Reinstalling Defiant 1975 - Stove Newbie

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here

bhall002

New Member
Nov 23, 2020
4
North Texas
Hey everyone, I'm new to woodstoves - just bought our first house with a Defiant 1975 installed-ish. I could use some help and advice on installing a new section of pipe and refurbishing. Apologies in advanced - I don't know what I don't know.

Problem/Background: The stove hasn't been used for at least 10 years. There's some pitting on a damper that opens and closes and bad gaskets - that's just what I can see with the stove. The previous owners installed a vinyl drop down ceiling touching a single wall pipe. That presents some problems since, even with new double walled pipe, the required clearance wouldn't work with a ceiling like ours.

The solution our stove guy came up with was to drop the support box a few inches and install new double wall pipe between the stove and the ceiling in the first floor and connect it to the Amerivent 8FB insulated pipe through the second floor, attic, and then out of the house. We had him contracted to come do that fix and get us up and burning, but he's had some severe health issues that have kept him from being able to get the job done any time soon. So, I'm reevaluating and considering doing it myself.

I'm pretty handy, but don't really know tons about the piping types nor how to make the transition from the new exposed double wall pipe to the Amerivent or about the stove itself. I think the act of dropping down the support should be pretty simple. Again, I don't know what I don't know and would love some second opinions.
 
Do you already have the materials on hand? Another thing to check is the clearance from the stovetop to the ceiling tiles to make sure this complies with the clearance requirements.
 
The Defiant 1975 is a very radiant stove. It has a ceiling height requirement of 8 ft. Do you mean the ceiling tiles are 6ft above the stove top? If so, that would be ok, but good to check.