WMC42 Replacement with w/Heat&Glo;North Star UPDATE: Finally burning! (post 28)

[73blazer]

If he's not getting a secondary burn, alot of stuff is still in the smoke as it's rising thru the flue, and forms are favorite friend, creosote.

This 5/8" sheetrock is kicking my a$$ trying to haul it up 20 some feet inside the chase....

 

[woolleyr]

I was in the same boat. Northstar is designed for a 2x4 wall. After talking to several installers you'd be amazed at how they work around this. I choose what I thought to be the safest.

Believe it or not the bottom of your chimney with the air cooling kit will be the coldest surface on the whole chimney. Before I finished up my inside I had several fires and cranked the unit full blast where it was so hot I could barely stand in front of it. Anyway I reached in and the exterior of the chimney pipe right above the air kit was ice cold.

Anyway to get around the dilema of the 2x6 wall, the one installer who'd help me mentioned that he installs the fire stop in the correct position and pulls the unit forward into place. So essentially the chimney at the bottom tilts slighlty closer to the wall when you get near the top of the firebox. All I had to do was cut the wall sheathing off several inches up. I then used some simple sheet metal against the house where the sheathing used to be. Leaving an air space behind the metal to combustionable surfaces and there is no issues at all. I cranked the fire again for several hours and there is no heat whatsoever on that surface and the framing is nice and cold. The installer thought I didn't need the sheet metal and that was overkill. But I did it anyway. The only difference that I can see with my installation is I was able to raise the header higher up which allowed me more clearance from the tilting chimney. Its about 9" above the top of the fire box.

Your gonna love it. Sitting in front of it right now with a little fire. Temps in the 30s outside and I can get the back of my house up to 75 in a heartbeat if not careful. Since its an exterior chimney chase your gonna get some cold air leakage on cold days, no way around this. I twist the knob to close off the exterior combustion when not burning and that helps limit the cold air sneaking inside but does not completely eliminate it....biggest pain is getting draft going on really cold day. Use wifes hair dryer or I very loosely crumple up some paper toss a match on it and quickly close doors. If I've left the paper loose enough it will flare up quick and send a shot of heat up the chimney and start the draft. If too tightly crumpled it will smolder and stink up the house...There are some other products out there as well which burns hot with no smoke and will get a draft going as well. Paper works for me. The unit is a good miser on the wood if you choke the air just right to get a good secondary burn.

Now for the disclaimer....I am not giving installation advice you should follow you manufacturers instructions..its just what I did.

 

[73blazer]

Well, I got that b!tch in there. Just to ensure that headers integrity, and since I had just over 4" of height from the top of the standoffs to the main header, I bought some LVL and ripped it to height and screwed 3/16" steel to the top of it. Placed it in, added some jack studs to support it and cut the back the main header to ensure the 2" of clearance to the chimney. The steel on the top of my new support header had just a small lip on the back to catch the last piece of LVL of the main header, I cut down that main header almost right to that steel, so at the bottom there is only 1/4" left or so, I radiused it nicely going up and to the sides to match the contour of the 15degree offset. Pushed in the unit and wohoo, I have 2" of clearance. mabey 2 1/8".
So, I'm happy now. I can finish this thing up.

I drywalled the house side of the chase with 5/8" type X drywall all the way up (that was fun), and fully insulated the chase too, and added another required firestop at the 18' level (there was one at the 8' level, and there is supposed to be on every 10').

Hopefully I'll be burning by tommorrow night! Giddy up...

 

[73blazer]

Finally got her all done this morning, save for the masonry work which will call a mason out in a few weeks to have him finish it off.

Got my first fire in it right now, it's really pumping the heat (and it stinks! as the manual warned me on the first fire). Started off slow. Small amount of wood, but still quite a bit of heat. No condensation issues I can tell, as 1 or 2 others have reported. I used 4" hard duct for the CAK4A chimney air kit, sealing each joint with foil UL tape, and I used 6" hard duct for the outside air kit. CHimney is nice and cool at the base, as well as the CAK. That CAK really has some draw, if I hold a leaf up to the inlet, it sucks it right to the inlet grate.

