Modular Home Chimney Install

[kryp2nite26]

Hello everyone, this is my 1st post so please bear with me as I have a couple questions I can't find answers for and this seems like the correct place to ask. I am going to be Installing a Drolet Austral wood stove in the living room of my 1200 square ft. modular home. It is a single story house with a basement and attic.
I have been researching for days now on the proper way to install the chimney and it seems like there are many ways to do it but i want to do it right. I would like to use double wall pipe for the whole thing. I have been shopping for all the materials and i must say, i didnt think the chimney would actually cost MORE than the stove. I really need to do this as cheaply as possible while maintaining a safe install for my house. I am aware of the required clearances to combustibles all around. My question is...What would be the cheapest way to do this and still be safe? Distances for chimney are as follows:

Top of stove to ceiling - 57 1/2"
Attic space (top of ceiling to inside edge of roof) - 29"
Will need to extend 3' higher than roof opening to clear the roof peak (5' away) by 2'

I appreciate any help or advice you guys could give me. If the chimney is going to cost a couple thousand dollars to do, i might have to change my mind about installing the stove. I am the only one in my family that works so money is VERY tight. My entire house is electric as i live in the country and last months electric bill was $450! I figured by installing a wood stove in the house, i could cut down on the electric bill by a lot.

 

[thechimneysweep]

There are two types of double-wall pipe: we recommend insulated chimney pipe from the ceiling up, and non-insulated double-wall connector pipe from the ceiling down. Viewing the job from the stove up, you'll need:

1) telescoping length (40" - 68"), double-wall connector pipe
1) ceiling support box
1) joist shield (attic insulation shield)
~7 feet insulated chimney pipe (depending upon the thickness of your roof)
1) 0/12 - 6/12 Roof Flashing
1) storm collar
1) rain cap with spark arrest screen
You may also need a double-wall flue collar adapter for the stove.

At suggested retail, these parts total less than $1,000.00

You can view a startlingly detailed sketch of the finished install at (broken link removed to http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/homhreq.htm)

 

[kryp2nite26]

Thank you for the reply. I actually didnt realize there was a difference between double wall stove pipe and double wall chimney pipe. I was also considering an alternate location for the stove. The problem i have with this location is the distance between the top of the ceiling and the roof is a bit longer due to it being closer to the roof peak. Does anyone make longer than normal ceiling support boxes or am i now into a different system for sheilding the chimney pipe in my attic space?

 

[begreen]

The ceiling support box just supports the chimney at the room ceiling, it doesn't need to be longer. Raw class A pipe will go up through the attic to the roof with an insulation shield around its base at the support box. It will look something like this in the attic.

 

[kryp2nite26]

Thank you for the picture and explanation. I actually like this method better. It seems I don't need the entire enclosed box with the ceiling support then like the Duravent ones I've been looking at. If I were to remove the attic insulation from around the ceiling opening, would I still need the attic insulation shield?

 

[begreen]

DuraTech / DuraVent has this exact same solution. I suspect you are looking at the wrong ceiling support boxes. By the description it sounds like you may be looking at cathedral ceiling support boxes instead of their flat ceiling support boxes. Yes, you will still need the attic insulation shield. No big deal.

 

[kryp2nite26]

So ive been doing some more research and online shopping and here is the list of chimney components i've come up with. Is this everything or have i overlooked something?

Telescoping Stove Pipe - $143.01
(broken link removed)

Ceiling Support Box - $30.46
http://www.pricefalls.com/product/DuraPlus-6-Unfinished-Flat-Ceiling-Support-Box/4274157

Class A Chimney Pipe - $311.13 (all 3)
http://www.pricefalls.com/product/DuraPlus-6-x-36-Inch-Stainless-Steel-Chimney-Pipe-430-Alloy/3616509?utm_source=GoogleShopping&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=PLA&utm_content=65510987071&utm_campaign=686;Home & Living;75-100

Adapter to ceiling box - $26.68
(broken link removed)

Adapter to stove - $31.79
(broken link removed)
***OR*** $43.48
(broken link removed)

Attic insulation shield - $56.37
(broken link removed to http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dura-Vent-6-Dura-Tech-Attic-Insulation-Shield-Item-9446-/290927137181?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43bc9bd19d)

Roof flashing - $42.64
http://www.pricefalls.com/product/DuraPlus-6-Adjustable-Flashing-0-12-6-12-Ventilated/4274065

Storm collar - $9.97
(broken link removed)

Chimney cap - $48.93
http://www.pricefalls.com/product/DuraPlus-6-Chimney-Cap/4274028

 

[begreen]

I'm not sure your attic insulation shield will work unless you install DuraTech instead of DuraPlus. DuraPlus is larger in diameter. FWIW DuraTech would be my preference, but then you would need to adjust your other parts too.

 

[kryp2nite26]

Im getting ready to order everything, (finally got the wife's approval) and had another quick question. Seeing that my home is only 1200 square feet, would the Austral be overkill? I like the idea of a slightly larger than needed stove because with the larger firebox, i should get longer burns, but i also dont want to burn ourselves out of the living room, which is where the stove will be installed.

