We want to add a wood burning stove to our bedroom/house wing. My wife thinks it best to go up from the stove, 90 through the wall, and 90 through the metal awning. I say a straight shot through the roof with a double walled pipe with no 90's, much less TWO.
Comments from anyone with experience appreciated.
Steve
Wall may be less prone to having the flashing leak. Outside in the cold, more prone to creosote buildup. The 90's may make it easier to open and clean though.
on 9/26/2011 5:35 PM (ET) Ed Pawlowski wrote the following:
I clean my flue pipe with a 24' chimney sweep kit. Straight run from the roof to the boiler in the basement. It doesn't make 90º turns though. What would you use to clean the level parts where most of the debris will sit?
"willshak" wrote
Dull putty knife works for me. Takes but a few minutes to disconnect, clean, reconnect the pipe. Four screws on the stove and pop it out of the thimble.
Heated an 1884 Victorian for 10 years, Steve. The pipe came out of the back of the stove (90ª #1), went up about 6' and turned (90ª #2) horizontal to and original thimble, into the flue (90ª #3), and never had a problem.
The good part was that the original flue dropped below the thimble into the basement where there was a clean out for the original (bricked up) fireplace.
Cleaning was simple. Every morning, I opened the ports on the stove and let 'er rip. After a short time, I could hear the creosote dropping into the trap. I followed this routine every evening at about dinner time.
I did have a chimney service clean the system once a year. Most of the crap had fallen into the old flue section below the thimble.
I know this is not a direct response to your query, but my point is that 90ª turns don't seem to hurt. Of course the masonry flue was over thirty feet tall and developed one heck of a draft. :-)
We burned about eight chords of hardwood a year.
__________________ Bill Waller New Eagle, PA
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Very dirty work though. Straight run puts all the debris inside the stove for easy pick up.
Harry K
Straight is always best if there are no other considerations. One thing in favor of straight. If you are using double or triple wall, you do away with two very expensive 90 els.
Harry K
I burned wood for 25 years or so.
I think your biggest variable is what kind of stove you have and what kind of wood you're burning. If you use an old *not* 'airtight' stove and don't just smolder it all day with green wood-- it won't matter what your flue does, there won't be any appreciable creosote.
If you have an airtight and burn green wood or burn slow all the time, those 90s will drip creosote that would just disappear into the stove with a straight run.
*My* stoves went into masonry chimneys after 2 90s - but I never had a bit of creosote. I always burned seasoned wood-- and burned a good hot fire once a day.That said-- even now that propane is costing me a tiny bit more for each BTU produced, it is still safer, easier and cheaper than wood in the long run. If I had enough free wood on the property I might be tempted to put a wood burner back in. . . . . nah- I've got better things to do with my time than fight with wood.
Jim
I've been heating with wood since, ummm, 1977. cut every stick of it (6 plus cords/year).
Yes, it causes a mess in the house. Yes, it is work but it keeps you in shape without having to buy a gymn membership.
Currently ending this cutting season by removing 2 old, dying Black Locust. Thinking I may quit cutting after that as I am approaching 80 at an very faster pace and am down to, at a max, 4 hours of that hard physical labor - don't get a lot done for each trip out.
Harry K
Going out then up IS a viable option, BUT, having said that, you want to keep your horizontal run as short as possible and it should have some upward slope to it. It would be better if this horizontal pipe was insulated also as to keep the internal temp of the pipe up as possible to prevent deposits. Straight out the top would be best. If you go out through the wall and up you should still use the insulated or triple wall pipe for the same reason even on the vertical.
glegroups.com...
That's what I keep telling my wife when she tells me to quit. "you've got enought wood" Too bad she's refering to the wood pile though. I do have over 40 cords of B. Locust - should last me about 6-7 years if I cut no more.
Harry K
You will get slightly higher heating efficiency if you keep most of the run within the interior so you get additional heat transfer and radiation from the pipe. Transition to insulated pipe as you get to the ceiling so the rest radiates better. Get a stove with sealed combustion and a ducted combustion air inlet fed from outdoors.
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