New Wood Burning Stove in a Wooden House. Installation Tips Requested

Can't say what your local codes call for. In USA NFPA calls for 18 inch clearance around the stove pipe unless an approved double wall pipe is used. Which then they will allow 9 inches of clearance.

Hello r&d,

Did you receive any factory documents with the stove? These documents usually have minimum clearances listed based on lab testing of the stove.

As far as the flue pass through, there are units manufactured specifically for this purpose.

Try this link, there appears to be many useful sites.

I live in a log home and have a wood pellet stove, I did the install myself and have never had a problem.

You mentioned a sheet of iron under your stove. My concern would be transfer of heat to the floor via this iron sheet. I used something similar to this on mine.

And of course, keeping a fire extinguisher close by in an inconspicuous place is always good insurance.

Hope this helps - Good Luck

Hello KJK, thanks for your tips! As a 90% of houses are built in bricks, no one has a clue on how to do the job! I don´t know if there are regulations for that. The manufacturer of the stove sells the pipes and also a pass trough like seen in your picture. As to the iron sheet, i was not explicit enough, but: 1. the stove´s combustion chamber has a clearance of about 1 ft to the floor, 2. I had in mind to place a piece of insulating material (looks like a cardboard and replaces asbestos) between the floor and the sheet.

Thank you again!

Bends are not a good idea and can lead to chimney fires due to creosote gathering at low points. If possible, do a straight run through the roof.

Like KJK said, get the fitting for your transition to outside. Stuffing insulation around the hole doesn't sound like a good idea.

I live in a wood framed house also. I went as far as to remove the wood studs from the walls, replaced with metal studs, followed with concrete board, then tile. If you can keep it away from walls, all of that won't be necessary. Let me know if I can be of help during the installation process.

Sweet installation!!!

Thanks man! We sleep upstairs. The heat from that baby keeps us warm all night long. Since I put that stove in, I think I've run the furnace maybe 3 times in the past 6-7 years.

Doesn't the house get smoky when you have a fire?

only if it is ON FIRE!

I open the windows and use the attic fan to get rid of the smoke.

To the OP: I don't know if they have a presence where you are, but this company has great products. I went with the triple walled, insulated, life time warranty, chimney system for my stove. You may not need that. Mine goes through an interior chase, through the second floor, and then through an attic before going through the roof.

I ordered everything I needed from them online and it was delivered to the door.

I will do the reading! The stove I have purchased has an enclosure in all 5 sides (the front is of glass) to prevent heat transmission. Unfortunately my house has 2 fllors, so I cannot get straight up with the pipe! If I do all you suggested (metal poles, etc) my wife will kill me!; so I am evaluating a B Plan that is safe enough to use this stove every now and then.

Mine has 2 floors too. The stove is downstairs. It took me a while, but I came up with a system that kept the wife happy.

There are even ways to penetrate the floor, run a section of double walled pipe on the second floor that gives off heat, and then continue through the roof. Going out the side of your house, you're still going to have to make a run upward to 3' above your roof line.

This site is a good starter. I researched for a month before undertaking the project. Your wife will really be mad if you burn down the house.

Your best insulator against heat transfer is air space. There will not be much heat transfer to the floor, but a sheet of iron will transfer heat to the floor. Use stone or tile or other approved heat shields, raised if possible. The main heat shielding needed will be the wall(s) around the stove. The manufacturer will have the specs on clearances, but, again, stone or tile is a much more effective heat sink than iron. When I build tile/stone heat shields, I use concrete board (hardi-board) with stand-offs from the surrounding wall (air gap) and mortar the tile or stone on the concrete board.

When you pass through your wall there is appropriate collars which make the transition from double wall pipe to triple walled asbestos pipe. For a 6" diameter pipe the opening is about 14". If you can't go straight through the roof, for the sake of maintenance use 90° tees with a clean-out plug for sweeping the pipe. Also, be aware of chimney clearance on the roof-top. Typically 3 feet of vertical clearance is required for anything within 10 feet.

Thanks a lot for your tips. The only thing that makes me a bit nervous is that you live in BURNED RANCH! I have thought to go trough the wall with 2 curves at 45º each: isn´t that better than 2 x 90º???

GA for a really well thought out post.