 

[DBoon]

Hi kryp2nite26, welcome to the site. Your question "smaller or larger" is an age-old question here on the site. You might want to start another thread around just this topic or else you likely won't get many views and postings.

When you post a new thread, describe your wall, attic, and floor insulation, your climate, how warm you like the house, what your expectation for burn-times are, and whether you are planning on burning 24/7 or are just trying to offset your heating somewhat. And then be prepared for most everyone to tell you to buy one stove larger....

 

[begreen]

It depends on the house. In 1200sq ft, the Austral will probably be overkill for about 70% of winter, but when temps are sitting at -20F it may be just right. A better fit might be a 2-2.5 cu ft stove that covers 90% of your heating needs, but may need a little supplement on the coldest nights.

 

[kryp2nite26]

My thought process was on the not so fridged nights, I could just build a smaller fire. But this winter has been the coldest we have had in my lifetime for this area and we lose power a lot. With the Austral, it seems like I would have enough stove to handle anything Mother Nature would throw at me.

 

[begreen]

Is the floorplan very open with the stove in the middle of the house?

 

[tcassavaugh]

........one questin, if you haven't pulled the trigger yet.....why not stay with the same manufacturer? that way, all things will fit and you won't have a problem like begreen suggested.

 

[kryp2nite26]

Its your typical modular home. Living room and kitchen are basically right next to each other with a large triple wide doorway seperating the 2 rooms. I'm not worried about heating those rooms as I know I will be fine there. But the 3 bedrooms are located off a central hallway on the opposite side of where I'm going to install the stove so that concerns me a little. I wanted a more central location closer to the hallway but my wife says it will be in the way of our living space.

 

[kryp2nite26]

........one questin, if you haven't pulled the trigger yet.....why not stay with the same manufacturer? that way, all things will fit and you won't have a problem like begreen suggested.

Everything i am ordering for the chimney is DuraVent. (DuraPlus)

 

[begreen]

Its your typical modular home. Living room and kitchen are basically right next to each other with a large triple wide doorway seperating the 2 rooms. I'm not worried about heating those rooms as I know I will be fine there. But the 3 bedrooms are located off a central hallway on the opposite side of where I'm going to install the stove so that concerns me a little. I wanted a more central location closer to the hallway but my wife says it will be in the way of our living space.

This trick works well for distributing the heat. For more even heat in the house put a table or box fan at the far end of the hallway, placed on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice at least a 5F increase in the hallway temp after about 30 minutes running.

 

[kryp2nite26]

This trick works well for distributing the heat. For more even heat in the house put a table or box fan at the far end of the hallway, placed on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice at least a 5F increase in the hallway temp after about 30 minutes running.

Thank you for that!

 

[kryp2nite26]

So by the time I got around to ordering the Austral, Menards had sold out of it. AFTER I had paid for it. So I ended up going with the Pleasant Hearth 1800 sq ft model. The price was right but it is not as big as I wanted. Hopefully I didn't make a mistake going with it. I couldn't find very specific specs on it like firebox size in cubic feet. Anyone have anything good to say about it, or did I make a poor choice.

 

[tfdchief]

The ceiling support box just supports the chimney at the room ceiling, it doesn't need to be longer. Raw class A pipe will go up through the attic to the roof with an insulation shield around its base at the support box. It will look something like this in the attic.
View attachment 126841

I am honored to have my attic quoted on hearth.com by one of the Mods!

 

[weatherguy]

So by the time I got around to ordering the Austral, Menards had sold out of it. AFTER I had paid for it. So I ended up going with the Pleasant Hearth 1800 sq ft model. The price was right but it is not as big as I wanted. Hopefully I didn't make a mistake going with it. I couldn't find very specific specs on it like firebox size in cubic feet. Anyone have anything good to say about it, or did I make a poor choice.

I think that's a good choice, are you worried you went too big? I think a little bigger's better, if it's milder just build smaller fires or open a window a crack, if we get below zero again you'll have the firepower.

 

[kryp2nite26]

Actually thinking i didnt go big enough. I wanted the Austral because i was sure i could get overnight (8 hourish) burns out of it. But i know that the firebox in this Pleasant Hearth 1800 is smaller, so that is my concern. I dont want to have to feed it every 3-4 hours.

 

[begreen]

I hate to say it but I think you will be replacing the PH in a year or so. It is on the smaller and shallow side. A Napoleon 1450, Lopi Endeavor or PE Super 27 (or TN19) would be a better fit IMO.

 

[kryp2nite26]

I'm trying to stay within my budget and finding out my budget should have been higher.

 

[kryp2nite26]

SO i cancelled the order on the Pleasant Hearth. Im now looking at the Englander NC30 based on firebox size and all the great things ive read about it on this fine Forum. I realize it is probably overkill for my sized house, but am i thinking correctly in thinking i can just build a smaller fire than normal to not burn my family out of the house? Or does this thing only function correctly when loaded to the max with wood? I really want a larger than needed firebox so i dont have to get up in the middle of the night to feed it.

EDIT: Nevermind. I found the info i needed in this thread. I love this place.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/englander-30-vs-13.83075/