Wet seasoned wood,,,, just sucks!

[JustWood]

An amish stainless shop was supposed to build me a new chimney 2 years ago. Last year I made it through the winter with a compromised chimney (draft wise) but safe. They still don't have it done. No phone to "remind" them and out of my normal travel area so as not easy to just drop in. Have been working 70+ hrs/week for god knows how long.
Anyway ,, my small Englander gets the job done until it gets consistently below 20. It takes 15-17" wood comfortably and 18" at the top of the load. I'm used to shed kept wood. Been that way for 20 years.
I always have 1.5 cord of wood for the Englander under cover. I'm through that this year and into the uncovered wood pile that I sell . Still no chimney for the big gun (furnace) which I have 9 cord (20-30") under cover for.
My vendor wood that I'm into is well seasoned ,,,, just wet. Takes a few days by the stove to dry out and this woodn't be an issue if I hadn't been so busy to let the under cover stuff get too low.
I don't care what anyone says . Uncovered , wet seasoned wood just sucks Rant over.
Next year I'm palletizing a cord or 2 and putting into the equipment lean-to.

 

[Rock Crusher]

Sounds like they "need" a visit from the Amish "mafia" to remind them to complete your project-lol. Hopefully your workload eases a bit-I remember those 70-80 hr weeks-ugh! Good luck!!

 

[gzecc]

I agree. You guys that live in the snowy north have issues with precip. One option is a covered trailer. You have to watch the weather and have something to move it around, but is is very convenient. I keep a cord covered at a time and pull from it to load the trailer.

 

[BrotherBart]

You need to find a wood seller with dry seasoned wood.

Sorry, the Devil made me do that. DevilishLee.

 

[pma1123]

I certainly enjoy doing all kinds of fabrication work, but I leave my chimney needs to the big box stores who carry the UL certified stuff I can pull out of the box and have a known-quality product. Waiting 2 years on a homemade, untested chimney to put in your house just seems a bit silly, especially if you're working all those hour$.

 

[tinman1]

What the heck do AMISH know about metal fabrication. There game is wood. EXCELLENT wood workers !

 

[JustWood]

You need to find a wood seller with dry seasoned wood.

Sorry, the Devil made me do that. DevilishLee.

I have close to 200 cord seasoned 2-3 years. Just not covered. Chit is soaking wet with the 18" of snow melt we had a week ago. If I had a place to get a couple facecord inside where its warm I'd be a happy camper. The furnace room has almost 2 cord of dry seasoned oak, maple and ash just waiting for a chimney to smoke it !If it wasn't fulI I could get some of this other wood in to dry . I hate the idea of burning 'pane but it might happen.

 

[JustWood]

I certainly enjoy doing all kinds of fabrication work, but I leave my chimney needs to the big box stores who carry the UL certified stuff I can pull out of the box and have a known-quality product. Waiting 2 years on a homemade, untested chimney to put in your house just seems a bit silly, especially if you're working all those hour$.

Last chimney I got from the guy I tested for 15 years ( heaviest gauge stainless to be found anywhere by far) and it was still pretty good when I took it down. The bottom rotted out from condensation over the summers. I always put a bucket over the top in the spring,,,,, just didn't think of removing bottom clean out cap. The air flow would have kept it dry and slowed/stopped it from rotting.
Years ago when I had a smoke dragon furnace , I burnt out some of that UL tested BS in 4-5 years. No thanks, This tin shop smokes through a couple of massive stainless coils a year building chimneys at a heavier gauge and half the price of box store chit..

 

[Jags]

Cut some of that dry stuff down to size. You can still burn the cutoffs when you get your pipe installed.

 

[JustWood]

Cut some of that dry stuff down to size. You can still burn the cutoffs when you get your pipe installed.

That's crossed my mind but time is a big issue right now and sleep is at a premium .
Propane is prolly the answer temporarily

 

[Jags]

I am pretty sure you meant - temporarLEE.

 

[bholler]

What the heck do AMISH know about metal fabrication. There game is wood. EXCELLENT wood workers !

around here there there are lots of amish or mennonite metal shops they at least here they are better at metal work than wood work most of the wood shops are not very good here. But i still would not have them make me a chimney especially if your last one rotted out in 15 years. What factory made stuff did you burn out in 4 to 5 years? You should have had it replaced it was surly still under warrante. Are they making insulated chimney or just pipe?

