Preparing insert for winter...?

[Dustin92]

We have an Englander insert that we plan on heating the house with this winter, and I would like to know what should be done before the first fire is lit. It is a model 28-jc from about 1990, with cat., in a brick fireplace from about 1950. We plan on cleaning the chimney (which as far as I know is brick all the way up), and we have plenty of dry wood (ash and elm from last fall), so what else needs to be done except the obvious cleaning out the ash and scrubbing down the windows? We heated with wood last winter, but we didn't have much good wood, so it didn't burn overly well, and required lots of attention.

 

[Hogwildz]

First thing, is there a stainless steel liner from insert to the top of the old chimney? The liner needs to be swept and checked.

 

[BrotherBart]

Gotta pull the cat and inspect it and clean it.

 

[Dustin92]

I doubt there is a liner, but it did work fine last winter, and the chimney is in good shape. Should the cat be cleaned or would replacement be best?

 

[mellow]

You said it didn't work good in your first post due to wood, but part of that could be attributed to lack of draft if you do not have a full liner.

I would hire a professional certified chimney sweep to come look at your setup to give you the best hands on advice.

As for your cat, read this: (broken link removed to http://woodstove.com/pages/pdffiles/Catalytic%20Combustor%20Tips.pdf)

 

[Grisu]

My maintenance checklist before the winter:

- clean and inspect chimney (I have a 6-inch liner)
- check firebricks; potentially turn around or get a new set if they show excessive wear
- check door gasket with dollar-bill-test: Take a dollar bill, put one half in, the other out, close door and try to pull it out. Go around the whole opening. It should not or barely move, otherwise replacing the gasket may be recommended.
- open blower and clean blades from dust (with brush and vacuum)
- clean the window and check gasket around glass for tight fit
- clean boost air channel (probably specific to my model - the PE Super)
- optional: pull off surround; check connection of stove to flue and clean top from dust; look for water/rust stains which could indicate a problem with your chimney cap

 

[Dustin92]

It worked fine when we had dry wood, but that was in short supply last year. We have plenty of dry wood this year. I will clean the blower, and the gasket should be fine, it was just replaced last year. As far as I know, the firebricks look fine, just a bit dirty. How would one remove the surround? It seems to be attached to either the stove or the fireplace in one way or another.

 

[mellow]

Usually the surround is screwed into the side and sometimes top of the insert.

 

[Dustin92]

Would the screws be on the back side of the surround? There is none visible.

 

[mellow]

Yea, sometimes you gotta slide the insert out to get to the screws on the backside, most of the time they L bend the surround that mates to the insert.

If you have no liner pulling it out should be easy, you could leave the surround attached.

 

[Grisu]

Mine is actually slid on the stove so I can just pull it straight up. Do you have a manual? Here is one of the 24-JC although it does not say anything about the surround:
http://www.englanderstoves.com/manuals/24-JC.pdf
Maybe PM stoveguy2esw; he may be able to help you.

 

[Hogwildz]

If the chimney is truly only brick with no clay lining, that chimney is both not up to code, and is unsafe.
You will still have to pull the insert each time you sweep the chimney.
Up to you how safe you want to be.

 

[Dustin92]

No, we don't have the manual for the stove. I haven't personally looked at the chimney, but it is either brick from the fireplace all the way up, with round terracotta stacks on top, or, the terracotta stacks run all the way to the fireplace. The chimney is original to the house, circa 1950, and has three (hopefully seperate!) stacks going up- The fireplace, The gas hot water tank (which has its own chimney cap), and a stack for a furnace which is no longer used (we have a high efficiency furnace that vents with 2" pvc through the wall). The fireplace is in the walk out basement of a single story house, and the chimney is inside the wall between the dining room and bathroom on the main level, then extends through the attic and roof as brick with 3 terracotta stacks on top. It looks to be very sturdy/structurally sound with all bricks and mortar firmly in place. There is a mystery brick loose in the attic, but the chimney is not missing any bricks and there has never been any smoke leakage into the house or attic (at least not through the chimney lol!) If the wind gets just right, it will blow the smoke from the chimney over the roof and into the gable end attic vents (rarely happens, but I figured it out quickly)

 

[weatherguy]

I wouldn't burn it without a liner, they're not that expensive if you buy on the internet and can install yourself, plenty of threads on this site for instructions.

 

[Dustin92]

I don't know what is inside the chimney, but will find out before we need to start a fire. I know for sure it needs to be cleaned, whatever material it is, because I highly doubt it has been cleaned in 20 years (the house has been in our family since 1989) but has only been used for a primary heat source the last two years.

 

[Hogwildz]

Your also going to want to extend the flue the stove will be connected to, to keep the exhaust from reverse drafting down either of the other two flues. Similar effect to the smokes going into the gable vents you described.