Newb Overload. Need help/confirmation

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mhidpa

Member
Dec 9, 2014
8
TN
I have recently remodeled my house and from the get go I planned on having wood heat. I live in NE TN, our winters aren't too bad but we do occasionally get in the teens/ 0F. I originally wanted an outdoor wood burner, but that option was too expensive for us right now. The house originally had a wood stove in the basement, when we did the remodel we had a thimble put into the chimney at the main level so that we could do a wood stove there.

I have been lurking here for quite a while and we decided on an Englander 13NC. Our upstairs is about 1500sf and very well insulated (we had to open windows on thanksgiving because the ovens were heating us up so much). I thought that doing the install was going to be pretty cut and dry. But I didn't realize how much went into the flue.

As I said there is an existing exterior masonry chimney, it does have liner tiles (the house is about 20 years old). But the tiles are 7x7...I thought this would be ok, just stick a 6' SS liner down and hook up the stove, but then I found out about insulation. I don't think I'm going to have room to wrap a liner and put it in.

I'm really overloaded trying to figure out what to do. One chimney sweep came over, looked up the chimney with a lite and a mirror and said it was good to go, just hook up the stove to the thimble. From what I've read here that doesn't seem like a good idea. Another quoted me $12xx to install a liner. That seems high to me, the flue is only 15-20ft.

I would really like to install this DIY, but I don't want to burn my house down... Your input is appreciated.
 
If a 6in liner with insulation is too big you do have a few other options. Sometimes if you ovalize it it will fit better/easier. Or you can go with a 5.5in liner which should give you plenty of room for insulation. I did the 5.5in with insulation wrap myself due to size constraints. Most all 6in flue stoves will work fine on a 5.5in liner. You would just need an adaptor at the end to go from 5.5 to 6.
 
Interior or exterior chimney??

Welcome to the forums !!
 
Exterior, it is somewhat sheltered, as it is on the side of my house in a breezeway between the house and garage.
 
If you're handy, installing a liner safely is not that hard.

(if you're not, Hogwildz is available for chili & hot chocolate.)
 
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I think I'm handy enough to install, I'm just trying to figure out insulation. I'll only have .5" clearance on each side if I put in the 6" liner. I've seen people talk about pouring in vermiculite but I'm not sure what to do to keep it from falling through to the bottom of the chimney (basement).
 
Also, when the removed the old basement furnace they put in a cleanout door. Do I need to put a cap on the Tee or do I leave it open so I can clean out from the basement.
 
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