Thinking of pellet stove, any moisture problems?

[niteshiftfromkc]

Right now I have an Englander wood burning stove. It has an 8" flue pipe going into a clay lined chimney that is approximately 30 feet tall with two flues (one opening in the basement where the stove is and another on 1st floor that does not have a stove at all; however, both flues run full length of the chimney). We constantly have moisture coming down the inside of the chimney and running out the back all over the floor. That creosote mixture is hard to get off the tile floor.

I am considering going to a pellet stove, utilizing the same chimney to vent the gases. Is there any more or less moisture from the pellet stoves? I just don't want to have another mess with the water/creosote coming out. Should I have an outside source of combustion air? (Currently utilize room air for combustion) If I need the external combustion air, could it be possible to use the unused flue?

We really only had this problem for the last couple of years since I opened up the cleaning port one day and took out 20 gallons of creosote that built up over time. The chimney sweeps I hired to clean it just pushed all the old creosote down the flue where it dropped in the bottom 4 feet of flue.

Thanks for the help,

Niteshift

 

[heat seeker]

I don't think the moisture will be a concern. You're supposed to use 3" or 4" pipe to exhaust the stove, all the way up the chimney.
That said, I know people who have used the existing flue (even with a gas water heater using the same one!) with no problems (yet).
I would think that you could use the extra flue for outside air, using it as an Outside Air Kit.
Now, to wait for someone who really knows the score...

 

[pen]

Does the wood stove you have utilize a 6 or an 8 inch flue collar?

If you are running a 6 in stove into an 8 in block chimney the cooling of flue gasses through expansion may be working against you.

If your stove is 6 in I'd suggest lining it w/ a SS liner. You could probably put a 6 in SS insulated liner in for less than 6-700 yourself.

If you go to a pellet stove, I'd still recommend lining the chimney and the cost isn't going to be much less.

A good friend of mine who burns good dry wood has a similar problem. Some chimneys are just cold by location and that's where the problem lies. Any solid fuel appliance will have the same issue assuming your wood is also well seasoned and you are burning it good and hot.

pen