Hello all. I am new to the forum and somewhat new to burning wood. I have been using an old Fisher Baby Bear for the past 4 years that came with our house. It goes through wood like crazy. I only burn nights and weekends. A friend of mine gave me a VC Intrepid II 1303 that I restored (new refractory, catalyst, thermostat, secondary air probe, throat hood, and gaskets all around), minus redoing the cement joints. As it turns out, my flue doesn't really like catalytic stoves (leaks smoke into the house). Although, I could do a little more to improve the draft, but I think I want something bigger that can heat our 1300 square foot house. My current setup favors a rear exit exhaust, but with some new pipe could probably figure out a vertical exhaust. I am looking to spend less than $1500 on either a new or used stove (will be selling the VC and Fisher). My hearth can't handle a huge stove, but definitely a medium sized one. I don't know the difference between steel vs. cast except for that steel has welded seams and cast has cement seams. And I think a blower would be nice since the stove is closer to one end of the house. I want a nice looking, low maintenance stove that is easy to operate, is efficient and you can cook on the top. I would love some opinions on a make and model that would fit my needs. Thanks!
Need Advice on a New Stove
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A good flue is going to be critical to the new stove. I would get that taken care of first. If the Intrepid is not happy the odds are a new stove may perform poorly with the same setup. Describe the flue system. Is the chimney lined? How tall is the chimney?
The flue is an M-Flex stainless steel flue installed in our chimney about 4 years ago. A recent inspection showed that there is a little separation at where the M-Flex meets the horizontal thru-wall pipe. That will be fixed first because it is supposedly leaking small amounts of the poured insulation into the flue. We currently are not using any wood stove until this is fixed. Next, the double walled pipe that connects to the horizontal thru-wall pipe does not have a great seal. That should be an easy fix. Other than that, the flue should be fine. We live in a ranch, so the flue is not that tall. The draft we had when the Fisher was running seemed more than adequate for the VC Intrepid II, so I'm not sure if the flue was the problem or if the stove is the issue. Either way, the flue will be fixed by a certified technician.
Old stoves breath easy. You can't compare their needs to new stoves. Modern stove have preheat air passageways and route the air for airwash. This requires much better draft. How tall is the chimney? What diameter is the liner?
I am pretty sure it is a 6" diameter liner and I believe the flue is 16 feet from the thimble to the exit at the top of the chimney. I can verify tonight.
Are there 2 - 90 deg turns in the smoke path coming off the stove? That effectively reduces the chimney height by slowing down flue gases. The result can be the equivalent of 5-6 ft loss.. If you want to try a temporary test with the Intrepid, get a cheap 4' length of galvanized 6 round heat duct. Pull the cap on the liner and fit the 4' pipe in as a temporary chimney. If you see a dramatic improvement in the Intrepid's behavior the solution is increasing the chimney height.
For a stove I would consider a Woodstock Keystone or Fireview in catalytic stoves. Or there are a number of nice 2 cu ft stoves. In non-cat the Pacific Energy Super 27 is what I would recommend as it's secondary passage is short and breathes pretty easily.
For a stove I would consider a Woodstock Keystone or Fireview in catalytic stoves. Or there are a number of nice 2 cu ft stoves. In non-cat the Pacific Energy Super 27 is what I would recommend as it's secondary passage is short and breathes pretty easily.
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There is 90 deg bend off the back of the stove up to a 90 deg bend at the thimble, then a very short run to the 90 at the liner.
I might be able to turn the exhaust vertical and run two 45s to the thimble. Would that make a big difference in draft?
Going from three 90s to one 90 and two 45s should make a marked improvement. How high is the thimble?
I second the Super 27 suggestion. My Spectrum is essentially the same stove, and it works really well on a 13' straight up pipe.
The thimble is probably around 4.5 feet off the floor, but it is offset to the right of the stove by a couple feet.
3 90's is a killer. I think this stove can be top vented. You might want to reverse the flue collar and try that.
I'll see what I can do with a couple 45's. The Pacific Energy Super 27 looks like a pretty nice stove. Is it easy to maintain?
Thanks LOL. I asked because some steel stoves can't with the way the top is configured. We lose power quite often and being able to cook on the top is important, and being able to run the steamer on top is nice too.
It'll do it. Never heard of a steel EPA stove burned right that didn't get over 228 degrees on the top plate. The boiling point of water. Mine is sitting at 700 stove top at the moment and it would send water to the moon.
I don't remember, just that I read that some folks were having trouble getting the water to boil on their stove.
Stoves with convective tops or non-removable trivets have a hard time boiling water. Not a problem with the Super.
Thanks guys for the help! Bought a couple 45's yesterday and tried to get them to fit my VC Intrepid set-up, but the angles are tough. I have a 45 coming off the vertical exhaust collar to a long straight section to the 45 at the thimble. The 45 at the thimble doesn't work, needs more like a 60 degree. Do they make such a thing as a double wall 60 degree bend? Or even an adjustable double wall 90? My set-up is difficult because the thimble is back and to the right of the stove.
Yes, I have it set to vertical now. The 45 comes up off the collar to the straight segment up to the thimble, where I am having trouble getting a 45 to fit. The following picture is kind of what it looks like except that the thimble is closer to the stove and to the right of the stove by like 20 inches or so. http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c68/Badfish740/flue_1.jpg
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The 45 at the stove is at the perfect angle to the thimble when facing the stove. But in plan view (looking from the top), the 45 at the stove is turned towards the thimble, but the angle from the straight section to the thimble is like 60 degrees. My other option would be to put an extension at the thimble and then add a 90, but I would be encroaching too close to combustibles.
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