Hi all! I've been a lurker, and finally decided to join after the wealth of knowledge I have gained on here. I recently had an experience I never want to repeat, a chimney fire, so I am completely replacing my heating appliances. We just bought our house in June. We inherited an EPA Exempt US Stove 2007B in the living room, which I rehabbed with a new door seal, new paint job, and new stove pipe. It's been a nice addition of heat, but since the chimney fire, has been the sole source of heat for the house and requires almost constant babysitting. In the basement was a 30+ year old furnace setup, a Mayflower Fuel Oil burner with a connected wood stove. The previous owner stated that the chimney was cleaned and inspected when we purchased the house, and I had planned on sweeping the chimney every summer, but apparently it either wasn't cleaned, or there was a lot of buildup in a short time. After the fire, the sweep condemned the chimney and I decided to remove the furnace/wood stove combo and install a high efficiency two stage propane furnace in their place. I'm also going to change the venting to pull most of the return air from the living room, so I can heat the house with the wood stove and supplement with the propane. After a lot of research, I placed an order for an Ideal Steel from Woodstock to replace the US Stove. I had considered a lot of other options, but the Ideal Steel really seemed like the best fit for what I wanted to do. My house is about 1700 sq ft finished, and another 600ish of unfinished basement. For a 100 year old house, it is pretty decently insulated, thanks to the insulation I had blown in the walls and attic. The windows are drafty, and walls are still only 2x4 construction, so it's not something you can heat with a candle and a can of beans.
I plan to install the stove myself, and draft it straight up, creating a new chimney and demo out the existing chimney in the living room. (I haven't decided on the fate of the chimney in the middle of the house that had the fire.) Does anyone have any advice on flue height, install, etc? I ran the plans by Woodstock, and they said I should be perfectly fine installing it the way my plans show. I should have approximately 14 feet of flue (5 below the roof in double wall, and 9 in class A triple wall) from where it comes off the stove. I had my plans written up for an additional foot of triple wall chimney, but Woodstock said I'd be fine without it. They also suggested that I have the stove vent up rather than come off the back and start with a tee. I guess I can just unhook the stove pipe when I clean it and have it dump in a bucket. I don't want to dump it into the wood stove (unless I'm mistaken).
Also, this is my first time running a cat stove (or hybrid to be technical), so if anyone has tips on that, it would be much appreciated.
I have a moisture meter, and a dwindling supply of really dry mixed hardwoods. I'm putting up oak for future use, but the US Stove is eating through my supply of dry stuff like crazy, hopefully I have enough to test out the Ideal Steel once I get it. I have been cutting deadfall oak (mainly red oak) and have at least 5 cords split and stacked. I plan to pull another permit for 10 cords this spring and fill the woodshed. That should get me years ahead. As long as I can get some dry enough for next winter, I'm golden.
Anyway, thanks in advance for any tips you can provide and thanks to all of you for the info while I was just a lurker. I'd have probably ended up with a much inferior stove if I hadn't read up on here first.
I plan to install the stove myself, and draft it straight up, creating a new chimney and demo out the existing chimney in the living room. (I haven't decided on the fate of the chimney in the middle of the house that had the fire.) Does anyone have any advice on flue height, install, etc? I ran the plans by Woodstock, and they said I should be perfectly fine installing it the way my plans show. I should have approximately 14 feet of flue (5 below the roof in double wall, and 9 in class A triple wall) from where it comes off the stove. I had my plans written up for an additional foot of triple wall chimney, but Woodstock said I'd be fine without it. They also suggested that I have the stove vent up rather than come off the back and start with a tee. I guess I can just unhook the stove pipe when I clean it and have it dump in a bucket. I don't want to dump it into the wood stove (unless I'm mistaken).
Also, this is my first time running a cat stove (or hybrid to be technical), so if anyone has tips on that, it would be much appreciated.
I have a moisture meter, and a dwindling supply of really dry mixed hardwoods. I'm putting up oak for future use, but the US Stove is eating through my supply of dry stuff like crazy, hopefully I have enough to test out the Ideal Steel once I get it. I have been cutting deadfall oak (mainly red oak) and have at least 5 cords split and stacked. I plan to pull another permit for 10 cords this spring and fill the woodshed. That should get me years ahead. As long as I can get some dry enough for next winter, I'm golden.
Anyway, thanks in advance for any tips you can provide and thanks to all of you for the info while I was just a lurker. I'd have probably ended up with a much inferior stove if I hadn't read up on here first.
