Wood burning stove...

[DKAudio]

I want to get a wood burning stove to help with rising natural gas heating costs (plus I like the coziness feel of fire heating). The unit will most likely be used and bought from craigslist.

How would I go about venting the unit for temperary service in the winter? I have double hung windows and was thinking I could somehow run the stack out either the bottom or top sash and seal it with some type of fire and heat insulation.

Any ideas? I want this to be pretty simple and have the ability to move the unit in my shed for storage in summer.

Finally, how do blowers work without getting smoke/debris in the house?

Thanks

[HayZee518]

OK, first thing to do is check with your building department if they allow wood stoves in your jurisdiction. If its all clear with them, get a wall thimble. this has a double wall so that cool air circulates around the exhaust pipe without introducing the cold air to your heated space. get a piece of plywood and cut a hole for the wall thimble. better yet get two pieces of plywood, one to fit just under the sill inside and the other piece to give your thimble something to hang onto outside. put a damper in your vertical pipe, elbow the vertical out to the thimble, go through the thimble to a T. Support the T with steel angle iron, leave the bottom part of the tee open so air can get inside and up. extend the top of the tee to above your roof line and place a weatherproofing cap on it. use guys to steady the vertical pipe and stoke away!

[pushkins]

I'm looking at getting a pellet stove, the pellets are cheap (ish), are slow burning, they burn hot and best of all made from all recycled products like corn husks etc...

[HayZee518]

I got a pot bellied stove like they used to have in the old cabooses on trains. I burn anthracite coal. pound for pound they have the highest Btu rating. It burns with less flyash than bituminous coal and has a lower sulphur content than anthracite. It's hard to start but last winter my in side temp was 92 in a 25 below zero outside situation.

[DKAudio]

Thanks, I was thinking about doing the thimble thing. Since this would probably not be a kosher way to install (i.e. not going through the ceiling and roof), I would only run it while home and use my natural gas furnace otherwise.

With the 2 pieces of plywood you are saying to make a "fake wall" to act how the thimble would normally mount, right?

Check my diagram to make sure it is proper with what you are saying...

I got a pot bellied stove like they used to have in the old cabooses on trains. I burn anthracite coal. pound for pound they have the highest Btu rating. It burns with less flyash than bituminous coal and has a lower sulphur content than anthracite. It's hard to start but last winter my in side temp was 92 in a 25 below zero outside situation.

that is impressive. I have fairly good access to wood but I am going to check out those pellets too. A wood burning stove can use pellets for fuel, right? A little potbelly would be perfect but I found this...
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Opinions? I know harbor freight doesn't have the greatest quality products but keep in mind this would just be suplimented to my furnace. Know of any sites to get the venting products cheap or are they cheap enough at big box? Do I need to get double walled pipe or just simple galvanized pipe?

Thanks
Dan

[HayZee518]

yeah your diagram is about right but instead of using an angled pipe from your wood stove to the thimble make it a ninety degree turn from vertical. a damper controls the fire easier at about two foot up from the firebox. that vogelzang stove is neat. my pot bellied is also from harbor freight. I paid $319 for mine. Pellet stoves are good too if you can justify paying $1500 for a self stoker furnace.

[DKAudio]

Check this one out...


I am out of town until thursday but I called the guy, only $30! It is pretty small though, around 27" high and 12" diameter, exhaust is 6". Also said it only weighs around 35lbs.

I am going to go for it though, hopefully it isn't sold when I get back.

This will probably sound stupid but how do you operate a wood burning stove. I realize the exhaust damper will let more air flow and go through the wood quicker but that should make it hotter too, right? Is there a common practice to lighting and stoking for heating a home?

Thanks

[HayZee518]

use newspaper to start pencil thin pieces of kindling and gradually increase the kindling size to about 1 inch square pieces. use a softwood like pine or birch. get a good bed of softwood coals going then switch to a hardwood like oak or maple. increase the log diameter up to four or five inches. don't let the stack temperature get higher than 525. at 275 you're gonna make creosote which is dangerous in a woodstove stack. use the damper to control the exhaust and retain the heat in the firebox. use the draft control to vary the air entering the woodstove. wood needs air "over" the firebox, not from underneath as in a coalstove. as the wood burns down ocassionally shake the grate to move the ashes down.

[Hube]

one item that has been overlooked is; make sure the stove, piping,venting,etc are all accepted by your FIRE INSURANCE POLICY.

[adnadeau]

You didn't say how big your house was. For a "normal" sized house, I would stay away from the stove in your picture. You'll be doing a lot of cutting & splitting to get wood down to that size. I would recommend a stove that takes at least a 24" log; most firewood you buy comes that size if you don't cut it yourself.

The diagram of your proposed chimney shows an open Tee on the outside. Stick a 6" diam. tomato can on that for a cleanout. If you're using plain steel flue pipe, it will gum up pretty quickly because it will stay cold if the stove is damped down much. Check out some of the wood-burning web sites for the NFPA recommended clearances from combustible materials.

[DKAudio]

House is a rambler with full basement (some parts unfinished). 1,024 sq feet on main floor. There really isn't a good place to put the stove because all the rooms in the house are pretty small and closed off, that is why I want a smaller one.

I'm going to talk to my insurance agent and find out what their policy is. The city I live in alows them but they require a "wood burning permit".

Anyone know what common clearances are needed around the stove, I found many different answers.

[HayZee518]

COMBUSTIBLE MATERIAL?The standard clearance for appliances installed in rooms which are large in comparison to the size of the appliance is 36 inches from the top, sizes, back or front of the appliance. Otherwise, install according to the manufacturer's instructions.
HOW HIGH SHOULD A CHIMNEY BE?

It should extend at least three feet above the highest point where it passes through the roof. It should be two feet higher than anything within a 10-foot radius, including the roof itself, overhanging trees, adjacent buildings, etc.
DOES A STOVEPIPE NEED SPECIAL CLEARANCE TO COMBUSTIBLES?

Yes. Clearance should be three times the diameter of the pipe, e.g., a 6-inch pipe needs 18 inches of clearance. Heat shields may be used to reduce the clearance by the same ratio as for the stove. For example, with sheet metal you can reduce the clearance by two-thirds, from 18 inches to 6 inches.

[DKAudio]

I got it, took the pictures in the front seat of my car so it may look a little strange. The unit was converted to an electric heater. There are 2 small holes drilled in the back for on/off and fan speed. There is a light bulb inside and a wire heating element.

There are 2 vents, one in the door and the other in the bottom. The bottom chamber has a metal vent plate underneath, kind of like a floor register, there is no seperation between the fire chamber and the bottom vent chamber.

The top has a 6" removable disk (shown with me holding it) and then an open ob-long vent with a metal grate to catch big chunks (I assume).

Any opinions? I know I will need to block the holes in the back, I thought I could use electrical knock-out covers, the kind that screws very tight. I assume the fire chamber and bottom vent chamber should be seperated by something, any ideas? What about the removeable plate and ob-long vent?

[DKAudio]

Bump, still looking for help on this one.

Thanks

[HayZee518]

boy they did a job on that pot bellied stove! In a few days I'll take some pix of my stove along with the bottom shaker grate if you intend to burn coal in it. you really should use some kind of cast iron plugs in it. that cast iron when burning coal gets a dull cherry red when its fired up, enough to melt steel. that perforated screen they got has to come out if you fire it from the top otherwise you do it from the front door. the door damper needs a rotating aperture plate, the ash door needs a sliding aperture plate for adjusting bottom draft. you'll need to fabricate an ash chute for the bottom. 22 ga sheet metal will do.