Stovepipe Install through floor with radiant in floor heat - anyone done it? Also, any Alaskans who

[Radiant]

Greetings,

We recently purchased a two story home with radiant in floor heating in both floors. We'd like to install a wood stove on the first floor for extra heat and ambiance (we have lived with woodstoves before and miss them). We purchased a heat sensor tool to help detect the tubing but would like to chat with someone who has actually done this kind of retrofit. Our tubing is set in Gypecrete and the floor covering is hickory hard wood. The fellows we have talked to at the local plumbing and wood stove shops have not dealt with this before nor have I been able to find any on-line postings on the topic. Our other option is to encase the stove on the outside of the house but we'd like to avoid the cost and appearance of such a modification. Any experience or suggest on the topic would be greatly appreciated. We may consider a gas stove (and vent directly out of the wall) but really want a wood-burner.

Additionally, are there any Alaskans out there who have purchased a stove from Woodstock Soapstone Company who would be willing to share their experience?

Thank you!
TSK

 

[North of 60]

I would consider a safe path to rule out hitting your inslab would be to check out the possibilities of coming up through a closet on the second floor if you can line it up with that. Usually closets areas will be left out during the heating rough in. Start there with your heat sensing tool. I hope this creates an option for you and welcome to the Hearth Forums.
Cheers
N of 60

 

[snowleopard]

Can you get in touch with the builder? I'd start there if I could. He or she could tell you what the pattern is--but then you've also got the floor joists and the ceiling joists to line up--good luck with that. I read on the internet (so it must be true) that Gypecrete reemulsifies when wet--if you could break or dissolve it, you might be able to re-arrange the tubing pattern and slip the stovepipe in between them (suitably off-set, of course).

The upstairs in-floor sounds wonderful. I have radiant floor downstairs and baseboard upstairs--and the baseboard didn't do much.

I can tell you this much about Woodstock. I ordered a stove through them, then backed out because I couldn't make the configuration fit my spot. (Ended up relocating my spot--a sad story about misaligned interior walls, joists, etc. with a happy ending. Much tramo-drama at the time, though. ) When I finally settled on a place for it, I went with a local dealer who could handle delivery and installation for me, and figured that I'd spent the deposit I sent to Woodstock, and fair was fair. DIdn't expect it back, didn't ask for it--but they returned it anyway.

I'm very happy with my Hearthstone, and with the dealer who did the installation (Woodway, if you're in the Interior). I consider a soapstone stove the most comfortable I've been around, but if I were in a position to need a Woodstock stove, I wouldn't hesitate to do business with them. The way they treated me gives me complete confidence in that `we'll buy it back' guarentee. And they sure are pretty (in a girly-stove kind of way).

Good luck--it's a bit of an upheaval, but it's every bit as good as you remember.

 

[Renovation]

Welcome Radiant, and compliments on a nice handle!

Your concern is how to run a chimney? I have two thoughts.

One is, go out through your first floor wall, and run a modern chimney pipe (called Class A) up the outside of your house. This is done all the time, and if you build an insulated chase around it, it will be attractive and high-performing.

The other, which came immediately to mind, is contact a roofer, insulator, or a company or government agency that does energy audits. A friend of mine is a roofer, and they have an IR camera that is incredibly sensitive. It shows the heat patterns on any surface, and is used for finding air leaks, insulation gaps, etc. It is so sensitive that my roofer uses it on the underside of roofs, because the water leaks show up as colder! Big bubbles, no troubles.

I bet one shot of your floor with one of those, and you'd have a complete map of your tubing.

Welcome, HTH, and good luck!

 

[Radiant]

Wow, so many replies so fast! Thank you all for your ideas and information. There are zero closets on the second floor besides a walk-in that is on the opposite side of where we'd like to install (another change we'll make someday - add another closet). Additionally, we talked to the woman who had the house built and she boasts putting the tube spacing 6" apart - everywhere (which is fantastic except when you want to cut a hole in your floor!).

I like the idea the tubing may move apart if wet enough, interesting tid-bit, but then would there be enough flex/length in the tubing to push it aside? Another -love -the- hardwood- except- when- we're- making- changes. This goes into the next suggestion of getting an energy audit which we are already on the list (Alaska has a great energy rebate program...we've been on the waiting list since May but are narrowing in on getting one). Yes, we love the heating in this house. I've never lived in a house with radiant in floor heating and cannot believe how nice it is....even when we are keeping it fairly low, I get some chills but not the same way I do with a forced air system. It's terrific!

