Success
Today was my first smoke free (in the house) burn in 1.5 years... So some may have picked up on a few ornery comments about professional installers and Simpson Duravent, well, they both did me wrong. The installer, after 5 attempts, couldn't stop the Simpson pipe smoking at just about every joint. They also preferred to use a 90 at the stove end since "90's leak less than T's...yeah, right. The only option was tape at every joint since they "sealed" the pipe joints with Mill Pack preventing them from being disassembled. This wouldn't work since the stove is in a finished basement. Had to fire the installers, but they were at least decent enough to give me all my install $$$ back so I could start over and take the DIY route. This was a bigger challenge than I anticipated since I wanted to switch from 4" Simpson to 6" Selkirk.
Pictured is my new leak free install using Selkirk DT. This pipe uses a 4" exhaust pipe surrounded by a 6"+ diameter pipe that acts as a cold air intake - or more commonly know as an OAK. Nice part about this solution is any small leaks (if there are any) in the 4" internal pipe will be sucked back into the stove and not escape to the stove. Lots of joints between the stove and the first 6" section, so went a little crazy with the RTV, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Selkirk uses a siliconized gasket on the 6" sections to seal each pipe section, so leaking is not likely. INSTALL TIP - I used some vegetable oil to lubricate each gasket to allow the pipe sections to slide together easily. Oil will burn off cleanly and it eliminates the likelihood of tearing a gasket while assembling.
Anyway, will update with burn pictures when it cools down a bit. Had it running earlier, but the basement got up to 76, so I had to shut her down...
For those that are looking at an up and out install, this is the only pipe to get, IMO. Clean, incorporates and OAK and looks fantastic. Really tall installations could be interesting since the incoming air might cool the flue gasses a bit too much, so keep that in mind.
Should be a warm, toasty and smoke free winter of 2011/12!
Today was my first smoke free (in the house) burn in 1.5 years... So some may have picked up on a few ornery comments about professional installers and Simpson Duravent, well, they both did me wrong. The installer, after 5 attempts, couldn't stop the Simpson pipe smoking at just about every joint. They also preferred to use a 90 at the stove end since "90's leak less than T's...yeah, right. The only option was tape at every joint since they "sealed" the pipe joints with Mill Pack preventing them from being disassembled. This wouldn't work since the stove is in a finished basement. Had to fire the installers, but they were at least decent enough to give me all my install $$$ back so I could start over and take the DIY route. This was a bigger challenge than I anticipated since I wanted to switch from 4" Simpson to 6" Selkirk.Pictured is my new leak free install using Selkirk DT. This pipe uses a 4" exhaust pipe surrounded by a 6"+ diameter pipe that acts as a cold air intake - or more commonly know as an OAK. Nice part about this solution is any small leaks (if there are any) in the 4" internal pipe will be sucked back into the stove and not escape to the stove. Lots of joints between the stove and the first 6" section, so went a little crazy with the RTV, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Selkirk uses a siliconized gasket on the 6" sections to seal each pipe section, so leaking is not likely. INSTALL TIP - I used some vegetable oil to lubricate each gasket to allow the pipe sections to slide together easily. Oil will burn off cleanly and it eliminates the likelihood of tearing a gasket while assembling.
Anyway, will update with burn pictures when it cools down a bit. Had it running earlier, but the basement got up to 76, so I had to shut her down...
For those that are looking at an up and out install, this is the only pipe to get, IMO. Clean, incorporates and OAK and looks fantastic. Really tall installations could be interesting since the incoming air might cool the flue gasses a bit too much, so keep that in mind.
Should be a warm, toasty and smoke free winter of 2011/12!
