What to do now?

[Prairie Pucker]

I've been burning wood since 1979 in what was the largest model stove that Woodland offered back then. Large door with glass, room air for combustion. In a drafty old farmhouse it worked just fine. In the mid-90's we moved into a mostly airtight new house, so I modded the stove to use outside combustion air. Instead of building a fireplace, we built a large central chimney and parked the stove on a stone hearth in front of it with a stovepipe into the flue. The house also has a gas furnace and we don't depend entirely on the stove, using it to provide supplemental heat and reduce gas usage. But on a few occasions when the furnace has conked out (usually on the coldest day of the winter) or the power failed, the stove has prevented an inconvience from becoming a crisis. Typical usage is around 3 cords per season.

Here's the arrangement:



There are 2 other unused flues in the chimney that were included for possible future stoves.

Time marches on, and so does arthritis and other aches and pains. While we thoroughly enjoy the stove each winter, the cutting, hauling, splitting and dealing with the mess doesn't hold as much charm as it used to. I've finally begun to think about switching to some kind of gas unit. Ventless seems quick and easy, but I have reservations about using room air for combustion and also venting the humidity into the house. Direct vent addresses those concerns, but raises the question of how or if it could be integrated with the existing chimney arrangement. I've also wondered about installing a gas log into the existing stove that would continue to utilize outside combustion air, but there'd have to be a way to protect the valve & controls from the heat. Also, I don't know anything about the use of gas logs, how much heat output can be achieved, getting the correct flame, etc.

I'm sure other folks have been down this road & had the same concerns, and I'm hoping someone has ideas and suggestions.

Thanks,

PP

 

[webbie]

Quickie answer - NO, don't install gas logs in that thing!

If you want to go gas, my suggestion would be an efficient gas stove which could be vented up that existing chimney. Direct Vent is more efficient than natural (B) vent, but both are pretty decent. If you care a lot about max efficiency, look at the labels for AFUE eff. % and other such information.

 

[Prairie Pucker]

Quickie answer - NO, don't install gas logs in that thing!

If you want to go gas, my suggestion would be an efficient gas stove which could be vented up that existing chimney. Direct Vent is more efficient than natural (B) vent, but both are pretty decent. If you care a lot about max efficiency, look at the labels for AFUE eff. % and other such information.

Thanks. Other than direct vent, are gas stoves made that utilize outside air? So far I've only seen direct vent and ventless. I'm assuming the ventless ones all use room air. At least the ones I've seen so far don't claim otherwise. Generally the ventless stoves also seem to have less BTU output than DV.

What should I be searching for?

Thanks,

PP

 

[Fake coal burner]

Do what I did go with a dv vented gas stove out side air. Stay away from non vented ones. You wound not put you mouth over the tail pipe of your car and breath in would you? You will need one of these chimney lining kits for dv stove most mfg. make them. How much area are you planing to heat ,climate house isolation, altitude you are at.
i used coal and wood when younger it was fun and a mess To old for that now. I have my gas stove now for 6 years. I realy like it. Only use the furnace for about 6 hours during the coldest part of winter at night. The stove has saved on my gas bill, I like it hot 80 deg. f for the living room.

Go to this cite and do a lot of reading. I think it will help you make your dissection. Let us know the out come .
(broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/hodvent.htm)

 

[Prairie Pucker]

Do what I did go with a dv vented gas stove out side air. Stay away from non vented ones. You wound not put you mouth over the tail pipe of your car and breath in would you? You will need one of these chimney lining kits for dv stove most mfg. make them. How much area are you planing to heat ,climate house isolation, altitude you are at.
i used coal and wood when younger it was fun and a mess To old for that now. I have my gas stove now for 6 years. I realy like it. Only use the furnace for about 6 hours during the coldest part of winter at night. The stove has saved on my gas bill, I like it hot 80 deg. f for the living room.

Go to this cite and do a lot of reading. I think it will help you make your dissection. Let us know the out come .
(broken link removed to http://chimneysweeponline.com/hodvent.htm)

Thanks. That could work. I was not aware of a system that used two separate ducts inside the chimney. I think the hard part will be getting the flexible ducts worked through the existing thimble and connected to a direct vent adapter in a way that looks nice. Probably need some kind of sheet metal box fastened to the front side of the chimney above the stove to mount and hide the adapter.

Floor area is around 2000 sq. ft., northern Illinois, house has 2x6 walls, 2x12 ceiling, insulated basement walls and under the slab. Thermostat usually sits at 68. The gas furnace is 90,000 BTU. We sit at the dead end of the power line so if anything happens upstream we lose power. Last time it was -20 degrees and 25 mph winds. I just set the drafts wide open on the old Woodland and let it rip until we got power back. 1-1/2 days later the far corners of the house were down to 55 but it was tolerable. The great room where the stove sits was just fine. I don't know what the BTU output of the stove was but it must have been at least 70,000 to 80,000 BTU. It was really cooking. Shove a new log in and 10 seconds later the bark bursts into flame. That's why I'm thinking we need one of the larger gas stoves and one that doesn't rely on electricity.

PP

 

[Fake coal burner]

Did you read the link I gave you? There is other ways to connect to you exciting pipe (liner) This is one 4 inch flex pipe for exhaust you could feed a 4 inch down you have to use the different adapters. # 6 jpg on the link I gave you. It will tell how its done. This way you probable wont have to cut your stone work. Just a thought,

 

[Fake coal burner]

Go to this thread I postesed .https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/need-correct-size-stove.115551/ click link to stove.

 

[Prairie Pucker]

Did you read the link I gave you? There is other ways to connect to you exciting pipe (liner) This is one 4 inch flex pipe for exhaust you could feed a 4 inch down you have to use the different adapters. # 6 jpg on the link I gave you. It will tell how its done. This way you probable wont have to cut your stone work. Just a thought,

Thanks. Yeah, I just read the link this morning and noticed the photo with the single duct arrangement. Looks like that would sure be the simplest way to go. The existing stovepipe is 8" diameter. Also just got done with a first look at that GDS50 stove, too. Now I need to take a look at these direct vent fittings & learn more about them. The only DV stuff I'd ever seen before was the triple wall straight stuff for wood.

PP