Sharing a flue with my oil burner

[colinmos]

Im looking for some input to my problem. 3 years ago I got a small to medium size woodstove and I hooked it up to the same flue as I use for my oil burner.
The chimney has a clay liner and is 7 or 8 inches. The chimney Goes up the inside of my house. I have a friend thats a captain at the local fire department and he said to bring in the woodstove thimble in above the oil burner thimble.The chimney draws great! I inspect the chimney every year and have almost no creasote. I burn 3.5 cords per year. I put CO2 monitors around the cellar and upstairs with no detections. Other than this not being code, in my situation IE good draft, no creasote ,no CO2, why shouldnt I continue? My only real worry is that my insurance co. wouldnt like it.

 

[Jags]

Ummm...this may sound picky, but you are playing in the "danger" zone. One simple variable could change the whole reaction of your system. A strange wind direction, unusually high/low barametric pressure, etc. I can't really pin point a specific answer, so I am gonna leave it chalked up as a "bad idea". (and you obviously know that it is not to code, so your insurance company could simply walk away from you)

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Sharing the flue is a no, no.......Carbon Monoxide is a silent killer.
I've seen these posts time after time and they will tell you the same thing.....


WoodButcher

 

[billb3]

Carbon dioxide is a silent killer,

WoodButcher

All that global warming fear-mongering isn't exactly silent.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Carbon dioxide is a silent killer,

WoodButcher

All that global warming fear-mongering isn't exactly silent.

I didnt have my coffee yet.....

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

Sharing the flue is a no, no.......Carbon Monoxide is a silent killer.
I've seen these posts time after time and they will tell you the same thing.....


WoodButcher

 

[FLASHMAN]

here's the key... If you have a signed permit from your local building inspector, you're fine, your insurance company won't have any beef. Now here's the problem: Nowadays, the only way to be able to do it that way in most municipalities is to have a house older than such and such a year (it varies), AND it had to already have been there. doing a new install that requires you to cut into the chimney and use the same flue as your heating apparatus is a no-no in most communities. Now, that doesn't mean you did anything illegal, however, if your house burns down, and your insurance company doesn't have a copy of that permit on file, or you don't have a copy to show them, they can, and probably will deny your claim...

 

[gyrfalcon]

I know nothing about the technical issues on this, but where I am in the farm country of Vermont, where nobody's licensed, there are no inspectors and the general attitude is "Code? What's a code?", the one thing that sets everybody's hair on fire is the idea of putting a substantial, regularly used woodstove on the same flue as an oil burner-- no pondering, no scratching of chins, no, "Well, but," just flat out "Ahhh! No!!" I suspect that's at least partly because most healthy adult males around here belong to either the volunteer fire dept. or the volunteer EMS squad. After hearing that reaction from everybody I asked, I had a second non-masonry chimney put in for my woodstove. Cost me about $3,300.

 

[FLASHMAN]

Bottom line, if you're looking for the quick, cheapest way to do it, continue what you're doing. If you want to make sure that it's as safe as possible, AND your insurance will pay if your house burns down, install a separate flue for the wood appliance. My suggestion would be a SS pre fab chimney, which you can then enclose...

 

[hossthehermit]

Well, I'm running my pellet furnace into the same flue as my oil furnace. Called my insurance guy, he said "Well, you've already got a policy, so you can do whatever you want. Only 1 unit will be running at a time. If you're looking for a new policy, it's a deal-breaker, but existing policy has to cover it".

 

[bruce]

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FLASHMAN

Posted: 05 August 2008 03:13 PM [ Report ] [ Ignore ] [ # 11 ]
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Bottom line, if you’re looking for the quick, cheapest way to do it, continue what you’re doing. If you want to make sure that it’s as safe as possible, AND your insurance will pay if your house burns down, install a separate flue for the wood appliance. My suggestion would be a SS pre fab chimney, which you can then enclose…
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hossthehermit

Posted: 05 August 2008 05:54 PM [ Report ] [ Ignore ] [ # 12 ]
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Well, I’m running my pellet furnace into the same flue as my oil furnace. Called my insurance guy, he said “Well, you’ve already got a policy, so you can do whatever you want. Only 1 unit will be running at a time. If you’re looking for a new policy, it’s a deal-breaker, but existing policy has to cover it”.

 

[FLASHMAN]

Well, I'm running my pellet furnace into the same flue as my oil furnace. Called my insurance guy, he said "Well, you've already got a policy, so you can do whatever you want. Only 1 unit will be running at a time. If you're looking for a new policy, it's a deal-breaker, but existing policy has to cover it".

Apples and volkswagens... First of all, a pellet appliance puts out significantly less emissions than any wood appliance, so maybe there's a different set of rules there. And like I said, each community/insurance company is going to have its own rules. I wouldn't count on what the agent says though... If you do have a fire, I would absolutely count on the insurance company trying to weasel out of paying a claim if they found out there were 2 appliances running into the same flue...

Again though, maybe it's different with pellet appliances because of the difference in emissions output... I just look at it this way... If you don't have to, why take the risk???

 

[begreen]

Well, I'm running my pellet furnace into the same flue as my oil furnace. Called my insurance guy, he said "Well, you've already got a policy, so you can do whatever you want. Only 1 unit will be running at a time. If you're looking for a new policy, it's a deal-breaker, but existing policy has to cover it".

I'd get that in writing. An insurance sales person is not the same as an insurance adjuster.

 

[Tfin]

My father-in-law has the exact same setup.....had it for years. Both stove and boiler are in a daylight basement that's also a single car garage. Several years ago his insurance company said he could keep the setup if he had it signed off by the local fire chief.

Fire chief only had him more the stove a couple of inches further away from an existing wall and signed off on it. "Grandfathered" I guess. He's burnt 5 cords a year as long as I've known him without any issues. Certainly nothing you could get away with today with new construction though.