake.
 
Thats not my pic.[/quote]

Sorry, my mistake.[/quote]


Thats fine. i was in a hurry when i posted it.

John
 
johnnywarm said:
hearthtools said:
I will NEVER install A DV pellet venting not just from the soot but WHEN the power goes out smoke WILL spill into your home if you do not have a vertical rise to draw the smoke out of the stove.

You can get much more accurate air adjustment out of your stove if you have a vertical rise


Also Pellet exhaust Smells bad
If you have an window near by it could come into the home.


The power did go out once and we did get some smoke in the house. it was originally installed under a deck. the deck is on the second floor.


How high should the vertical pipe be???

5 ft is what most call for , ours is 3 ft mandatory minimum, and by the way , venting under a deck is taboo.
 
That's interesting that you direct vented and haven't had a problem with black on your walls. I guess it might have something to do with the way the wind moves around your house. Having never had a pellet stove, I didn't know the exhaust smelled bad, either. My stove will be fairly close to the door to the garage which is on the garage door end of garage. I had thought of going up 5' or 6' INSIDE the house and then go out the wall and terminate the pipe 12" out from the house. My wife objected to the pipe being in the house so it will go outside and up.
 
Ah, the smell of buring corn and pellet in the morning, I love it. Smell bad? Nada to me, just like a county fair and a wood fire at the same time. Pellets are wood after all, if you think a wood fire smells bad I guess you wouldn't like the smell of pellet exhaust.
 
Philip said:
That's interesting that you direct vented and haven't had a problem with black on your walls. I guess it might have something to do with the way the wind moves around your house. Having never had a pellet stove, I didn't know the exhaust smelled bad, either. My stove will be fairly close to the door to the garage which is on the garage door end of garage. I had thought of going up 5' or 6' INSIDE the house and then go out the wall and terminate the pipe 12" out from the house. My wife objected to the pipe being in the house so it will go outside and up.


I have a Breckwell Big E pellet stove with the pipe that comes out about two feet and have never had black smoke at all. i get some white smoke at the very beginning and then its clear. i also run my stove on #4 so it burns hot.My stove with the hardwood pellets smells alot better then the smoke stack wood burner next door.

I will post a pic of the pipe and where i moved it to tomorrow.

John

Oh i'm going to run a pipe up to the roof.I value all of your advice.
 
hearthtools said:
Also Pellet exhaust Smells bad.....................

Strongly disagree with this statement. Since 11/2005
I've run approx. 6 tons of pellets through my stove -
about a half dozen different brands at that - and
never smelled anything bad. Always smells like a wood
stove burning only not as strong a smell and no smoke
bellowing out of the stack.
At least that's the deal with mine and I have two
friends who run pellets - one has a harman p38,
the other a cheap charlie something or other.
Neither of them smell bad either.
 
zeta said:
hearthtools said:
Also Pellet exhaust Smells bad.....................

Strongly disagree with this statement. Since 11/2005
I've run approx. 6 tons of pellets through my stove -
about a half dozen different brands at that - and
never smelled anything bad. Always smells like a wood
stove burning only not as strong a smell and no smoke
bellowing out of the stack.
At least that's the deal with mine and I have two
friends who run pellets - one has a harman p38,
the other a cheap charlie something or other.
Neither of them smell bad either.

I have to agree with Zeta on this one. No bad smell or smoke.
Sometimes we get a faint wiff of wood burning smell when it is windy
outside but no where near as strong as the fireplace next door.
 
Wood pellets don't smell bad to me. Just like burning wood. I do not like the smell of burning corn though. To me that stinks.
 
I was in my hot tub thats very close to my pipe on the other side of the fence and didnt smell it at all.

Im going to take a pic of my pipe running full speed with no smoke and put it on here later.

John
 
zeta said:
hearthtools said:
Also Pellet exhaust Smells bad.....................

Strongly disagree with this statement. Since 11/2005
I've run approx. 6 tons of pellets through my stove -
about a half dozen different brands at that - and
never smelled anything bad. Always smells like a wood
stove burning only not as strong a smell and no smoke
bellowing out of the stack.
At least that's the deal with mine and I have two
friends who run pellets - one has a harman p38,
the other a cheap charlie something or other.
Neither of them smell bad either.

Im not talking about any smell in the house but out the end of the venting.
I dont know how many of you have had your nose at the end of a pellet vent when it is running
but I think it stinks. and I have been around 1000's of running stoves.
But some people like the smell of my farts also. LOL
 
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