What do I do?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Perrydise523

New Member
Jul 5, 2016
2
Ohio
Hello Everyone!

I wasn't able to outright find an answer to my question so I am here to ask for help.
This probably belongs in the installation thread but since this is my first post it says I don't have permission.
Maybe one of the mods can move it.

Let me lay out the back story and I'm sorry in advance for the long read.

My wife and I bought our first home about 9 years ago. Its a small craftsman style in central Ohio. For what ever reason the house was never hooked up to gas or LP. This makes everything in the house electric including the heat (Baseboards). Over the last 3 years, two of the 3 have been some of the coldest I can remember. With two small children in the house layering up and keeping the heat in the "normal" range was not an option. Little ones don't always like to wear shoes and sweatshirts... Long story short with the house all electric and running the heat higher then normal, not to mention increasing kw/h rates, we ended up with astronomical bills over the last few winters.

Enough that it was worth looking at a secondary heat source. I had been talking to my wife about a wood burning stove. She said if I could find one in good shape we could get it and install it into the house. I ran into a a man I used to work for when I was a teenage and him and I were catching up last fall. Why it came into discussion I'm not sure but he told me a mutual friend had a nice stove for sale and would probably let it go to me at a good price.

I didn't know it at the time, and I'm never the guy this happens to, but I got the deal of a lifetime. I ended up buying a woodstock soap stone Keystone stove for about $400. Our friend had recently changed over to a pellet system and was trying to find a good home for this one.

Because it was so late in the season, I had no wood, and frankly knew that my wife and I were going to be doing a small remodel this year I decided to let it wait until the remodel.

Fast forward to the present. The house is about 90% done and I have been working on the installation. I have been over the manuals and instructions and felt like given everything else I had just done. I could tackle this too.


I built a hearth pad according to the specs below. They had a minimum but said they liked larger pads so I built one that measures 4'x5'.

http://www.woodstove.com/pages/guidepdfs/Plan your hearth.pdf


Because of the way the room is laid out I wanted to go through he wall directly behind the stove.
I bought a trough the wall kit and installed according to the instruction on page 4, installation #3 in the link below.

http://www.woodstove.com/images/editorial_support/KP-PDF-Instructions/Installation-KP_2013.pdf


Here is the beginning of my mistake.
Because in the installation I read you needed 1/4" for every 1 foot of run I had added about 1/2" to the height of the thimble. . I measured the floor to the top of the flue coming out of the back of the stove. I took that measurement and used it to line up with the top of where the pipe will be after the adapter from the single wall to the double wall will pass through the wall. If you read about the keystone it has a 7" flue. In the owners manual and online it is clearly stated you can exhaust the stove into 6" chimney. I even emailed Woodstock to confirm since this is not the norm from what I had read. The adapter coming out of the stove is necking down from 7 to 6 inches , and inch overall takes 1/2 " off all the way around the pipe. Bringing my measurement down from where I had originally made it.(experienced people are probably shaking their heads by know seeing my mistake)

I cut the holes and installed the thimble, wall support, tee and raincap until I finish the inside portion, then I'll go on up the side of the house.

We wanted a wall shield other than a big piece of metal so I bought some durock and some nice tile she picked out. Slid the hearth in and proceeded to install the wall shield. I'm going to be honest. It turned out great. The plan was to slide the hearth against the wall. then use the heart as kind of my level to install the durock and tile. it went together like one would hope it would. This weekend I asked a buddy to come help me bring in the stove.


With the pipes pushed in and locked into the wall and stove. I am about 1/2" apart and still have enough bite to be smoke tight. I know I made an error in measuring and should have dry fit everything first but moving a 400 lb stove around by myself wasn't an option. Looking back on it I never even really thought about it until it didn;t line up. Lesson learned.

I'm kind of at a loss how to fix it. I don't want to do something unsafe or questionable. I want it right. In my mind I have two options.

1.) Raise the hearth pad. Maybe a 1/2" layer of added durock under the pad and I cut the wall shield. so it still "sits" on the hearth.

2.) Cut the wall shield on the wall and re-install the through the wall kit.


Does anyone have any other suggestions I might be missing? Like I said I know I made a mistake but I would hate to have to tear back into that wall.
 
Last edited:
Greetings. Is this single or double-wall stove pipe? Sounds like it should be pretty easy to fix. But to clarify, the connection is about 1/2" short from the thimble to the horiz. connector? Or is the vertical height off by 1/2"? Pictures always help.

About the wall shield, is it required to reduce clearances or just for peace of mind for the required, unreduced, behind the stove clearance? A proper clearance reducing wall shield needs to have a 1" clearance from the wall (or studs) behind it and it must be open at the top and bottom to allow good airflow behind it.
 
I'm sorry for the lack of pics. I will snap a few tonight when I get home and upload.

This is the single wall pipe.

I'm about 1/2" off on the vertical alignment. (i.e. my stove needs to be about 1/2" taller.)

From the back of the stove I have a 7" to 6" single wall reducer. From there I was going to add a small section of pipe but don't think I will need to. From there into the single wall to double adapter which is attached to the double wall sticking through the thimble and then the wall shield.

Yes I failed to say the wall shield is 1" off the wall. The double wall sticks through my combustible wall about 3.5" and after the airspace and wall shield about 1.5-1.75". The bottom is sitting on the hearth pad but I read that either the bottom or sides must be open. I opted for the sides since I wanted a cleaner look. The wall shield was done for clearance but if I was going to do it it was going to look nice. If my other measurements have been rights so far my stove should sit about 14" off the combustible wall and a little over 12" off the wall shield.


My buddy suggested taking 2"x2" pieces of tile from the construction of the hearth pad and putting them under the legs since they would match the hearth. Seems like a band-aid to me since I would have to use 2 to get the 1/2" needed. I don't know I would trust the stability. Again, I would like it to be done correctly so I didn't put much stock into this line of thinking.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like a simple fix by adjusting the vertical height of the stovepipe by either cutting a new piece of pipe to length or adding a 6" section and cutting down the other vertical section by 5 1/2".

The wall shield is not valid if the bottom is snug with the top of the hearth. There must be at least a 1" gap at the bottom and at the top for air to convect easily behind the wall shield. The airflow should be unimpeded from bottom to top. The sides do not need to be open.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/wood-stove-wall-clearances-primer.147785/#post-1987380

PS: Congrats on getting the Keystone. That's a nice stove.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.