Hello All! Been lurking around these forums for a few weeks and have been experimenting a bit on my own before posting.
I bought the home about 9 years ago and in the lower level family room there was a nice fireplace insert that came with the place. Problem is that it is from a now defunct company and was installed in a slammer fashion. The slammer install didn't bother me that much as it was just my wife and I, and we both knew how to stop a chimney fire before it becomes a problem. (Have the rutland extinguisher tubes and a few bags with baking soda to go from the top if needed.) Now that there is a little one in the house, I've become more conscious of this install not being safe...
Now just as an aside, while I was lurking here before I got a bug in my rear to increase the efficiency of the current stove by adding a secondary air system to the stove. To test it all and see if it was actually going to work, I ran the secondary air control through the original primary draft control along with some new pipe to control / replace the primary air. Yes I know that's NOT ideal in any way, but it was more to see if the secondary air was going to be beneficial and if it was worth the time to drill some holes in it to run the secondary air permanently. Turns out the experiment was a success! Stove was harder to get going and up to a good temp with the primary air being affected so much, but once you got it to 400 degrees it took off like an animal. At 400 I would make sure everything was buttoned up (slight door crack of 1/16" to help it get to temp quicker) and the primary air was reduced, and within 15-20 minutes it would scream up to 550-600 and then level back off between 450-500 for the rest of the burn cycle. The secondary air seemed to be doing it's job well as I could clearly see flames around the holes and the whole top of the firebox was doing it's dancing flame thing. Also in this mod I added a plate and firebrick to the front tube section to extend the smoke shelf table that's welded in there today. Not perfect, but it does keep a good amount of that smoke under the secondary air longer. That little part of the project I'd consider a learning exercise and gave me some hope for running this beast a few more months / years. I've got some pictures of the work if anyone is curious, along with a shot of smoke from the chimney with the system installed, it made a HUGE difference in the smoke output.
That all being said, I really like to use this stove to help out with the extremely cold weather we get here in MN at times. When it's 0 degrees outside and I get this thing ripping at full draft, it can easily heat the entire house to 75 degrees. (With the assistance of a low speed furnace recirculation and an air return high up in the lower living room) In short, the only complaint I had with it, was amount of wood used and the amount of smoke going up the chimney.
What I'd like to do first of all is get the chimney cleaned, repaired, and ready for a 6" liner to be run down it. It's a 25-30' masonry chimney that sits on the outside of the house and the structure of it protrudes into my garage, the top 10' are so are against the house but exposed to the elements. I found a highly skilled and regarded sweep that's 3 miles from us, so I'll be having them out next week for a cleaning and consolation. There's a good chance that I'll have them clean and bring the chimney up to 100% repair, but I will most likely run the 6" liner myself. Still debating if I should insulate it or not, existing flue is ~8"x13" clay tile, and today I really don't have any drafting issues at all. No matter what route I take, the chimney will be getting cleaned and inspected by a professional in short order. I haven't been the greatest at keeping it clean with my brush, and truthfully the prospect of the creosote piling up in the smoke shelf below and starting a chimney fire scares me. I haven't ever had a chimney fire (that I noticed or heard) and it is difficult to clean this installation on my own without the proper tools to get up in there.
So with the chimney situation soon to be dealt with, I've got two options. Either connect the current stove to the newly run liner, or get a new stove...
The easy option would be to get a new stove to slide into place and just go, and I haven't ruled that path out at all. Actually I have an "in" with a local stove dealer and I will be checking on Monday to see what they can do on cost and such. If I can get a great deal, I will most likely pick up a new QuadraFire (Voyager Grand most likely) and maybe even have them do all the work with the chimney, liner, and all that fun stuff. This is the easy and best option I know, and the only downside is $$. I'd rather spend the $$ if my current stove cannot be adapted cheaply and easily.
....CONTINUED IN NEXT POST....
I bought the home about 9 years ago and in the lower level family room there was a nice fireplace insert that came with the place. Problem is that it is from a now defunct company and was installed in a slammer fashion. The slammer install didn't bother me that much as it was just my wife and I, and we both knew how to stop a chimney fire before it becomes a problem. (Have the rutland extinguisher tubes and a few bags with baking soda to go from the top if needed.) Now that there is a little one in the house, I've become more conscious of this install not being safe...