You only forgot to mention the dangers of a small explosion when burning too slowly and you open the door in the stove to add extra wood......many get burnt badly in this way........every year.

I would recommend pellets for a safer way of burning wood.

Here is a video of a really mild one:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbtta2w1P9I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O88ztYPAXp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPOPtSeGrBg

My question to the OP is, do you have

Hi Andy, you are right about the risk of explosions! Great Videos! The manual of my stove recommends to fully open the air inlet for some minutes before opening the stove´s door to prevent these explosions.

Although you can get pellets here, they are not very common and price is by far much higher than for good quality wood. Vielen Dank!

GA + !

In your area there should be government regulations covering installation. A copy of these should be available where you bought the slow combustion wood heater.

These regulations will cover:

Acceptable hearth materials,

Hearth size,

Distance from walls,

Wall Materials,

flue construction and installation (generally triple skin minimum where it passes through ceilings, walls, upstairs floor, roof etc.).

In my experience a straight vertical flue is always preferable because there will be less creosote build up and it is much easier cleaned - as flakes of creosote break loose they fall into the firebox and are re-burned rather than accumulating at a bend.

Chimney fires are not a pleasant experience - one of my cousins lost his house to one!

Hi, greetings from the same hemisphere! As I said, brick / stone construction are the most popular in Argentina, and only shacks are built using wood. so, as far as regulations.... Anyhow, I will ask my insurance company to see what they have to comply with their regulations (just in case ! ) The manual of the stove has a brief tutorial of do´s and dont´s and I will follow their instructions. They recommend to use their "installation kit" consisting of 6 meters of pipe, one pass trough, and the (here we call it "hat") that goes at the top of the fumes pipe. Their "pass trough" is double skin, so I will have an extra skin made by an iron smith. Unfortunately I will not be able to avoid a 90º bend cause I cannot go straight up with the duct. The manufacturer has a customer service, so I will call them asking for advise. Many years ago I experienced a chimney fire and agree with you that it is a very unpleasant experience! It happened in a cabin I rented at a ski resort: suddenly we heard a howling noise along with an intense vibration. That was probably one of my clever days: so, instead of trying to put the fire off with an extinguisher, I just choked the fire by placing a thick piece of plywood (accidentally at hand) in front of the fireplace´s opening. In a few minutes the creosote stopped burning inside the pipe... Thank you a lot for sharing your experience!

If you have to have a bend, 90 Deg are worst - avoid, if at all possible, horizontal runs of flue. If you can manage it, a pair of 45 Deg bends would be far better - the wall penetrations are a little more tricky, but still doable - pitched ceilings have angled penetrations, so they are available.

I whole heartedly recommend using the metalbestos, by selkirk, chimney piping through the roof.

I have had 2- 30 foot runs of this flue pipe for the past 12 years with out any problem at all.

It's a bit more expensive, but the peace of mind is well worth it. The flue does a really good job of channeling the heat and clearance requirements are not as great. Not that I took any chances by reducing them much. I just like the safety margin.

It looks great as well. About 12' of each run is exposed as it leaves the wall and runs up through to the vaulted ceiling. I used the shiny stainless steel version.

Yes, you are right, but a house without a fireplace is not a home....

The Stainless Steel Double-Wall shown on #2 is the best I have ever used. It's kind of pricey, but it does a great job of insulating from flammable materials. It's cheaper than constantly worrying whether what you put in will do the job or not, or going through the hassle of rebuilding.

Something you might want to remember too is the areas around the front of the stove where the door opens. Here in Kansas we burn a lot of Hedge (Osage Orange) wood. It can pop quite a distance when it is disturbed after burning for awhile. So make sure you have a surface that won't mar if it gets some ash or sparks on it.

My wife loves the wood heat because of it's high discharge/radiating temp. Her Gpa and Gma had a gas fired floor furnace in their house and she used to love sitting close to that.

If you can use a couple of shorter degree angles to get the offset you need that allows the heat to move with less restriction.

Ah now. You want http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/ especially if you think Engineers can be a little.... obsessive about detail.

Use a "Insulated Thimble" to go through your wooded wall. This "thimble" will prevent your wall from catching on fire. Check out insul-flue wall thimble on the internet. I had one installed in my camp in Maine and have yet to burn the place down.