New Guy From Maine Saying Hello

[Mt Bob]

Separate OAK - It is supposed to be installed lower than the pellet venting. Since you already have the pellet venting and the thimble installed, the other suggestions are a little late

Harman sells one with oak for their stoves.I recently installed an duravent for 4" pipe and 3" oak in a 7 1/2 hole.A thimble is very easy to change.Icel makes a nice one,duravent has 2 kinds of different sizes.

 

[TimfromMA]

OAK can be installed right next to the vent without concern.

 

[bags]

Maineiac,
If you do not have enough room for a regular drill your could rent or borrow a right angle drill. Do you have any contractor or plumber friends? What about a multi-tool? Look around here and Youtube for installation vids and examples. Most thimbles or thru the wall kits come with an instruction sheet. Hopefully where your stove is located and the OAK needs to go you will not run into obstacles inside the wall. Ex: wires, pipes etc: I see you have 2 outlets in the area.

Mark the inside first and gently cut the drywall. Then you can look in and explore with your hands and look to see if there are things in the way. Might use a flashlight. Drywall is easy to patch if you need slight adjustments. I am contractor and people get uneasy about things like this and it is understandable. It's nothing to worry much about. Take your time and do not use too much force. Proceed carefully and cautiously. Dry wall is usually 1/2 inch so don't go too deep and you will not hit anything if there is something there. Did you cut in your exhaust? Same thing, another hole in the wall.

Myself, like Luv2burnPellets, bought the all in one thimble (outside air and exhaust) in one hole. Mine required a 6 3/4" x 6 3/4" square hole approximately. Very simple and easy to do. Cut the hole, peel back insulation, mount the unit, and attach the pipes. I do see electric outlets close by. Still not a problem just do not cut into the wires feeding them. If a wire is running across where you need to go thru inside the wall they are usually easily moved a bit or pushed up / down to clear the opening. Looks like you have drywall inside. What's on the outside?

Another suggestion: Do you own a multi-tool? They work great and you can get blades to cut different materials. Thy come in handy for multiple projects. I buy quality costly tools because I use them daily. I did buy a Harbor Freight "cheap" one too that works well. $19 or $29 bucks?? This is my beater and I don't care if it gets muddy or destroyed. I do, but I don't. Cheap insurance instead of ruining the pricey one. Check this option out also. They work great in weird situations where a drill or sawzall (reciprocating saw) can not get into. The blades adjust around to accommodate different situations. They give clean and easy cuts. In fact this is the tool I used for my wall thimble.

Good Luck and fire back if you have any questions.

 

[bags]

Correction, My hole was 7 1/4" to 7 1/2" like bob bare stated. Mine was the Harman also. The sleeve that passes thru is 6 3/4" and the 7 1/4" - 7 1/2" hole allows for a small amount of wiggle room. I saved my install sheets and just looked at them.

Your situation is different and you are using a different thimble but it is still only a carefully cut hole in the wall. Get your location and start cutting!

 

[MaineiacMoose]

Welcome to the forum from a fellow Mainer. Lots of advice here. I have the wall thimble with the included OAK. Very simple installation. What area of Maine are you from?

I live in the Newport area. I wish I had got the thimble with the oak but I did not so my drill will have to suffice lol.

 

[DMKNLD]

Welcome MEiac Moose - always great to have a fellow 'Maine-ah' frequenting this forum ! Lot's of New Englander's on here, as well as Harman wizards, to help you along the way.

 

[MaineiacMoose]

Maineiac,
If you do not have enough room for a regular drill your could rent or borrow a right angle drill. Do you have any contractor or plumber friends? What about a multi-tool? Look around here and Youtube for installation vids and examples. Most thimbles or thru the wall kits come with an instruction sheet. Hopefully where your stove is located and the OAK needs to go you will not run into obstacles inside the wall. Ex: wires, pipes etc: I see you have 2 outlets in the area.

Mark the inside first and gently cut the drywall. Then you can look in and explore with your hands and look to see if there are things in the way. Might use a flashlight. Drywall is easy to patch if you need slight adjustments. I am contractor and people get uneasy about things like this and it is understandable. It's nothing to worry much about. Take your time and do not use too much force. Proceed carefully and cautiously. Dry wall is usually 1/2 inch so don't go too deep and you will not hit anything if there is something there. Did you cut in your exhaust? Same thing, another hole in the wall.

Myself, like Luv2burnPellets, bought the all in one thimble (outside air and exhaust) in one hole. Mine required a 6 3/4" x 6 3/4" square hole approximately. Very simple and easy to do. Cut the hole, peel back insulation, mount the unit, and attach the pipes. I do see electric outlets close by. Still not a problem just do not cut into the wires feeding them. If a wire is running across where you need to go thru inside the wall they are usually easily moved a bit or pushed up / down to clear the opening. Looks like you have drywall inside. What's on the outside?

Another suggestion: Do you own a multi-tool? They work great and you can get blades to cut different materials. Thy come in handy for multiple projects. I buy quality costly tools because I use them daily. I did buy a Harbor Freight "cheap" one too that works well. $19 or $29 bucks?? This is my beater and I don't care if it gets muddy or destroyed. I do, but I don't. Cheap insurance instead of ruining the pricey one. Check this option out also. They work great in weird situations where a drill or sawzall (reciprocating saw) can not get into. The blades adjust around to accommodate different situations. They give clean and easy cuts. In fact this is the tool I used for my wall thimble.

