Chimney/Woodburning Stove
OK, this is for you hardcore chimney/fireplace people. We would like to figure out what it would take to have a small wood burning stove working in our living room fireplace. There are many complications. Issue # 1 — Just look at our fireplace. It is not only all bricked and cemented up on a…
OK, this is for you hardcore chimney/fireplace people. We would like to figure out what it would take to have a small wood burning stove working in our living room fireplace. There are many complications.
Issue # 1 — Just look at our fireplace. It is not only all bricked and cemented up on a weird angle, it seems to have had small holes for pot bellied stove flues or something back in its working days.
Issue # 2 — the chimney brick work was actually crumbling on the roof and the top floor (finished attic), so back when we renovated, we capped it below the top floor, rather than spend money rebuildinhg it. There is simply no chimney at all above the bedroom floor.
Issue # 3 – we have a 32″ wide alley on the chimney side of the house. Perhaps that can be useful in some way.
So, what is the best way to make this happen (if at all)? What kind of flue needs to be run? What kind of chimney work needs to be done? Can we circumvent the top floor by running the flue outside at that point? What needs to encase the flue (inside or out? What is this all going to run? You get the idea? Is this project doable, by whom and for how much? Recommendations for a wood stove? Please don’t just suggest that I bring in a contractor and ask him these questions. I want to have a bit of vision/knowledge myself before I do that.
Bonus question for Donatella — do you think Manny can do this kind of job?
Thanks, everyone.
There are many solutions of fireplaces. Bio ethanol fireplace is more comfortable, you don’t have to smell choking smoke and remove the ashes. Check the following site http://www.planikausa.com/ this company is producing pretty good ethanol fireplaces.
A week ago, I installed a Jotul F3 cast iron wood burning stove in my garden floor kitchen. It’s airtight and EPA certified, so it’s efficient and burns less wood with less emissions. We’d had the flues relined with stainless steel liner prior to this when restoring the FP upstairs. There are separate flues for the FP and the stove. Manny did the relining work and restored the FP upstairs a year ago.
I feel that you have more options with a wood/ gas stove than with an FP. You won’t have to have the firebox rebuilt and can keep it the way it is. FPs are open, so the smoke can easily backdraft if the flues / firebox are not accurately built. With stoves, the gases have mainly one way to go. Woodstoves generally use a 6″ dia flue and at the point where your chimney ends, you could run double wall pipe from outside to the roof. That would work, IMHO and would be a shorter run than running double wall pipe from top to bottom. It really helps to keep most of your flue inside the house, so that it is warm and drafts better. Whn picking someone to do the work, make sure that they have experience with wood stove installation (as well as FP) since there are some important aspects, especially in how the stove pipe is run to the chimney, etc.
As far as esthetics, the stove has a smaller fire (since we’d be heated out of the room if we used a really large stove with a roaring fire), but it has an ambience too. And it heats much better than the FP upstairs using less wood. Besides the Jotul F3 allows you to keep the door open and use a firescreen which is then like a fireplace. How large is the space you intend to install the wood stove in? Also look at fireplace inserts. Again, no rebuilding, just relining. And if all else fails, look at gel fireplaces. Great ambience, no heat.
I recently had a LOT of chimney work done: new flues, rebuilt chimney, several many thousands of dollars worth. A good chimney company has the experience and staff to do all the work, and do it properly. I would never job this out to a contractor or a bunch of subs. I used Big Apple Chimney and absolutely recommend them. They will give an on-site, free estimate. Others on this site have used A&A, and
also recommended them highly. The checklist posted is pretty comprehensive, but IMO, most of your questions can only be answered on-site, and new questions will be generated as the result of a walk-through. Since you’ve previously run a new flue from your boiler, you already have experience with cost and many aspects of the work. Clearly, you’ll work this through in the way you feel most comfortable. From my perspective, you’ll be able to figure it out better AFTER you have more than one company take a look. We have a small woodstove in a cabin upstate. The heat output is HUGE—much more than I’d want in a city kitchen (or any other room of a city building), producing heat that lasts for hours. They’re designed for function, far more than aesthetics (i.e. a woodstove WON’T give you the feel of a crackling fire). If you want a fire you can gather around, I strongly recommend either rebuilding your chimney and firebox or going the ethanol route.
Thanks, everyone. Not to worry, vinca, boiler chimney line is in the back. We ran a whole new lining up the boiler flue to the roof. Everything to code and signed off. We have already assumed or know your (1), (2) and (5) and I am pretty sure we are not properly lined (3).
I know this is a case of extreme makeover, chimney edition, but given the circumstances, I am just looking for some help thinking through the options so that if we decide at some point to do this, I can engage more knowledfgeably with contractors.
eman, you may be right about the gas heater.
Slopefarm, sorry to disappoint, but I think an on-site chimney guy is your best bet for an assessment of condition and cost, AND the good ones recommended on this site will do that free or at relatively minimal cost. 1) Highly unlikely that your existing brick and mortar is fire-rated. 2) You’ve already certified that you’ve reduced the run of your chimney, making it unsafe to exhaust properly. 3) Is or isn’t your existing chimney lined, or is it only brick and mortar, pervious to combustion gases, and therefore a health threat to you AND your neighbors.
4) If the chimney you capped is the same one carrying the flue from your boiler, you’ve already got a hazardous condition. 5) There’s no way you can safely burn a fire with your current firebox configuration. There was a brief chimney video ending a recent episode of This Old House—maybe you can find it online.
For a good checklist, see: http://www.oldhousejournal.com/Chimney_Checklist/magazine/1017
For stoves, take a look at: http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category_6970_122
http://www.vermontcastings.com/index.cfm
For ethanol fireplaces, see:
http://www.heater-store.com/ethanol_heaters_33_ctg.htm
You might or might not want to purchase from vendors above, but you’ll get to see a lot of what’s on the market by visiting their sites.
i just remembered what hole punch must be from…25 years ago when i lived in the east village there were still tenement apartments heated by gas fired floor standing space heaters…they had the same sort of details..
that looks like the detail was a gas burning fireplace…the flue size is probably way too small for a wood burning fireplace, but might qualify for a wood burning stove.. never installed one of those, but did do a couple of prefab woodburning fireplace installations in penthouse manhattan lofts, and the code was double wall stainless steel duct in the range of 12-14 inches..more expensive than god..you can also use the link below for basic info http://hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/installing_a_woodstove