Newbie with a few questions

[goofa]

This is my second year burning and Im off to a better start this year with a new 24' x 14' wood shed to keep my wood under cover and I was able to better prepare this year butthe burning season has crept up on us in upstate NY very fast this fall. My first question is for suggestions to line my chimney or not..... i currently have an 8" square flue in a masonry chimney which goes through the center of the house. it seems to be in good shape but I guess i just want peace of mind with the ole' FISHER Papa Bear. The liner system that catches my attention is through www.woodlanddirect.com its the 304L Rigid Liner kit. Any suggestions or tips are greatly appreciated. My next quandry is that I spend too much time being unsociable sitting infront of the stove in the basement so i was interested in gettting another small stove with viewing abilities for the main floor. the question is pre epa or epa? The people at the local stove store are obviously biased about the older stoves. They dont even think I should be using the papa bear... also can i run 2 stoves in the same flue with or without the liner or not at all. or do i need to put in a new s.s.chimney for the smaller stove.

 

[USMC80]

only questions i can answer is you can't run two stoves in same flue and go with an EPA rated stove for the upstairs

 

[goofa]

Im also under the understanding that the Papa bear will run ... well... more efficiently but still not efficient...? with the liner bringing the flue down to 6"?

 

[begreen]

The liner won't make it more efficient. It will make the chimney safer. If you want to make the papa more efficient consider adding a baffle and putting in a secondary manifold. Or replace it with a modern EPA stove.

 

[goofa]

i have a baffle in the stove that i installed last year but the ole girl still is a smoker. but i was under the impression that the 8" square flue is almost 2x the sq volume that the 6" round will be. so therefore you have less volume of chimney to keep warm allowing it to draft better and be able to keep more heat down and not have to let it go up to keep so much flue warm....? is this wrong? and from what i have researched I believe the fisher papa bear calls to be run on a 6" flue... Im not biased against a newer epa stove. id like one but idk that i can afford what i would really like at this point in time. that would be an f500 based on everyones opinions and the first hand experiences being the outlaws have one ha.