Good Luck and fire back if you have any questions.

I think I am just going to do a piece of Pipe through the lower left corner of the thimble as I already cleared the area around it of any wire ect. It should be a pretty straight shot to the stove from there. I do have a rotary tool that I used to create the hole in the drywall and siding but I plan on using a hole saw to go through the metal thimble and drywall in one shot.

Should be fun I will take pictures lol.

 

[Mt Bob]

I think I am just going to do a piece of Pipe through the lower left corner of the thimble as I already cleared the area around it of any wire ect. It should be a pretty straight shot to the stove from there. I do have a rotary tool that I used to create the hole in the drywall and siding but I plan on using a hole saw to go through the metal thimble and drywall in one shot.

Should be fun I will take pictures lol.

I know it is being done,but modifying a thimble voids the warrenty and may make an inspector cringe.

 

[Mr. Spock]

Welcome from a fellow Mainer. I also burn the Walmart brand pellets. I love my P68. I'm sure that you're going to love your Harmon.

Do you own a Harmon or a HarmAn?

 

[MaineiacMoose]

So I have installed my oak and for what its worth a whole saw is worth its weight in gold. I decided to go with a homemade set up because I have about $10 in vent pipe I had to buy and that's it. I went digging through the garage to see what I could find and I had an old dryer kit siting out there so I used it. So now I have a 4 inch hole feeding a 3.5 inch pipe feeding the stove inlet. The stove is burning good so far didint seem to change much from the little bit that we have run the stove. Would I need to change any of the settings on the stove or just run it? Thanks for all the pointers so far it has been a huge help.

And before anyone says anything I know its not vented correctly. When I come into some more free cash after I have pellets for winter I will raise it Two feet.
Cheers Maineiac

 

[The Grintch]

Welcome, enjoy the Heat!

 

[bags]

Make sure you are all sealed up. Silicone (1 tube of high heat) and or aluminum foil tape can be used. Might want to put a paver or nice flat rock under where the exhaust blows out for now. Leaves and such can catch fire. Something non-combustible for a CYA protection.

Just follow your clearances in the manual and yes, you should raise it up. It will work but not up to building codes. You can hook a T with a cleanout closing the bottom to the first section of exterior pipe then use the second section to go up to termination cap. Might want to come up a few feet to termination cap and this will also provide some natural draft during power outages and help pull the smoke out. You should look at the venting instructions (stove specific) to see what you need. Problem is the T's and pipe pieces are pricey as you already know. Good Luck! Enjoy the power pellet heat!

 

[bags]

I see the red "temp." silicone. What I am referring to is air and water sealing. Might want to seal around J-Channel and above the dryer vent outside. Water can work in and cause problems down the road. Just a helpful thought. Not sure about the P43 settings but I have my P68 at feeder rate 4, room temp mode to desired temp, and auto igniter. It runs itself and keeps my place at a nice toasty temp. There are many P43 owners that can offer their preferences and ideas.

 

[Drew65]

You will need more then two feet. I don't know what code is but you need at least 3' to 5' per Harman

 

[bugman31964]

Another Mainer here, from Turner.

 

[TimfromMA]

Insulating your OAK pipe inside the house should eliminate condensation.

 

[MaineiacMoose]

Stove has been great the house is nice and warm and the wife and baby are happy so I am happy. I did notice a weird thing in a bag of pellets that I put in the stove I hope there is not any more in there that I did not get.


Should I be worried it seems like extra sawdust?

 

[DMKNLD]

Is it crumbly, like consolidated sawdust, or is it a stone ? Something solid that size could definitely do a number on your auger. Yet another reason why some folks filter their pellets, to remove sawdust as well as any foreign objects like what you found.

I found a 3" X 3" chunk of conveyor belt once in a pellet bag that apparently came from the pellet mill. Luckily I saw it before it got into the pellet hopper and before it got sucked into the auger.

 

[MaineiacMoose]

it is sawdust

 

[DMKNLD]

What brand of pellet did that come from MEiacMoose?

Pellet production quality and consistency seems to be all over the map - pellet length, amount of compactness, heat output and ash production amounts all can vary from pallet to pallet, even within the same brand, as their wood product source varies, or the pellet mill transitions from a run of hardwood sawdust source to a run of softwood or a mix. Comments on this forum seems to indicate that the better grade of pellet, the less variability in these 'quality control issues' - ie 'you get what you pay for'.

That said, I found several burn seasons back, after burning high quality Okanagan pellets over the span of a winter, they seemed to have an inordinate amount of dust and pellet fines, and had good but not exemplary heat output considering the top dollar I paid for them. As always, everybody's stove experiences and expectations are individual, hence the 'YMMV' - your mileage / results may vary mantra commonly heard on this forum.

As long as the consolidated pellet you found is crumbly in its consistency, your Harman auger should chew that up w/ out a problem. And Harman's will burn anything that remotely resembles a pellet, from what folks I know who own them say! One of the many 'value added' things about owning an upper end stove brand - you got a great one !

Probably worth keeping an eye on other pellet bags from that same pallet you're burning from, to see if it was just an anomaly or if any other bags have similar 'pellet turds' in them.

Happy burning, fellow Maine-ah ! A warm and happy wife (and baby) is a happy life !