Wood stove installation in existing masonry with rigid liner.

[bukes007]

Hi everyone,

First of all, thanks for reading my first thread. I am a new (first time) home owner and this is going to be my first wood burning stove (that I own).

My questions and concerns are these:

Masonry/concrete chimney with existing hole for wood stove. It's 7" in diameter.



There is a newer oil furnace that is currently hooked up (not shown) adjacent to this hole to the left. I am looking to disconnect the furnace and install a wood stove in the hole shown above.

I guess what I really need to know is... Can I just cut a hole into the liner, insert the stove pipe, and seal it up with stove cement?

I have done a lot of research online about this type of installation and all I can seem to find are people that are installing wood stoves at the base of a fireplace, installing wood stoves into a chimney with a clay liner, or people installing stoves with there own steel chimneys that run along side of the house.

So with that said, am I ok? Please forgive me if I have already made 101 beginner mistakes... I'm new, but I learn fast. Thanks everyone.

 

[begreen]

Welcome. I'm glad you stopped to ask. This could be a dilemma. It looks like someone put a rigid liner down to the furnace. You will need a tee with a removable snout to connect into this pipe. The other thing that concerns me a bit is that it looks like this hole was used for a wood stove at one point? Hopefully that was not at the same time as when the furnace liner was in there.

I see fiberglass which has no place there. My greatest concern is with the proximity of wood in the wall near this suspect hole . I can't call it a thimble because there is no clay pipe going into the chimney. If there is any wood within 12" of that hole there is a serious problem. Or is this the actual chimney face we are looking at where someone stuffed some fiberglass in as a gasket?

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/passing_a_chimney

 

[bukes007]

Welcome. I'm glad you stopped to ask. This could be a dilemma. It looks like someone put a rigid liner down to the furnace. You will need a tee with a removable snout to connect into this pipe. The other thing that concerns me a bit is that it looks like this hole was used for a wood stove at one point? Hopefully that was not at the same time as when the furnace liner was in there.

I see fiberglass which has no place there. My greatest concern is with the proximity of wood in the wall near this suspect hole . I can't call it a thimble because there is no clay pipe going into the chimney. If there is any wood within 12" of that hole there is a serious problem. Or is this the actual chimney face we are looking at where someone stuffed some fiberglass in as a gasket?

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/passing_a_chimney

Hi begreen,

Thanks for your very swift response.

Yes, someone installed this rigid liner when the oil furnace was installed in 2008 I suspect (makes the most sense).

I will do my research about the tee with a removable snout before I do anything else.

This hole was indeed used as a wood stove hole previously. I assume that a wood stove was installed previously, then removed and the new furnace and liner put in. You can see how it was set up here:



The hole that you see was there previously. It was mortared over, I simply removed it. Here is a shot from in between the chimney and the brick:



As you can see, there is nothing combustible nearby. This much I knew.

The fiberglass insulation was there to plug the hole. There is no insulation anywhere else in the chimney (that I could feel with my hands).

 

[begreen]

One thing to think about is whether the tee is capped right below the hole or if the pipe could be left extended to the basement with an end cap on it if there is a clean out there.

PS: How is the furnace going to vent?

 

[Jo191145]

Looks like they once had a pellet stove installed?

I see some problems.
One your hole is not 18" away from the ceiling. I can tell the ceiling is a different material but cannot tell if it's fireproofed and fireproofed correctly.
Just a dumb mason not a stovepipe expert. Insulated pipe might make that a non issue but how to connect to an uninsulated liner is a question.

Edit I was judging distance by brick coursing. On second look those are not standard bricks. Really don't know the distance from opening to ceiling. Check.

Secondly that gap between the brick and chimney should be solid masonry where the thimble should have gone through. Don't know much about pellet stoves, maybe it was possible to install one differently but not a woodstove which you plan on. Once again it's a question of what type of pipe could be connected safely or should a thimble and surrounding masonry be installed.

Third. Just how old is that chimney? Is there a clay flue running all the way up? Usually, here in New England when I see something crooked and parged/stuccoed up like that I know there's an old crumbling brick chimney underneath that someone is hiding. Usually no flue in it.

I might have suggested ditching the liner entirely and just using the masonry chimney but something tells me theres more problems to discover.

See some brown creosote streaks running down the chimney. Not a good thing to see.

It's not going to be as easy as you hoped. Might be a good idea to have a professional take a look. Get a quote ask opinions etc etc.
I'm not saying a homeowner can't do the job, just saying it might be wise to have someone tell you exactly what the job is.

And as begreen coyly suggested. That furnace cannot remain in the same insert
.