Wood Stove with 3" Rear Flue Collar?

[thechimneysweep]

This question was E-mailed to our website yesterday, and It has me stumped. Anybody on the forum have any idea what woodstove this person has? The only stoves I've ever seen with a 3" vent are pellet stoves.

"We purchased a woodburning stove online and received something not quite as described. The stove has a 3" opening in the back instead of the larger 6" top opening we expected. We went to a local store because no 3" chimney was available anywhere and they suggested to use 3" going to 6" heating duct as a converter. Since we had no experience with woodburning stoves we double checked and were reassured this would be safe and would work great. It did the job, but we found out it is definitely not safe. We went to another local store and they told us to run a 3" double walled chimney all the way up inside a 6" chimney. After purchasing all of those materials and starting a fire, we came to the conclusion that it is practically impossible to start a fire. Worse, if we actually start a fire the room fills up with smoke. We have now spent 4 times the amount of the cost of the stove on different chimneys and can still not use our stove. You guys seem to have more expertise on the subject than anybody we have talked to in the area. What would you suggest?
Thank you so much, Indra"

 

[Corey]

The only thing I can think of is that they are trying to burn wood in a pellet stove, or maybe it is an outside air inlet? I can't think of any true wood burning stove that would have a 3" flue.

If it were me, I would probably give them the standard admonishment about buying on line, how the stove sounds unsafe, and how it would be practiaclly impossible to diagnose the problem and recommend a solution through email. Then offer to send some qualified personell out at what ever the going rate is to analyse the situation and get things straightened out.

Be sure to take pics and post back as to what the heck is really going on!

Corey

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

some old sheephearder stoves had a three inch outlet, but usually 4" is more common. I have ran into that here. Sheephearder stoves typically arent listed for home use....

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I noticed you didn't say NEW woodburning stove. Could it be one of those old parlor stoves where you warm little more than your toes? My stew pot is larger than some of the old coal parlor stoves I've seen.

 

[Chopper]

I have a old " glo-fire " in my collection of stove trash that has a 4 inch opening but it is on top,but this thing is older than dirt!

 

[kevinmoelk]

Just curious where on-line the customer purchased the stove. That may be the first thing to check out. Send a link over Tom, if you find out.

-Kevin

 

[Mo Heat]

Wow, three inches?! Seems like the wood stove equivalent of drinking a thick malt through a soda straw.

Even this stove looks to have a 6" chimney, if you can call it a chimney. It's made of coffee cans. An interesting read, BTW. Maybe your emailer bought one of these with a chimney made from one pound coffee cans instead of the more common 3 lb'ers.

(broken link removed to http://www.motherearthnews.com/DIY/1977_November_December/How_to_Use_Wood_Stove_and_Use_Them_Safely_by_Ole_Wik)

 

[thechimneysweep]

I E-mailed Indra and asked where online she bought the stove and whether it is a manufactured stove or a homemade job. She hasn't responded, but if she does I'll post the info.

 

[thechimneysweep]

More info from Indra! Here's what she writes, and my response:

--------------------------------------------

It was a homemade ebay item with great reviews. I am trying to find more
info, but he no longer seems to be selling items. It was somebody out east.
I don't remember his name, but it was something like weldmaster or
steelmaster or something. I'll do some more research. It seems like pellet
stoves have some type of electrical blower which this stove does not have.
Pretty frustrating but it's nice to know somebody out there is helping us
figure this out.
Thanks again,
Indra

---------------------------------------------

Hi Indra,

Before a woodstove manufacturer can bring his products to market, each model must undergo safety testing in a UL-approved test lab. One of the things the lab checks out is whether a given firebox design / flue collar configuration will adequately exhaust the smoke. A prototype woodstove model that is submitted with a 6" flue collar is tested with 6" stovepipe and chimney: if the lab finds that exhaust backflow occurs, they will reject that flue size, and the manufacturer can resubmit the prototype with a larger flue collar, to be retested with larger stovepipe and chimney, until the minimum flue size for that firebox design is determined. With very few exceptions, the minimum woodstove flue size determined by this process ranges from 6" to 8".

Pellet stoves typically have 4" and even 3" flue collars, but, as you mention, pellet stoves have forced-air exhaust. Over the years, I have seen a couple of woodstoves that had 4" flue collars: these were designed to heat extremely small areas like boats or railroad cabooses, and had TINY fireboxes. I have never seen a woodstove with a 3" flue collar.

You don't mention the size of your stove, but if its firebox can hold more than about half of a cut-up Presto Log, you're probably going to have to resign yourself to the fact that a 3" flue collar is simply not going to provide enough cross-sectional area to adequately vent the exhaust (particularly in a rear vent configuration).

Not to pile it on here, but there are other issues you should be aware of. Most states have adopted Federal emissions regulations that don't allow installation of woodstoves unless they are EPA approved. Many code jurisdictions don't allow the installation of woodstoves that aren't UL listed. Some insurance companies will not honor any claims that result from unlisted woodstove installations, and can even use the unlisted stove as grounds to cancel your policy.

In your original post, you asked what I would suggest, so here you go: if you can't get the seller to refund your money, take that poorly designed and potentially dangerous smoke dragon to your local metal recycler, and replace it with a UL listed, EPA approved model.

 

[kevinmoelk]

Poor Indra, I feel for her. But one must do their research. Hopefully she didn't pay too much money for the stove.

Does E-bay have any rules against selling things that are illegal? I see unlisted stoves all the time, but if this guy is a manufacturing new stoves, he should know better. Building your own stove... okay, lots of considerations, but selling it to someone else is a whole different bag of worms in my opinion.

Good e-mail in response Tom.

Also, do you happen to have a picture of this stove?

-Kevin