Hello everyone new member here. I've been following the forum for years (primarily the boiler and woodstove chats) just learning but decided to jump of the diving board so to speak as I may be in need of some help. To give some background I am a registered PE in NYS with a background in mechanical/HVAC but no formal wood burning experience just only what I've absorbed here and learned from friends/relatives.
Some some background, I have a 220 yr old farmhouse on a 250 acre with 50+ acres of forest that my family has owned for about 190 yrs. As I'm remodeling the old girl (full house gut - making it very energy efficient/tight) , I made the decision to convert from the current fuel oil HW system to some sort of wood burning system as with the woods and fence lines that need managing, I have all the fuel I would need. Initially I wanted an outdoor wood boiler as I prefer HW heat systems but then I went and got married at that changed everything. My bride wanted to have wood burner in the house for ambiance/comfort. I said I'm not having 2 systems to maintain from a wood burning perspective so we compromised to a wood stove. We purchased a GM80 last year and my intent is to reuse my existing boiler flue for the wood stove. This is where my problem lies as the GM80 needs an 8in flue and my current block chimney (16x24) has at most an 8x12 inside measurement after removing the clay liner. I wanted to reuse the existing stack as it is in the middle of the house, already constructed, and should have a good draft as there is probably a 25 ft straight shot up through the peak of the roof of my colonial house. The new flue would most likely be an insulated oval liner. I thinking it needs to be insulated as there are 2 points where there is wood framing next to the block chimney and reading code I would need 2 in of clearance the whole way up. I want to believe that this plan of attack is cheaper than tearing everything out and running class A pipe 25ft. I have attached a picture of where I intend to have the stove installed. It will sit in area that was the original cooking fireplace 100 plus yrs ago. I intend to remove all the old brick-reusing some where my wife will let me for nostalgia purposes. A lot of that empty space in the upper areas will be used for heat pump duct runs. The limestone walls will be relocated to the right of where they currently are with the woodstove centered between them and the stove sitting directly in front of the block chimney . I have designed/drawn out a hearth/ rockwall that is code compliant that will be part of this fort as well
All the information above is probably not needed but wanted to throw it out there in case there are any suggestions from all the wise members I've seen here. My main issue/reason for posting is finding a sweep/mason to install the stove/flue a in my area. This is a skilled trade and finding qualified installers are few and far between it seems. The ones I can find seem to be swamped. Can anyone recommend a sweep/mason in the CNY area?
Thanks again to everyone in the forum I enjoy my daily read here and picking up knowledge on how to safely become a woodburner.
Some some background, I have a 220 yr old farmhouse on a 250 acre with 50+ acres of forest that my family has owned for about 190 yrs. As I'm remodeling the old girl (full house gut - making it very energy efficient/tight) , I made the decision to convert from the current fuel oil HW system to some sort of wood burning system as with the woods and fence lines that need managing, I have all the fuel I would need. Initially I wanted an outdoor wood boiler as I prefer HW heat systems but then I went and got married at that changed everything. My bride wanted to have wood burner in the house for ambiance/comfort. I said I'm not having 2 systems to maintain from a wood burning perspective so we compromised to a wood stove. We purchased a GM80 last year and my intent is to reuse my existing boiler flue for the wood stove. This is where my problem lies as the GM80 needs an 8in flue and my current block chimney (16x24) has at most an 8x12 inside measurement after removing the clay liner. I wanted to reuse the existing stack as it is in the middle of the house, already constructed, and should have a good draft as there is probably a 25 ft straight shot up through the peak of the roof of my colonial house. The new flue would most likely be an insulated oval liner. I thinking it needs to be insulated as there are 2 points where there is wood framing next to the block chimney and reading code I would need 2 in of clearance the whole way up. I want to believe that this plan of attack is cheaper than tearing everything out and running class A pipe 25ft. I have attached a picture of where I intend to have the stove installed. It will sit in area that was the original cooking fireplace 100 plus yrs ago. I intend to remove all the old brick-reusing some where my wife will let me for nostalgia purposes. A lot of that empty space in the upper areas will be used for heat pump duct runs. The limestone walls will be relocated to the right of where they currently are with the woodstove centered between them and the stove sitting directly in front of the block chimney . I have designed/drawn out a hearth/ rockwall that is code compliant that will be part of this fort as well
All the information above is probably not needed but wanted to throw it out there in case there are any suggestions from all the wise members I've seen here. My main issue/reason for posting is finding a sweep/mason to install the stove/flue a in my area. This is a skilled trade and finding qualified installers are few and far between it seems. The ones I can find seem to be swamped. Can anyone recommend a sweep/mason in the CNY area?
Thanks again to everyone in the forum I enjoy my daily read here and picking up knowledge on how to safely become a woodburner.
