Reducing exhaust pipe size

[mellow]

Want to get some fresh thoughts on this.

I was about to pull the trigger on a great deal on a Catalytic insert with an 8" exhaust so I called up Rockford, my go to people for chimney supplies to see about getting the parts to convert from 8" to 6" on my 25ft insulated 6" liner and had a good conversation with Eric one of the support people there, he sounded very knowledgeable on the subject and we talked for some time about it.

Basically what he mentioned is don't do it. He has had customers try it and report bad back puffing and smoke spillage when opening the door, and as well the stove not able to damper down as much as it should. I brought up the issue of user error and he said he has seen it to many times with many different installs to be user error (ie open bypass for a minute before opening the door). He was very frank about it and said he could sell the parts to do it but if I had not bought the stove already to look at other ones with a 6" exhaust.

This was news to me seeing as since my liner has great draft especially with being 25ft and insulated, but he mentioned the exhaust size is tied in with the door opening size and if the two do not match you will have issues.

So if anyone has done this and has a success story I am all ears, I know I have told others to try it in the past, I hope that was not bad advice.

 

[pen]

Sounds like he gave you good advice IMO.

It may or may not work. Going to be an investment on your part if you want to find out. Hate to see it go poorly so I'd advice to err on the side of caution.

Additionally, most insurance companies, or code compliant installations ask you if the stove is installed according to manufacturer specs. If the unit says that it can be run w/ a smaller liner then you'd be fine. If the manual does not allow for that, then you'd have a non-compliant installation and the insurance company may be able to get out of a claim if you had an accident and told them it was installed to specs, or it may not pass a code inspection if that is required in your area.

pen

 

[oldspark]

I agree with Pen, it might work but why take the chance?

 

[mellow]

So to make this post more interesting.

The Appalachian 52bay says it can do 6" or 8", but it has an 8" exhaust. Talking to Appalachian they have tested and certified it for 6", they even sell the reducer for going from 8" to 6" at the appliance connector.

Would that change your thoughts?

 

[pen]

So to make this post more interesting.

The Appalachian 52bay says it can do 6" or 8", but it has an 8" exhaust. Talking to Appalachian they have tested and certified it for 6", they even sell the reducer for going from 8" to 6" at the appliance connector.

Would that change your thoughts?

You never told us what stove it was before so i didn't know.

As I said before, if the manual says it is OK to use 6 in, then you are good to go. With a good tall chimney, I doubt you'd have a problem w/ the 6 inch.

If the price is right, give it a go.

pen

 

[mellow]

Thinking about it, but Appalachian as a company sucks. And with the different feedback on 8" exhausts has me wondering. Only other person I have seen on here with a 52Bay is AppalachianStan, speaking of which haven't seen him post a topic about his stove lately.

Decisions Decisions. I like to be different and use stoves that not as many people have, hence the SBI flame XTD. So I guess this would be right up my alley.

 

[wkpoor]

With my 35' chimney I wouldn't hesitate. Had a 8" outlet stove on there once and still needed a damper to slow it down. But 25' IMO would be a gamble.

 

[BrotherBart]

Folks that make it say it works with six inch. What is the problem here?

 

[Pallet Pete]

It is usually a bad idea to downsize it to a six or upsize to an 8 but they say it will work! That sounds kinda fishy to me.

 

[begreen]

Folks that make it say it works with six inch. What is the problem here?

Agreed. Their website says 6 or 8" flue for this stove. It's 2.8 cu ft, so running it with 6" doesn't seem like much of a stretch.