Lots of questions about install

[ljmeola]

Hello all! I am brand new so please be gentle. My wife and I live in an older home we would like to do something with our existing fireplace. I have been browsing this forum and I am truly impressed with the knowledge that is shared. Enough said. My point is we would like to put a wood burning insert into our existing fireplace. We both love the products that Jotul puts out and absolutely love the new Winterport which we feel will fit our needs as far as a supplemental heating source. With that being said our fireplace is a bit strange in that our flue is offset to the right. My question is does this pose a problem for the install of the wood insert and what can be done by the installers to ensure that we are going to get the best draft possible. I have been researching and some wood stove/insert retailers have said a slider box, but I was told that those things cut down significantly on the draw not to mention a friend of mine had a similar situation with the offset flue and the slider box was a nightmare. My second question is we are going to be raising our firebox and hearth because of some damage to the hearth and firebox, so we will be raising it about 6 inches which would bring the insert up off the floor improving the fire viewing and I think would look much nicer. The requirement is to have 19 1/2 inches of clearance for the insert to be fitted in. With the hearth and firebox raised we will have 26 inches (plenty I think), does this give the installer enough room to still make the connection from the flexible pipe coming down the flue into the exit on the top of the insert. I don’t know if I made any sense but I want to collect all the data I can before I take the plunge and spend the money. I have found an installer whom has an impeccable reputation but I just want some feedback from you guys/girls out there.

Thanks

 

[begreen]

Hi Madison, welcome.

Yes, you should be ok. Our fireplace had such an offset. Interior chimney, first floor, 20 ft tall. It drew just fine with a full liner. If you have a good installer they can accomodate the offset. To answer questions regarding the best draft possible, please describe the chimney better. Is this an interior chimney or an exterior one? How tall is it? Will the installer be doing a full liner with a block-off plate?

 

[ljmeola]

Hey! Thanks for the reply. The liner will be approximately 33-35 (three floor house) feet based on an estimate given by one installer, the chimney runs right up through the center of our house and as a fireplace draws really well. The installer is going to fully line the chimney and block off the top adding a stainless steel chimney cap to the 6" flexible liner. Do you know how they accommodated your offset flue? My friend said they tired that slider box but it was really bad. It's a lot of money to spend and some of the guys who came out to give estimates were really shady characters, so I just want to make sure everything will work out OK. Like I said I found one installer who is really good, great recommendations etc... So it's just a matter of time before this all happens. My one big concern is that by raising the firebox and hearth it only gives the installer 7 1/2 inches to work with, but I would like the unit off the floor for better fire viewing and accessibility with regard to loading the wood into the firebox.

Thanks I really appreciate your feedback.

 

[begreen]

Our install had rigid pipe that came down to a 45 in the offset and the remaining 3 ft to the stove was flex flue pipe.

From the sounds of it, your main issue might be too much draft. That is a tall stack. A flex liner should work ok. If the offset is not large and sharp, they may run flex all the way to the stove. Otherwise they might put a 45 elbow on top of the stove to connect it. Sounds like you are in good hands. A great installation team and dealer make a world of difference.

 

[MrGriz]

Welcome to the forum Madison.

Without knowing the details of your offset, it's hard to say what the best method would be. As BG said, they may be able to use a section of flex liner and or a 45 degree elbow. My installation has an offset from front to back to access the flue. I was able to run stainless steel flex liner down the entire chimney, make the jog through the damper opening and to the top of the insert. With the interior location and height of the chimney, I don't think adequate draft will be an issue at all.

I would also be sure that the installer installs a block off plate at the point where the liner passes through the damper opening. This is a good idea for various safety and performance issues. You can search and find plenty of threads referring to the block off plate.

While 7 1/2 inches is not a tremendous amount of space, your installer should be able to get things together just fine. I have heard about a number of successful installs here with much less clearance.

Good luck and keep the questions coming. Even though you are having the installation done by a professional with a good reputation, it is good to arm yourself with the knowledge of what makes a good installation. It will be much easier to question the installer and clear up any discrepancies before the installation is complete, rather than going at it after the fact.

 

[ljmeola]

Hey I really appreciate all your help! I agree that draft will not be a problem. However you did open my eyes to the block off plate that you mentioned. Right now we have a lock-top damper installed which, means at some point I would guess the older damper was uninstalled. I am wondering exactly where this block off plate would be installed and would this possibly have to be custom fit to our situation. This is exactly why I am on this site to "get an education" and I am getting one.

Thanks,
LJM

 

[Michael6268]

Block off plate would have to be where the old damper/fire box throat was. Yes it is usally a custom piece of metal cut to your damper throat's dimentions.

 

[MrGriz]

You may want to check the HearthWiki and search for block off plate. There is a good piece there on how one is constructed. It's really not difficult, I was able to make mine out of two pieces of sheet metal, a piece of door gasket and some furnace cement. The existing damper will be removed and the block off plate installed at that point (around the liner).

You are definitely doing things in the right order. Learning about the proper installation before it happens. I have read too many times about people who find out after the fact that things were done incorrectly and then it's much tougher to get them corrected. Those stories led me to do my own installation.