I'm glad to hear the Hearthstone stove is nice...though, from the descriptions on this forum and other sites it's hard not to want to touch a Woodstock! I would love to open a few doors and convince myself the Hearthstone is just as hardy. I have been in contact with Woodstock since the summer to let us know if there's a local up here in Alaska who will let us see their stove in exchange for a bottle of wine but they haven't located any takers (understandably)! My husband cannot be convinced to make such a big purchase without seeing the stove in person (even though Woodstock claims we have 6 months to return it for a full refund).

So many decisions...

Thank you all for your time - what a great forum!

 

[jimbom]

I have a radiant floor and a 8" Metalbestos Model SSII Type HT flue. The outside diameter on that is 10 inches. The label says two inch clearance is required. We have 2" at all locations except the penetration to the attic. There it is a close fit and sealed air tight. We have had no trouble with that. Ours runs up through the closet. In addition, to no tubing in closets, we have none in the laundry room, none under the kitchen/bath cabinets, none under the refrigerator, and none under the showers or tubs. I varied the tube spacing depending on the location. That is the exterior area of the room has closer spaced tubes than interior areas. These are all places you could look for a penetration. Also, the installer at your home may have increased the spacing at some unexpected location for reasons unknown today.

I run my hydronic system at less than 90F under a vinyl floor so a cheap IR thermostat reveals the location of my tubes. I don't know how that would work with hardwood floors. Perhaps you could get a reading from underneath the floor at the locations that interest you.

In my opinion, you will not be able to move the tubing apart easily. To confirm this for yourself, get a six foot piece of tubing and nail it to a board every six inches. then try to move the middle section. Pull two nails and try again. You will see the difficulty of spreading a tube installation without a major floor redo. I found this when trying to install my floor tubing before concrete was installed. But I have polybutylene tubing. The new stuff may be different.

I didn't use GypCrete, but my opinion is the product will hydrate when placed and not dissolve when wet. Selling a product that softens when wet for residential floors sounds like a product liability nightmare. But I don't have any first hand knowledge here.

 

[pbtwait]

Hello,
I live in Alaska, (Soldotna) and purchased a Woodstock Fireview in May. It sat on the porch until August and has been heating our 25X30 log cabin, with 2 lofts and cathedral ceiling since September, burning non-stop. This morning when I got home from work at 730 AM, the stove hadnt been loaded for 6-7 hrs, the outside temp was -4f and a warm 68f in our home, which is in need of more insulating...Also we are burning beetle kill spruce, not ideal wood The only complaint I have about the stove is that we didnt purchase one earlier...Burns about 1/2 the wood as our old fisher, with more even longer heat, and very little creosote... Shipping to our area was a reasonable $300 this spring. The customer service was excellent. I would say the people underestimate the quality of their product, though if Iwere to purchase another would probably go with the newer, larger, model coming out in 2011. I say this only because it can get to -30f here and more btu's is better..Great stove!

 

[DWW68]

If you know where you will be running the chimney and chase, all you will need to do is set the blade hight on a circular saw to the depth of your hardwood floor. Cut out the wood area that the chase will cover. Then you should be able to bust up the gypcrete (hammer & chisel) without damaging the tubing. You then can splice tubing with proper couplings to move out of your way.

 

[Renovation]

If you know where you will be running the chimney and chase, all you will need to do is set the blade hight on a circular saw to the depth of your hardwood floor. Cut out the wood area that the chase will cover. Then you should be able to bust up the gypcrete (hammer & chisel) without damaging the tubing. You then can splice tubing with proper couplings to move out of your way.

That sounds like a great idea! Before cutting the floor, you should look at where your roof joists are, make sure you're clear of them, and transfer your chimney position downward--it's easier to box around ceiling joists than a roof joists. A plumb bob should get you there.

While they're at it, they should put a few wraps of copper tubing around the pipe, and plumb it in. Kidding!

 

[pbtwait]

Where in Alaska do you live? If you ever get to Soldotna I'd be happy to show you our stove, (No wine required, just beer) haha Purchasing the Woodstock was a bit of a gamble for us too as there were none we could find locally to look at, and a wood stove retailer less than a mile from our house.. After lots of research on this and other stoves online, and looking locally at competitors, Im very pleased with the decision of the Fireview. It arrived in less than 2 weeks, in great shape from across the continent...

 

[Radiant]

Thanks all, we will mull over all your ideas and opinions - it has been helpful. We're really not sure about taking on such a project - but definitely have stove envy, especially after reading about everyone's stories and "feeling" the love for your stoves! Fisherstove (Soldotna), many thanks for your offer for a stove viewing. We live in Anchorage and may take you up on that if it'll convince my husband our purchase would be a wise one...perhaps I'll check back here later. At this point, we're simply re-thinking our wood stove purchase and tricky install. Happy holidays! TSK