Wood stove flue through fireplace chimney question?

[VARedDirt]

Hi, I am a nubie and looking for some advice on how to do my flue, when I get my wood stove. I am putting it on my fireplace hearth which is brick on conc floor and the fire place is brick and the chimney is brick lined with the tile flue. Has anyone used the method shown in the attached picture over just having a plate that covers the fireplace opening with the flue penetrating that. What are the ups and downs of each method? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[VARedDirt]

I have searched for more info on installation of this type but have not found much info, any info is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[weatherguy]

Its slow now because most people are at work but Im pretty sure you'll get plenty of opinions on these types of install. Have you looked through the picture section? There may be some ideas for you there.

 

[branchburner]

There are a few downsides to a "direct connect." When the smoke spills into the larger tile flue, it slows and cools, and it more likely to condense as creosote. As a direct result, you may need to clean the chimney more often. And the chimney has now been made much harder to clean, because your stove and metal liner will need to be removed every time you do it. So it's a double whammy.

Furthermore, if it's an exterior chimney, you will lose more heat than with a full liner, even with a blockoff. And if the tile liner is large, you may have draft problems. What are the dimensions of the current flue, and what stove(s) are you considering?

 

[Shari]

Along with what branchburner said, your stove manufacturer my not endorse such an install. Local code enforcement and your homeowners insurance company normally defer to manufacturer endorsements. More clearly stated: Normally your local codes won't allow this type of install. Is it done? Yes.

Moving a stove to clean the chimney is a big pain. Add moving the stove multiple times per year this becomes a really BIG pain.

Shari

 

[EJL923]

Plain and simple, pay the extra money and enjoy the added safety, better performance and easier to clean stove. No ifs ands or buts. Theres really nothing more to discuss on this.

 

[Shari]

I was going to edit my post but thought I'd just add here what we did to connect our woodstove to our existing fireplace chimney:

1. 6" rigid stainless steel liner inside the 8"x8" clay tile chimney
2. insulated the SS liner for fire safety (insulation is NOT to necessarily keep the heat 'in')
3. two 45 degree fittings hook everything up to our stove which sits on the raised heart.

All of the above meets manufacturers recommendations; our local inspection department is happy; our homeowners insurance company is happy - and, best of all, we are happy with a safe install.

Shari

 

[Todd]

What size is your fireplace flue? I think it would work fine if your chimney was the same size as your stoves exhaust collar, but most fireplaces are much larger and you would be better off relining the whole system for better draft and easy sweeping.

This is what I did with my heatform fireplace. It had a large 12x12 tile flue and I installed a 6" liner and poured perlite insulation down and behind the new brick block off plate.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/56601/

 

[VARedDirt]

Thank you all for the info, I think I know now what I definatly need to do (line the chimney).

 

[fishingpol]

I had the direct connect method before and branchburner is right. I just put an insulated flex liner down a month or so ago and the stove runs like a champ. Whatever the cost of the flue liner will be, you will save in wood and btu's. I can run two splits now and cruise the stove at 500-550 without even trying. It is a no-brainer after having both set-ups.