Vermont Castings Resolute 1979 - not producing heat

[Anna1]

Our fireplace and chimney guys came and put in a new chimney liner and double wall stove pipe. I've used this stove for 20 years and it easily kept the living room in the 80s if I wanted it that hot. Kept the upstairs reasonably warm, too. After the repairs, the stove barely gets the room up to 70 degrees and even with that the oil furnace is kicking on. I can actually touch the griddle briefly without getting burned. I had the guy come back out and he said that the work they did improved the draft and it's working more efficiently and that's just how it is. I'm in a bit of a state because I spent money on repairs only to have a stove that no longer heats the house, though technically it is safer, meets code and has incredible draft. I'm trying to figure out what to do to get my wood stove functioning again.

The old stove pipe was single wall and had two 90 degree elbows. The new stove pipe is double wall and has a 45 degree and a 90 degree. The fireplace guy suggested replacing the double wall with single wall to get some heat from the stove pipe and adding back the 90 degree elbow to decrease the draft. Problem is that the pipe doesn't really have enough clearance from the ceiling to meet current code, which is why they put in double wall. They won't do something that doesn't meet code so if I want it back the way it used to be I have to do it myself. I did try to put new single wall stove pipe back, but I can't get the elbow to fit over the crimped piece sticking out of the chimney.

I am open to suggestions.

Anna

 

[kybishop]

Strange. I am not a chimney expert but our chimney is 8" single wall pipe straight up to the ceiling. Goes to a double wall stainless pipe through the roof. Still 8" inside pipe. Ours does not have any bends but a couple of 90 degree or 45 degree bends should be fine I would think. Most are probably installed with a couple 90's I imagine.

I am wondering about the pipe size that the new double wall pipe is. Seems like that would have more to do with getting enough draft than changing the one angle from 90 to 45.

Do you have pictures before and after? It would help to see how there is one 45 degree pipe bend and one 90. Do you have the old pipe to see what size the old pipe was compared to what the new pipe is? I am wondering if they went with a smaller inside pipe on the double wall pipe than what you had.

Did they just replace the pipe to the wall/chimney or all the up and out?

 

[Anna1]

Pipe size is the same for the double wall and the previous single wall - 6". They did replace the flue at the same time as the stove pipe. I am assuming that they sized the flue correctly. I don't know how to tell if they didn't. Plus they increased the height of the chimney by about two feet because they said ours was too short. The stove guy said that putting the one 90 back would restrict the draft a little given that he thinks we're getting too much draft for our stove to work. Putting single wall back will allow the heat from the stove pipe to radiate into the house rather than go up the chimney.

 

[kybishop]

Yep, one of the benefits of single wall pipe on the interior. Our single wall stove pipe goes up about 24' till it hits the ceiling/roof. Only went with double through the roof.

I am not sure why you would see such a significant difference in stove performance if they used the same size pipe. It does not sound like they changed it significantly other than the double wall on the inside.
.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Our fireplace and chimney guys came and put in a new chimney liner and double wall stove pipe. I've used this stove for 20 years and it easily kept the living room in the 80s if I wanted it that hot. Kept the upstairs reasonably warm, too. After the repairs, the stove barely gets the room up to 70 degrees and even with that the oil furnace is kicking on. I can actually touch the griddle briefly without getting burned. I had the guy come back out and he said that the work they did improved the draft and it's working more efficiently and that's just how it is. I'm in a bit of a state because I spent money on repairs only to have a stove that no longer heats the house, though technically it is safer, meets code and has incredible draft. I'm trying to figure out what to do to get my wood stove functioning again.

The old stove pipe was single wall and had two 90 degree elbows. The new stove pipe is double wall and has a 45 degree and a 90 degree. The fireplace guy suggested replacing the double wall with single wall to get some heat from the stove pipe and adding back the 90 degree elbow to decrease the draft. Problem is that the pipe doesn't really have enough clearance from the ceiling to meet current code, which is why they put in double wall. They won't do something that doesn't meet code so if I want it back the way it used to be I have to do it myself. I did try to put new single wall stove pipe back, but I can't get the elbow to fit over the crimped piece sticking out of the chimney.

I am open to suggestions.

Anna

Put single wall and other 90° back, add sheilding between pipe and ceiling where necessary to meet code. If that doesn't do it, add a pipe damper in the pipe to slow down the draft.

I bet your old stove will spring back to life.

 

[fbelec]

how about seeing what temp the stove is running at before you change anything. put the thermometer on top of the stove then about 12 inch up on the pipe to see if it is running at the right temp and to see what the difference is.

 

[Anna1]

I wish I had taken the temperature while it was still put together. That would have been a good idea. On the other hand, the stove went from "too hot to sit next to" to "can touch it with my hand" so I know it's a pretty big difference. Not very scientific, though.

I am replacing the double wall with single wall and putting back the 90 degree elbow. Now the stove pipe is lying all over my living room as I struggle to slip the single wall pipe onto the pipe that sticks out of the chimney. Unfortunately, the ID of my new single wall stove pipe is exactly the same as the OD of the pipe coming out of the chimney, making it impossible to slip the stove pipe over it. If the stove pipe ID were just maybe 1/8 inch bigger it would work. Or the chimney pipe 1/8 inch smaller. Tried crimping, but it's got to slide over it about two inches and that's not happening. Nothing is ever easy... Gotta work today. I'll fight with it some more tomorrow.

 

[defiant3]

Are you burning the same wood this season as last or is I ta new batch? Hard to see how different pipe could make a difference, ny thoughts would be:

draft problem

wood problem

 

[fbelec]

temp of the stove if running proper should be standard. if your stove used to be to hot to sit near chances are it was burning to hot or very close to.. if your stove is burning at say 650 that stove is doing all it can that would be if it were burnt as the manual says

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Having used this same stove for about 20 years, with a setup like Anna described (2 90° bends, single wall, transitioned to a clay lined masonry chimney), that stove burned great even with subpar wood. It does not suffer like an EPA stove with wood that needs more seasoning. Just smokes more.

We also got lots of heat from the single wall pipe that went up about 2' before turning 90° and then about 2' more horizontally before exiting through the wall. While I read the advice to "heat with the stove, not the flue", clearly that much radiant heat is going to be missed. The Resolute is a small stove, I suspect we got as much as a third of the heat from that stretch of pipe.

I swept the chimney myself once each year, usually at the end of the season. Never had a creasote issue.

I suspect that the draft is like a rocket now, and sucking a bunch of the heat outside, whereas before, it drafted nice and easy, allowing the stove to burn slower and keeping the heat inside.

If the replacement of the double wall doesn't do it, I'd put one of those flue dampers into the vertical stretch of single wall and slow that draft down a bit.