Now just as an aside, while I was lurking here before I got a bug in my rear to increase the efficiency of the current stove by adding a secondary air system to the stove. To test it all and see if it was actually going to work, I ran the secondary air control through the original primary draft control along with some new pipe to control / replace the primary air. Yes I know that's NOT ideal in any way, but it was more to see if the secondary air was going to be beneficial and if it was worth the time to drill some holes in it to run the secondary air permanently. Turns out the experiment was a success! Stove was harder to get going and up to a good temp with the primary air being affected so much, but once you got it to 400 degrees it took off like an animal. At 400 I would make sure everything was buttoned up (slight door crack of 1/16" to help it get to temp quicker) and the primary air was reduced, and within 15-20 minutes it would scream up to 550-600 and then level back off between 450-500 for the rest of the burn cycle. The secondary air seemed to be doing it's job well as I could clearly see flames around the holes and the whole top of the firebox was doing it's dancing flame thing. Also in this mod I added a plate and firebrick to the front tube section to extend the smoke shelf table that's welded in there today. Not perfect, but it does keep a good amount of that smoke under the secondary air longer. That little part of the project I'd consider a learning exercise and gave me some hope for running this beast a few more months / years. I've got some pictures of the work if anyone is curious, along with a shot of smoke from the chimney with the system installed, it made a HUGE difference in the smoke output.
That all being said, I really like to use this stove to help out with the extremely cold weather we get here in MN at times. When it's 0 degrees outside and I get this thing ripping at full draft, it can easily heat the entire house to 75 degrees. (With the assistance of a low speed furnace recirculation and an air return high up in the lower living room) In short, the only complaint I had with it, was amount of wood used and the amount of smoke going up the chimney.
What I'd like to do first of all is get the chimney cleaned, repaired, and ready for a 6" liner to be run down it. It's a 25-30' masonry chimney that sits on the outside of the house and the structure of it protrudes into my garage, the top 10' are so are against the house but exposed to the elements. I found a highly skilled and regarded sweep that's 3 miles from us, so I'll be having them out next week for a cleaning and consolation. There's a good chance that I'll have them clean and bring the chimney up to 100% repair, but I will most likely run the 6" liner myself. Still debating if I should insulate it or not, existing flue is ~8"x13" clay tile, and today I really don't have any drafting issues at all. No matter what route I take, the chimney will be getting cleaned and inspected by a professional in short order. I haven't been the greatest at keeping it clean with my brush, and truthfully the prospect of the creosote piling up in the smoke shelf below and starting a chimney fire scares me. I haven't ever had a chimney fire (that I noticed or heard) and it is difficult to clean this installation on my own without the proper tools to get up in there.
So with the chimney situation soon to be dealt with, I've got two options. Either connect the current stove to the newly run liner, or get a new stove...
The easy option would be to get a new stove to slide into place and just go, and I haven't ruled that path out at all. Actually I have an "in" with a local stove dealer and I will be checking on Monday to see what they can do on cost and such. If I can get a great deal, I will most likely pick up a new QuadraFire (Voyager Grand most likely) and maybe even have them do all the work with the chimney, liner, and all that fun stuff. This is the easy and best option I know, and the only downside is $$. I'd rather spend the $$ if my current stove cannot be adapted cheaply and easily.
....CONTINUED IN NEXT POST....
(Did that take me long enough to get to the point?) I am looking at the 8" outlet of the stove and it is flush with the metal surround, no collar at all. I'd like to fashion something here to hook to the 6" flexible liner that will be installed, so I'll need to come out of the 8" round opening and adapt down to 6" before connecting to the liner. Clearance shouldn't be an issue here, top of fireplace opening leaves me about 10" to work with as I slide the beast into place. The real question is, how concerned should I be of material thickness of this collar? The flush collar goes into the firebox with about 1/4" protrusion from the top plate, and then comes up about 1.5" where it is welded to the air circulator shroud around the insert. I've looked at this part: 
