Question about minimum chimney height

[bwalters199]

Hello all, I have been doing a lot of reading on this forum and this will be my first post. We recently moved into a new house (raised ranch) and it has a woodburning fireplace on the top floor. I measured the chimney (on an exterior wall) the other day and it was 13ft ish from the top to the bottom of the fireplace. I have had my eye on a used Blaze King Sirrocco insert on Facebook marketplace and after doing some research I saw that the recommended minimum chimney height was 15ft (which also seems to be a common number across other manufacturers with inserts/stoves). I had a chimney sweep here the other day to clean the chimney before we used it and he said the 13ft would be fine and didn't think there would be an issue. I also talked to someone at an area stove shop and they highly recommended to have a chimney with the minimum chimney height that an insert/stove calls for. So my question to the community is would it be highly recommended to get an appliance that can conform to chimney height or can one still use an insert/stove with a chimney less than 15ft? Thanks

 

[AlbergSteve]

Thirteen feet-ish to the bottom of the fireplace is about ten feet- ish to the top of most stoves, which is where you measure from. People do it, but you'd be hard pressed to get proper draft from ten feet of chimney.

 

[begreen]

There are a lot of variables involved besides the chimney height. These include stove design, internal house pressure zone, local terrain, chimney location relative to the roof, prevailing winds, altitude, etc.. The stove **might** work ok in one house with 13' of chimney and work poorly in another house with 13' chimney.

Most stoves are tested with 15' of flue and optimized for this testing. Some stoves can draft ok with less chimney and say so in their manuals. We can't say for sure if the stove will work well with less chimney, but it is possible that the results will be disappointing. If so, an option is to extend the chimney.

 

[bwalters199]

There was one stove I found, Hearthstone Castleton 8031, that had a recommended minimum chimney height of 10ft and all the measurements would work with my set up, anyone have any experience with this stove?

 

[begreen]

There are others that will work too. I think the Hampton 200 & 300 work ok with shorter chimneys. Most PE stoves do too.

 

[Ludlow]

My stove manual says minimum 15' from the floor to the cap, not from the top of the stove.

 

[begreen]

My stove manual says minimum 15' from the floor to the cap, not from the top of the stove.

Varies depending on the stove.

 

[Woody Stover]

The Woodstock straight cats (Keystone and Fireview) breathe easily. My BIL is running my old Fireview on about 13.5', even in warmer weather.

 

[Ludlow]

Varies depending on the stove.

I think I have 18' from floor to cap and it works great. My brother has about 13' from floor to cap and no problem. Many things factor in.

 

[bwalters199]

My main concern is dropping the money on a liner and stove/insert to find out that my setup may or may not work. I get there are many factors that go into it but I don't know how to find that out besides spending the money.

 

[SpaceBus]

You could extend the chimney like Begreen mentioned. Duraliner makes a product that can do this.

 

[bholler]

My main concern is dropping the money on a liner and stove/insert to find out that my setup may or may not work. I get there are many factors that go into it but I don't know how to find that out besides spending the money.

You can always try it and if it needs more height add it after the fact. You won't be wasting any money at all.

 

[Woody Stover]

My main concern is dropping the money on a liner and stove/insert to find out that my setup may or may not work. I get there are many factors that go into it but I don't know how to find that out besides spending the money.

If the fireplace is on the side of the roof that's away from the street, and you're not worried about the appearance of added pipe, that option provides some insurance if a standard setup doesn't quite have enough draft in warm conditions. Otherwise, go with some of the suggestions already given for easy-breathing stoves. Or you could start another thread with a title that will draw in folks that are presently running a short stack with no problems. But the board is already slowing down, with the mild weather. March came in like a lamb, and looks like it will go out like another, even more wimpy lamb.

 

[begreen]

We're still burning 24/7 and expecting a cold front to come through later in the week. Fat lady isn't singing yet.

 

[MTASH]

What is your flue size and is it lined?

I was in the same boat as you in December '18 when we bought our new Ashford. I had 2 out of 3 stove shop folks tell me to go ahead and run it on my existing chimney, which was 10'-6" from stove top (with 7x11 tile flue), with the recommendation that I modify the chimney if needed. I never had an issue with my old stove, and because of the limited amount of time I had to swap stoves in the middle of winter, I rolled the dice and installed it. It ran OK but I did notice some of the dreaded smoke smell, and dealt with roll-out when reloading in warmer temperatures. I never mentioned this before in any of these threads, because I knew my chimney was less than ideal to say the least.

So last October I installed a 6" oval rigid liner and extended it above the masonry chimney so I now have a total of 12'-3" from top of stove, which is still less than recommended. This is the maximum I could get due to the location of the chimney and low-slope roof. 90% of my issues with smoke smell and roll-out are solved. With that said, I still recommend you do everything possible to get the recommended 15' if you get the Sirrocco to be sure you don't have issues. Otherwise heed the advice previously given and get a unit that is more optimal for a short chimney. The BK 30 series seems to be particularly sensitive to draft as noted in a number of threads on this topic.

 

[Mainely Saws]

I have some experience that might help you . I have a stove that BeGreen mentioned , the Hampton H300 . I have run the stove in our home for a number of years piped into a 35ft clay tile chimney . It drafted very well without issue . I have since removed the H300 and installed it in our single story camp on a raised hearth . The roof has a 5/12 pitch and there is about 11 ft of Selkirck chimney from the stove top to the chimney top . I can use the stove but it doesn't perform well , even in the coldest of temps . With completely dry wood or wood bricks and dry kindling it takes a long time to get going , opening the front door is a challenge due to the amount of smoke billowing out ( even with slowly cracking the front door open )and the fire is more difficult to control throughout the burn. Luckily the side door doesn't have any smoke spillage . I will be adding an additional 4ft section of pipe to the chimney this summer . I like the stove and intend to keep it .
Hope this helps in your decision making process .

Bob

 

[Woody Stover]

Luckily the side door doesn't have any smoke spillage

Good point. I think that, as a rule, side-loading is less likely to spill smoke than front-loading.