I only have 2 issues:
1) The paint on the top of the firebox/bottom of baffle board is peeling. Is that normal? Probably, just checking. I just wonder why they would paint it if it's just going to peel on the first fire.

2) Somethings up with my fan. It is definitely wired properly (I checked and double checked), but the fan only comes on 1 speed I think just the rheostat switch they supplied is bad. Any power to the unit is supplied through that rheostat switch, so it seems if the fan is on (either through the snapdisc or the bypass switch), it should adjust speed. But it doesn't. When I take my meter to the switch, it seems to not vary the resistance as I would expect. Granted I don't have a super sensitive expensive meter that can measure very sensitive resistance, but it seems I should see it vary at least .01ohms and I don't.

I'll get that straightened out later. Right now I just want to relax. That thing kicked my butt installing it. Hauling that darn type x drywall up the chase, insulating the chase, hauling those chimney pieces up inside the chase and on top of the roof, rassling that thing in and out of the opening, cutting back my main support headre, fabricating new sub-headers, not the most fun job in the world, but satisfying now that it's complete. Hopefully I'll see a drop in those propane bills this winter!

BTW, thanks for all the help, comments, suggestions, and just being here, this place is a great resource!

 

[njkev]

Hi,
Sorry I did not keep up with your posts lately. The unit looks great in your room!

About the peeling paint you have on the bottom of the baffle board.....I am not so sure there should be any paint on that board. I see a small amount of black "over-spray" on mine....but that's about it.

With regard to your Rheostat switch: Assuming the single speed you have now is the maximum speed, turn on the fan, adjust the Rheostat for the minimum position (all the way to the right), and try the adjustment screw. Assuming the Rheostat is good, you should be able to adjust the fan speed down to an acceptable minimum (NOT off!) Once you set your minimum, make sure that it will always kick on when you use the switch to turn the fan on when in that minimum position.

Just one question....Why is the outside air pipe going upward (over 3 feet?) before going out the BACK of the chase? Doesn't that restrict the airflow somewhat? Mine goes straight out the SIDE of the chase using about 18" of flex pipe.

Kev

 

[jtp10181]

Check the wire diagram in the manual for the fan switches. I think its on page 10 or so. You should have a double gang box with a toggle and speed control in it. If wired correctly it will work as designed. Problem is most people don't hook it up right. If it is wired right it is possible the speed control is bad.

The paint on the baffle is probably just over spray and does not belong there anyway. So let it peel off.

 

[73blazer]

It's wired properly. I used to wire homes as an apprentice, and a good friend of mine is a electrical engineer who double checked it, he brought his good meter over and confirmed the rheostat switch is bad. The dealer is procuring another for me.

The reason the air supply pipe goes up is because if I went straight out it would be only 1-2" off the surface of the deck, not good as we get snow here, sometimes up to 2' on the ground, manual says it's ok to go up no more than 8' (IIRC), I went 3.5' using 45's, it's so short, I doubt it has any effect on it's air flow. I can hold a 1" square paper up there while it's burning and it sucks it right to the grate.

I've been on business trips and vacation, I haven't had a chance to burn it again yet. I'm gettin' there...
Thanks for the advice!

 

[jtp10181]

Yeah don't worry about the air intake length. Sometimes builders put the unit in the center of the house and we have to run the air line 25ft or more.

 

[73blazer]

Well I'm back from business trips and vacation for a while and I fired her up again this morning.

Oh yeah, she's burning good. I can't believe, it's 20 degrees outside and it's actually maintaining temperature in this home, even increased it 1 degree. With the 28' ceilings and 2400sqft of space to heat, that's pretty impressive. I thought it would just reduce the amount of time the furnace ran, but the furnace hasn't kicked in since I started it up.

I think I'm gonna like this...