 

[mark cline]

I have an Amish stainless shop down the road from me. They make double wall pipe with a 1" air space between pipes , about 16 gauge, I think . They have about a 2 week turn around time. About $10 per ft. , nice stuff to use for a liner, but not to run up through the house unless its filled with vermiculite or something like rock wool.

 

[mark cline]

Just Wood , where is Arrow Bridge , NY

 

[bholler]

nice stuff to use for a liner, but not to run up through the house unless its filled with vermiculite or something like rock wool.

Why would you use double wall air cooled pipe for a liner? And there is no way anyone should ever even think about running something like that inside a house packed with insulation or not. If something would happen there is no way any insurance company would ever pay a claim on that

 

[mark cline]

Your right , never thought about the insurance factor.

 

[laynes69]

We had a 5.5" custom rigid stainless liner made for our 32' chimney, with a 6" snout. They built a stainless chimney cap for the masonry and a cap for the liner. Total cost was a hair under 400.00. I laid the 4' sections on their sides and could walk on them.

 

[bholler]

We had a 5.5" custom rigid stainless liner made for our 32' chimney, with a 6" snout. They built a stainless chimney cap for the masonry and a cap for the liner. Total cost was a hair under 400.00. I laid the 4' sections on their sides and could walk on them

The only problem i have seen with custom made liners like that besides the fact that they are not listed or tested is that many times they are also not the right alloy of steel. I just dont see how anyone could buy the correct materials that would be thick enough in rigid to walk on for $400 much less buy materials and make a profit on the labor.

 

[JustWood]

Got it. Woohoo!
Had it up just after dark last nite.
They built it 2' longer than the last one. Thing drafts crazy. Better than the other one did ever.
Happy happy. Now I can concentrate on work instead of lugging wet seasoned wood .
The furnace wood is under cover and ready to rip.

 

[tinman1]

We had a 5.5" custom rigid stainless liner made for our 32' chimney, with a 6" snout. They built a stainless chimney cap for the masonry and a cap for the liner. Total cost was a hair under 400.00. I laid the 4' sections on their sides a

Got it. Woohoo!
Had it up just after dark last nite.
They built it 2' longer than the last one. Thing drafts crazy. Better than the other one did ever.
Happy happy. Now I can concentrate on work instead of lugging wet seasoned wood .
The furnace wood is under cover and ready to rip.

Lets see pictures ??

 

[laynes69]

I believe it's an 18 gauge liner, 304 stainless steel. I understand it's not listed, but it's safer than what was there. We don't have inspectors here. I contacted the local fd and local sweeps (45 minutes away) and they said it would be okay. The liner had a double roll lock system, it was assembled, numbered, and predrilled for stainless rivets. It's the same thing Elmers in Maine sells for a fraction of the price. I watched them hand craft liners, 90% of the amish use them as well as many locals. It's been 5 years or so now, and the liner looks new. I also used the amish for a 2 story addition and they charged 1200 dollars for labor. I've learned they pride their work and do an excellent job. They make an honest living, unlike most of the local contractors around here. Here is a picture of the top of the chimney.

 

[bholler]

I believe it's an 18 gauge liner, 304 stainless steel. I understand it's not listed, but it's safer than what was there. We don't have inspectors here

That should be ok but you cant stand on 18 gauge pipe on its side it will flatten easily. But it should be a good liner as long as the joint is good and yes

 

[laynes69]

Well I'm 125 pounds, so I'm not a big guy. The local amish get 20 years out of the liners, but they burn coal and 304 isn't rated for coal. It came down to the safety of our family and performance, which the old masonry chimney had cracked tiles from two previous chimney fires my father had. The chimney is 32' tall on the side of an old victorian home. I'll tell you without the safety line and overhead clamps, I wouldn't have been able to install it. That thing had some serious weight to it. I had the option to install a thin wall flex liner, and I choose this route.

 

[bholler]

I am sure it is much safer and i dont fault you for going that rout at all but as a pro i would never install one like it or recommend that someone does But we also do not install light wall for wood stoves either. Did you at least insulate it? And yeah the factory made rigid liners are the same way they are a real pain to install thats why we hardly ever do them

 

[laynes69]

Yes, the liner is insulated. We produce only a few cups of creosote per season, but I sweep our chimney once a month to every other month for safety. We used to remove half to 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket per sweep with the old furnace. I did a very through sweep before the install. Not to sound bad, but around here the pros at alot of things are terrible. I've seen too many thing that were shortcuts and dangerous. Personally, I trust very few and the reason I choose to install myself. Same goes with carpentry work. The amish did our framing and sheathing, I did everything