I was up in the attic and measured 130F right at the top of the chimney offset. Here is the setup:
Jotul F100 is sitting in the masonry fireplace, SS liner with blanket insulation coming out of the top of the stove, going all the way up. Chimney is unlined brick. There is an offset in the attic before it passes through the roof (center).
The bricks on the straight side measure around 90 F at the warmest location. Only the high part of the offset are at 130F. The lower part of the offset is at 90 or less. THis is after a day of burning.
The workmanship of the masonry is lousy. There is mortar missing (not deteriorated) in places, and you can feel warm air raising up. I have repointed some areas, and in the course removed bricks - I could see the liner/blanket and it looked OK, no tearing etc, the mesh intact.
Should I be worried? The wood framing is just above the offset, touching the bricks. There is unfaced glass wool stuffed between the hot part and the walls.
Could this be the warm air above the stove rising, and escaping through gaps at the offset?
There is no block off plate above the stove, only on top at the chimney cap.
The fact that it is only at the upper part of the offset seems to indicate rising air rather than radiation from the SS liner itself.
I plan to parge the offset with a layer of lime mortar to fill the gaps as soon as the weather permits - does this sound reasonable?
Another thought: I cleaned out the ash dump and found a large amount of coal, indicating that at one point someone burnt coal in the unlined fireplace. How come the house did not burn down? Or at least someone got CO poisoning with this flimsy construction?
Jotul F100 is sitting in the masonry fireplace, SS liner with blanket insulation coming out of the top of the stove, going all the way up. Chimney is unlined brick. There is an offset in the attic before it passes through the roof (center).
The bricks on the straight side measure around 90 F at the warmest location. Only the high part of the offset are at 130F. The lower part of the offset is at 90 or less. THis is after a day of burning.
The workmanship of the masonry is lousy. There is mortar missing (not deteriorated) in places, and you can feel warm air raising up. I have repointed some areas, and in the course removed bricks - I could see the liner/blanket and it looked OK, no tearing etc, the mesh intact.
Should I be worried? The wood framing is just above the offset, touching the bricks. There is unfaced glass wool stuffed between the hot part and the walls.
Could this be the warm air above the stove rising, and escaping through gaps at the offset?
There is no block off plate above the stove, only on top at the chimney cap.
The fact that it is only at the upper part of the offset seems to indicate rising air rather than radiation from the SS liner itself.
I plan to parge the offset with a layer of lime mortar to fill the gaps as soon as the weather permits - does this sound reasonable?
Another thought: I cleaned out the ash dump and found a large amount of coal, indicating that at one point someone burnt coal in the unlined fireplace. How come the house did not burn down? Or at least someone got CO poisoning with this flimsy construction?
