What is the worst stove install you have seen?

[electrathon]

Thought it would be interesting to hear the stories of the worst / most unsafe woodstove install you have seen.

The two that come to mind for me are first my Grandpas cabin up in Alaska. It was a stove put in very close to a bookcase, on top of carpet with a piece of heavy sheet metal for a hearth with black pipe (or galvanized, been a long time) through the roof. He heated the cabin year around with the stove (lived there full time). A few times each year he would have to go up on the roof and pound on the stovepipe to break up the creosote. He knew when the pipe was plugged because the draft would stop working right.

The second is currently my neighbors house. A few years back they installed a wood stove in the house and used "B" vent. It comes out the wall and turns up. No proper anything. Some how they have not burnt down the house.

 

[bholler]

I have seen lots of single wall snap lock stove pipe run out though a wood panel stuck in a window and run up the side of the house. I honestly dont know how some people don't burn their houses down. I have seen lots of other horror story installs but the single wall ones are probably the most dangerous

 

[electrathon]

I have seen lots of single wall snap lock stove pipe run out though a wood panel stuck in a window and run up the side of the house. I honestly dont know how some people don't burn their houses down. I have seen lots of other horror story installs but the single wall ones are probably the most dangerous

That is the stuff my Grandpa used. I remember him showing me how to bind it with a rope to pull it together. His did go up and through in the cabin. The house we lived in had a prefab metal fireplace. It did not produce heat and the furnace could not keep up. It gets cold up there sometimes. My Dad and Grandpa removed the fireplace and made a block off plate to the chimney. Galvanized snap together pipe up to the plate. Sheet metal on the floor, a barrel stove a little over a foot from the wall. we heated the house with that stove a lot of the time.

 

[begreen]

Chimney tiles right up against woodwork!

 

[electrathon]

Chimney tiles right up against woodwork!

OK, now an ignorant question. If a brick chimney does not touch the wood, how does it attach to the house?

 

[begreen]

It doesn't need to if built properly on a level foundation. It is freestanding. In the case of the picture there were no bricks encasing the tile liner on one side!

 

[mellow]

 

[begreen]

Amazingly that installation got approval by the Swiss DMV.

 

[electrathon]

OK, I see the exposed liner.

On my house (1932) it has a brick chimney without any liner The chimney is about 35" from base to top, it lays against the side of the house. It has a long bolt through the middle to hold it in place. I would suspect that the 18" x 36" shacked up bricks would have fell over by now if it was not bolted to the house. My Blaze King Princess insert used that chimney for a long time. I pulled it due to safety concerns and when I dropped the rigid liner inside the chimney it had to make a jog to clear the bolt that is in the way.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like the bolt might be a retrofitted bandaid for a sinking chimney foundation.

 

[electrathon]

Amazingly that installation got approval by the Swiss DMV.

I knew a guy that used a Sterno can in his VW Bug, while driving down the road.

 

[bholler]

I would suspect that the 18" x 36" shacked up bricks would have fell over by now if it was not bolted to the house.

Not if it was built on a good foundation

 

[bholler]

I pulled it due to safety concerns and when I dropped the rigid liner inside the chimney it had to make a jog to clear the bolt that is in the way.

Is the liner insulated?

 

[bwells794]

View attachment 164821

This is something i would do if i had an old beater or like a farm vehicle that never left the property and i could care less if it went up in flames lol

 

[electrathon]

Sounds like the bolt might be a retrofitted bandaid for a sinking chimney foundation.

The chimney has not settled (siding is original, easy to see) and the placement of the bolt looks original. I have seen this done on other Portland area homes.

 

[bholler]

The chimney has not settled (siding is original, easy to see) and the placement of the bolt looks original. I have seen this done on other Portland area homes.

I have seen it before to but as long as there is a good foundation there would be no reason for a chimney to fall over other that outside forces like earthquake ect. There are lots still standing allot older than yours.

 

[electrathon]

Is the liner insulated?

No, I was told not to by the dealer. With a lot of the input I have seen here I realize that was likely bad advise. It is rigid, heavy walled stainless. It has a block off plate on the bottom. I get about a quart of creosote out of it twice a year. Much of the wood I have burned was minimally dry. I am currently ahead on the wood pile for the first time in a long time, I have very dry wood for this year and will have for at least the next two after that.

 

[bholler]

No, I was told not to by the dealer. With a lot of the input I have seen here I realize that was likely bad advise. It is rigid, heavy walled stainless. It has a block off plate on the bottom.

Yes definitely bad advice. You have no clearance to combustibles and not even any old liner to help protect the combustibles. If it was my house i would be pulling it and insulating it

 

[electrathon]

You can see my hesitation of pulling it back out.

 

[bholler]

You can see my hesitation of pulling it back out.

Not really that is not to bad at all. We deal with allot worse on a regular basis. but yeah not great access

 

[DougA]

I was on a houseboat 2 years ago and there was a large wood stove in the living room with a white painted stove pipe. The problem was that every 2 ft. at each joint in the pipe, there was brown creosote dripping/running down the outside of the pipe, all the way to the stove at the bottom.

I was not worried, since it was summer and the stove was not on but I would not be on the boat if the stove was running. I wish I had taken photos but I was worried the guy might have been offended.