Progress on install finally

[lowroadacres]

This is a new thread to be more positive about our wood stove install that I have gone on at length about in "stonewalled on wood heat".

Today my father in law gave me a hand in putting the first part of our chimney liner in place. I cannot believe how simple a process this is. We ordered the duravent zero clearance chimney liner that is a liner, with insulation, and a rigid outer layer.

We simply riveted the three 4 foot sections on the deck then attached the mounting bracket which allows the liner to be suspended into the existing flue.... A ten inch square tile flue that has never seen a spark in its 28 years of existence..... Father in Law handed me the three sections up onto the roof and I walked it over to the chimney. 2 minutes later it was in place. I ran out of time this evening to attach the last two feet that we are adding to give us a bit more draft and to give some variance from the second flue which serves our main floor fireplace. The chimney is only 11 feet 7 inches so to be safe on the draft we will be running 14 feet of chimney in total.

Tomorrow I will head up to the roof to complete that portion before mapping out the double wall pipe from the liner to the stove.

It is hard to believe that we are only days away ( I hope) from being able to light up and warm up.

 

[VCBurner]

MAN!! Was I ever anxious reading your other thread! :shut: As a father of four boys and husband to a stay at home wife, and fellow wood heater, I felt every bit of pressure you were trying to release. I'm glad to see that things worked out. Congrats on never giving up and staying the course! Keep us posted, I can't wait to hear about the inaugural fire!

 

[GatorDL55]

I posted on the other insurance thread but I probably should have posted here. As smoke coming out of the chimney yet???

 

[lowroadacres]

No problem on the post location

Ironically when my blackberry let me know that you had posted this inquiry I was running back and forth between the basement and the roof as we worked on the final stages of the installation.

Before my installer left on holidays I was able to get the insulated liner from him which I installed with help from my father in law. Today we went at the task of attaching the double wall pipe from the chimney to the stove. My installer told me this afternoon that if the power goes out tonight I can go ahead and fire up the stove but I am not quite done drywalling over the insulated concrete forms at the back of what was originally intended as an alcove installation. Due to the aforementioned insurance company issues we are waiting until we upgrade stoves in the next few years to get a larger stove rated for alcove use. By this weekend I will also be installing a small amount of cement board where the clearances on the double wall are at or near the 6 inch mark.

I also need to shield the out side corners of the alcove to finalize things for the 100 percent approval

I would have pushed through this evening to get the first firing up and running but I would rather cure off the stove paint during the day when the kids are not in the house.

Saturday late morning should be the go time for flames if things work out as planned.

To be completely honest it is hard to believe that my "woodstove christmas" is almost here. I said to a friend this week that I am almost hoping for a cold snap here in February and into March so I can give the stove a serious workout. I know that paying the bill on the chimney parts and the consulting on the install will be a pain here shortly but it will be incredible to go into next heating season with everything ready to go.

Now my beautiful bride is strongly suggesting that the next project will be to have our engineer friend come in and draw us a plan for removing the one telepost that messes with her attempts to set the rec room up to her liking. Ah, renos and home repairs.

 

[GatorDL55]

That's great! Best of luck with the rest of the install. I just got done doing mine two weeks ago and know how exciting it is to get ready to fire it up. I hear you on the renovations -- installing the stove in my unfinished basement has turned into a full scale basement renovation. Can't have a brand new stove in an unfinished basement. We want to sit by the fire to enjoy it!

 

[lowroadacres]

The countdown is now on.....

I finished all of the necessary cement board and drywall right before supper tonight and tomorrow morning after I get home from dropping our sons off to a daytrip for skiiing, getting in a short workout (I know, I should be cutting/Spitting/stacking) for my workout) I will be home to light up the first fire.

We have enough very small splits in the wood rack for several small, short, hot fires to cure off the stove and pipe. It will be interesting to see how the double wall does.

The brand new wood box on wheels is ready to be loaded through the basement window. I am actually quite pumped about the woodbox as the plans came to me late one night to use one whole sheet of plywood, 6 4 foot 2 by 4's and 4 casters and of course wood screws. This rack is built for 20 inch wood in case I ever get a bigger stove. It will hold a load of wood 4 feet across by 4 feet tall. The bottom of the box is built so the bark and dust do not end up on the floor more than is necessary.

I will try to learn how to size down our photos in time for the first firing.

Oh, and by the way, the forecast is for mostly sub-zero temps (celsius) for the next couple of weeks which should give us ample opportunity to give us a good test run to see how the stove and the house will get along.

 

[lowroadacres]

Well Christmas finally arrived!

First fire is doing two things.... One, wow is the firing off process ever smoky! The only time I have ever fired off a new stove was when my dad got a fisher baby bear in 1976 and none of us can remember the results at the time. I took pics and I hope that the smoke shows when I load them onto the laptop.

The second thing we proved is that our hardwired smoke detector is very effective at waking up our 16 year old daughter who was sleeping in. It was time for her to get out of bed anyway.

I am very much looking forward to a couple more fires later in the day as we cure the paint as quickly as possible so we can get heating our home. One of today's jobs will be to get the wood from the drying area on our yard to the corner of our house to load into the basement. We have about 6 cords dry enough right now and another 3-5 either standing dead in our shelter belt or green in the round on the yard.

Thanks again to all of those who have encouraged and who have been patient with me over the past number of months as I have complained and grumbled my way through this process.

We are now heating with wood!