New home owner, new (to us) stove issues.

[KJordan714]

Hello,

We have a 1978 wood stove that I had cleaned today. The company that came to clean it said it should not of passed inspection. it said that the the pipe needed to be 9 inches away from the wall. Which it is not on top. i will post photos to this post. They quoted me to get a whole new stove with a 6 double wall pipe. I asked if that was needed (a whole stove replacement) and they said yes but did not elaborate.

Do I need a whole new stove? thoughts on this placement? Its the only source of heat in this moderately sized bonus room.

New to this whole process with wood stoves. Thanks so much!

 

[Rich L]

Hello,

We have a 1978 wood stove that I had cleaned today. The company that came to clean it said it should not of passed inspection. it said that the the pipe needed to be 9 inches away from the wall. Which it is not on top. i will post photos to this post. They quoted me to get a whole new stove with a 6 double wall pipe. I asked if that was needed (a whole stove replacement) and they said yes but did not elaborate.

Do I need a whole new stove? thoughts on this placement? Its the only source of heat in this moderately sized bonus room.

New to this whole process with wood stoves. Thanks so much!

That pipe does look too close to that wall.If you want to keep as is run insulated pipe from stove to ceiling which only needs 2" clearance to combustibles.I'd put a heat shield behind the stove and more floor protection for that rug which seems to run around and maybe under the stove.

 

[Ashful]

What are your goals?

1. Heating your entire home?
2. A little supplemental heat?
3. Ambiance only?

That will influence the answer to at least one of your questions, about whether you really need to buy a new stove, and what type/model.

 

[SpaceBus]

What kind of experience burning wood do you have?

 

[KJordan714]

Thanks for the reply everyone. It is the only source of heat in that room. The room is 14 feet by 20 feet so a decent size. We have experience with typical fireplaces, new to wood stoves like this. Apparently the previous owners had a fire in the stack last year. Had it cleaned and everything looks great they said except for the distance at the stop of the stack, at the least its 5 inches away from the wall, at the most its 11 inches away from the wall (gets smaller as it goes up to the roof/ceiling)

Thanks again for your thoughts, I panicked at first. New home owner, passed inspection but now chimney specialists says otherwise. Now a few days later I am thinking I may just need to put up a heat shield up there and see how it goes, its gone this long (20+ years) and if I am safe and smart I think it will be ok to see how we do this winter.

Any thoughts helpful, appreciate it.

 

[begreen]

Removing an uncertified wood stove in WA state is not required when you are buying or selling a house. However, the sweep was correct, that does look like a poorly placed ceiling chimney support. The closest a stove pipe can be to the wall is 6", but only with double-wall stove pipe or shielding on single-wall stove pipe. If the rear of the hearth is just a fake stone veneer then there is also a good likelihood that the wall behind the stove does not qualify for any clearance reduction for the stove and that the stove is too close to the wall. Is there a UL label on the back of the stove listing the rear clearance requirement? If there is none, the clearance requirement is 36".

It's hard to tell but it looks like some sort of attempt was made to change the material above the hearth, behind the stove pipe. It looks like a raised panel with texturized paint. What is that made of?

For future heating you would be much better off with a modern, clean-burning stove. It will burn cleaner with less wood and you will get a nice fire view with it. Another important thing - modern stoves must have fully seasoned wood to burn properly and most (but not all) need at least 15' of flue system from stove top to the chimney cap. Buying fully seasoned wood is not as easy as it sounds. Many wood sellers say their wood is seasoned, but in fact it really isn't. Caveat emptor.

https://ecology.wa.gov/Air-Climate/Air-quality/Smoke-fire/wood-stove-info

There are good stoves that this could be replaced with that have pretty close rear clearances. What did the sweep suggest?

 

[KJordan714]

Removing an uncertified wood stove in WA state is not required when you are buying or selling a house. However, the sweep was correct, that does look like a poorly placed ceiling chimney support. The closest a stove pipe can be to the wall is 6", but only with double-wall stove pipe or shielding on single-wall stove pipe. If the rear of the hearth is just a fake stone veneer then there is also a good likelihood that the wall behind the stove does not qualify for any clearance reduction for the stove and that the stove is too close to the wall. Is there a UL label on the back of the stove listing the rear clearance requirement? If there is none, the clearance requirement is 36".

It's hard to tell but it looks like some sort of attempt was made to change the material above the hearth, behind the stove pipe. It looks like a raised panel with texturized paint. What is that made of?

For future heating you would be much better off with a modern, clean-burning stove. It will burn cleaner with less wood and you will get a nice fire view with it. Another important thing - modern stoves must have fully seasoned wood to burn properly and most (but not all) need at least 15' of flue system from stove top to the chimney cap. Buying fully seasoned wood is not as easy as it sounds. Many wood sellers say their wood is seasoned, but in fact it really isn't. Caveat emptor.

https://ecology.wa.gov/Air-Climate/Air-quality/Smoke-fire/wood-stove-info

There are good stoves that this could be replaced with that have pretty close rear clearances. What did the sweep suggest?

The label on the back of the stove says (which I had no idea was there!), "16 inches out from front, 8 from sides and 12 from rear" interesting.

You are right it jets out above behind from the wall about an additional 2 inches. Its drywall of some sort (unsure of type or kind) studs and then it vents? or is open at the top and bottom and not fully closed, see photo. We assume this is for a venting of heat?!?!? the bottom is a stone material, just shy of an inch thick, over drywall/wall. Thoughts?

The company suggested just replacing it with a newer wood burning stove with instillation around $5500-$6000. Which is not in the books this year and I thought the same thing you mentioned, I would rather than one that has a view with it. So next year we will look more into that. But in the mean time as our only mode of heat in the room I am trying to see if I feel comfortable using it this winter unit then.

We have definitely found issues with buying "seasoned" wood for our old fireplaces you bring up good points!

Thank you for your reply.

 

[begreen]

Looks like someone made an attempt at a wall shield, but who knows what they used. If it is cement board then it might be ok, but if it is paper coated drywall, then it is not.