Please help me determine if I can use an insert or not

[ort5]

My wife and I have recently moved into a (new to us) house. We are in the process of remodeling and I would like to update the hearth. My main goal for now would be to add either a wood or pellet insert in the existing fireplace. Cosmetic updates will come later. The house has an existing oil burner as well and both use the same chimney (although I have no idea if there are two flues inside it).

I've attached some pictures and would love to hear your input on what my possibilities are. The approximate dimensions of the fireplace are 33"W, 27"H, 15"D (tapers from 17"). All of the inserts I have seen specifically say that they cannot share a chimney with another appliancce, so I'm worried about the oil burner. Can you tell if this will be a problem?

Thanks so much for your help.
Regards,
Dave

 

[Dix]

You need to know if you have 2 flues, or not, IMHO. Other wise, can you put a stove somewhere else in the house? Or in the future will the chimney be in the middle of the house, due to a remodel, etc?

A house layout/diagram (rough is good) would help alot as well.

Welcome to the forums, may the Hearth be with you !

 

[ort5]

I guess I need to get on the roof to take a better look!

 

[DAKSY]

Form the pix of your chimney, there looks to be enough room for 2 8x8 flue tiles, but only one is visible...
You should probably scamper up there to take a look.
If there ARE two tiles, fire up your oil burner & check to see which one the exhaust is coming out of.
Then make a small fire or stick a flare up thru the damper & see which flue the smoke comes out of.
Now for another matter...Looks to be some soot on the face of your brick from the inside pix...
Maybe it's just the lighting or the flash...If it's not the lighting, & there IS soot on the face of the fireplace, that is
a possible indication of a poorly drafting fireplace. If it drafts poorly with the fireplace, it'll probably draft
poorly with a wood burning insert.
You may want to investigate this, by having a hearth specialist check your draft with a draft meter...
If the natural draft is poor, you may wanna think about a pellet insert, which has a power assisted (blower) draft...
Just my $.02...

 

[begreen]

I agree, it sure looks like there are two flues in that wide chimney. I suspect you will find two tile lined flues at the top. What would help to know is the size of the flue servicing the fireplace.

 

[KevinM]

Maybe it's just the lighting or the flash...If it's not the lighting, & there IS soot on the face of the fireplace, that is
a possible indication of a poorly drafting fireplace. If it drafts poorly with the fireplace, it'll probably draft
poorly with a wood burning insert.

I put an insert in a fireplace that had slight draft problems. We have a bungalow so the chimney is only 15 feet tall. A full SS liner inside the chimney can do wonders for the draft if there are leaks in the mortar in the tile liner.

Kevin.

 

[fredarm]

That looks like a pretty shallow fireplace. That will limit your choice of inserts, especially if you want a flush face. The PE Vista insert should fit in there nicely, it's not too deep (14.5 inches) and has a flush face. Or you could go with an insert that sticks out more, like a Jotul 450, but you might have to extend the hearth. I can't tell how deep it is from the pictures. You'll need to move that TV stand away from it too! I don't know what pellet inserts will fit, but keep in mind that pellets are roughly the same cost per BTU as heating oil these days.

 

[ort5]

Thanks for all the input everybody. I haven't found time to get up on the roof yet, but hopefully tomorrow.

I'll be moving the TV stand for sure! Not sure where yet though....

Does anybody have any opinions on this Drolet at Northern Tool? http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200325829_200325829
I searched and saw some things, but wondered if anybody had any recent input. I know it's no Cadillac, but my feeling is the price/performance ratio is quite good.

 

[DAKSY]

Hmmm... A MULTI-FUEL woodburning insert?
Must be able to burn different kinds of wood, huh?

 

[Yagminas Masonry and Wood-heat]

Looking at your pics, it looks like your fireplace is to the left, hence the "shoulder" on the chimney is on the left. Also the oil filler tube is to the right so it stands to reason....
Many appliances can share a chimney but there are a lot of limitations on sharing a flue. I believe you have another 8x8 up there to the right. Also you might want to get that chimney capped properly with metal with a drip edge no less than 1.5" away from the chimney. (Ontario Code).

As for an insert, 8x8 flues are pretty tight for a 6" liner. Might have to go with a 5.5" or maybe even a 5". I think a pellet burner would be an easier install all-around.

 

[weatherguy]

How much square feet are you heating? that may play a part in deciding what insert you get and if that Drolet will do the job.

 

[fredarm]

How much square feet are you heating? that may play a part in deciding what insert you get and if that Drolet will do the job.

That, and whether it will fit.

 

[ort5]

Finally scampered up on the roof to take pictures. It looks like there are 2 flues to me. The oil burner uses the one with the smaller terracotta liner (7" inner dimensions).

So it looks like there should not be a problem getting a 6" pipe in there. The interesting thing is that the fireplace flue is opposite the "shoulder" in the chimney, unlike I suspected.

Any thoughts? It looked pretty clean to me actually, but I've never looked down a chimney before

Thanks,
Dave

 

[cmonSTART]

:bug:

Whoa

 

[ort5]

:bug:

Whoa

Care to shed more light than that please? I see now that the crown is obviously missing. What can I do to fix this? I know nothing about chimneys...

 

[Todd]

That chimney needs some serious work, it wasn't built to code, there should be a space between the two flues and it needs a new crown. You might be able to dump an insulated liner down that one on the left and make some kind of metal cap to go around both flues to seal it from weather exposure? You might want to call a chimney guy and see what they say.

 

[Yagminas Masonry and Wood-heat]

Yep, pretty bad! No dividing wall between flues! I guess there is a bad offset in the 8x8 in the shoulder. Might be a fun job to line that!

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Any good dealer will come to your house and give you a free estimate which will include what stoves will and will not work.