Re: Seeking help, materials or advice on rennovating an out of commission woods stove
I have lots of experience heating with wood and have studied heating systems extensively. I aim for low wood
consumption, clean combustion, safety, and comfort. Sounds like a great project and potential for
renewable heating from our tree friends. There are some basics of wood heating to consider before
designing a system.
Starting with safety: any cracks or holes in a stove or pipe may potentially emit deadly carbon monoxide
which is odorless. A rusty stove should be scraped to check for holes. The exhaust should not be rusty and be
appropriate diameter for the stove, well supported, long enough to draw well, and insulated on the
section outside which should rise above the peak of the roof. If you live in a building code enforced county
the there are guidelines that help install a safe exhaust and distances from walls. Insurance companies
may check for code compliance. Fire-rated insulated fixtures are used to penetrate the ceiling and roof.
I found a competent builder to help me install ours. Stove pipes can get red hot if a stove air damper is left
open or a creosote fire ignites in the exhaust. Keep the
pipe the recommended distance from anything flammable. Burn dry seasoned wood to reduce creosote
Don't use ducting pipe, stovepipe is thicker gauge steel than ducting and holds up much better. The
straighter the exhaust the more draw, ease of fire starting, and less smoke escaping when the door is
opened. However, I have used several stoves with exhaust exiting through the wall that worked OK but ash
can build up in a exhaust pipe that is not vertical.
People have used clay/sand mixture as refractory mortar to make stove exhausts components and fabricate
custom systems such as cob rocket mass heaters. Perlite is also a non flammable insulator but is also a
conductor so will heat anything it is in contact with. Air is one of the best non conductive insulators. A
pipe within a pipe and perhaps even a third pipe has been often used. Many systems use insulated stovepipe
from near the stove all the way through the roof. The goal is to maintain hot exhaust in order to increase
draw and prevent condensation of flammable creosote in the pipe. However, heat may be wasted with this
setup. Another method is to burn a hot fire and install several Magic Heat heat recovery units in the
exhaust which exits through insulated stovepipe. With this system
a more complete combustion occurs with a hot fire but the heat is recovered before exiting. The fire burns
out faster and needs to be monitored more but is more
efficient in my opinion than the damped down slow combustion strategy of popular myth.
Sent from my iPad
On Sep 13, 2011, at 1:29 PM, Stephanie Colombo <st.colombo@...> wrote:
I am currently a tenent at a ramshackle but lovely cabin in the woods on the edge of someone's property. The
cabin was built by someone else in a loft model with two floors and a skylight/attic. It has a few started if
left unfinished ammenitites. The most daunting task will be to fix the woodstove which is not yet
functioning. The base of the stove is there, the box rusty and there is no flue/stove pipe. There is hole cut
through to the 2nd floor and a place to cut through the aluminum roof for the chimney to exit. My primary
questions are:
- how rusty can a woods stove be to still be usable?
- can the stovepipe/flue be built of found piping metals or must the metals be a galvanized steel or some
particular grade of metal?
- how can one make a double-layered chimney flue?
- how far should all burnable materials be from the edge of the stovepipe?
- how hot can a stovepipe get and what are the exploding hazards?
I thought it would be a lofty (pun intended) but fun fix up to try and make livable in the winter. I really don't
think I'll live in the winter, but I would like to get through October potentially. Is there a way to make
this workable, or create another heat source that makes this a place that can be slept in?
Any chimney or wood stove people in the house?
--
Sincerely,
Stephanie Colombo
321-331-3719
_______________________________________________
FingerLakesPermaculture mailing list
FingerLakesPermaculture@...
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/fingerlakespermaculture
Visit http://FLXpermaculture.Net to manage your subscription.
I have lots of experience heating with wood and have studied heating systems extensively. I aim for low wood
consumption, clean combustion, safety, and comfort. Sounds like a great project and potential for
renewable heating from our tree friends. There are some basics of wood heating to consider before
designing a system.
Starting with safety: any cracks or holes in a stove or pipe may potentially emit deadly carbon monoxide
which is odorless. A rusty stove should be scraped to check for holes. The exhaust should not be rusty and be
appropriate diameter for the stove, well supported, long enough to draw well, and insulated on the
section outside which should rise above the peak of the roof. If you live in a building code enforced county
the there are guidelines that help install a safe exhaust and distances from walls. Insurance companies
may check for code compliance. Fire-rated insulated fixtures are used to penetrate the ceiling and roof.
I found a competent builder to help me install ours. Stove pipes can get red hot if a stove air damper is left
open or a creosote fire ignites in the exhaust. Keep the
pipe the recommended distance from anything flammable. Burn dry seasoned wood to reduce creosote
Don't use ducting pipe, stovepipe is thicker gauge steel than ducting and holds up much better. The
straighter the exhaust the more draw, ease of fire starting, and less smoke escaping when the door is
opened. However, I have used several stoves with exhaust exiting through the wall that worked OK but ash
can build up in a exhaust pipe that is not vertical.
People have used clay/sand mixture as refractory mortar to make stove exhausts components and fabricate
custom systems such as cob rocket mass heaters. Perlite is also a non flammable insulator but is also a
conductor so will heat anything it is in contact with. Air is one of the best non conductive insulators. A
pipe within a pipe and perhaps even a third pipe has been often used. Many systems use insulated stovepipe
from near the stove all the way through the roof. The goal is to maintain hot exhaust in order to increase
draw and prevent condensation of flammable creosote in the pipe. However, heat may be wasted with this
setup. Another method is to burn a hot fire and install several Magic Heat heat recovery units in the
exhaust which exits through insulated stovepipe. With this system
a more complete combustion occurs with a hot fire but the heat is recovered before exiting. The fire burns
out faster and needs to be monitored more but is more
efficient in my opinion than the damped down slow combustion strategy of popular myth.
Sent from my iPad
On Sep 13, 2011, at 1:29 PM, Stephanie Colombo <st.colombo@...> wrote:
I am currently a tenent at a ramshackle but lovely cabin in the woods on the edge of someone's property. The
cabin was built by someone else in a loft model with two floors and a skylight/attic. It has a few started if
left unfinished ammenitites. The most daunting task will be to fix the woodstove which is not yet
functioning. The base of the stove is there, the box rusty and there is no flue/stove pipe. There is hole cut
through to the 2nd floor and a place to cut through the aluminum roof for the chimney to exit. My primary
questions are:
- how rusty can a woods stove be to still be usable?
- can the stovepipe/flue be built of found piping metals or must the metals be a galvanized steel or some
particular grade of metal?
- how can one make a double-layered chimney flue?
- how far should all burnable materials be from the edge of the stovepipe?
- how hot can a stovepipe get and what are the exploding hazards?
I thought it would be a lofty (pun intended) but fun fix up to try and make livable in the winter. I really don't
think I'll live in the winter, but I would like to get through October potentially. Is there a way to make
this workable, or create another heat source that makes this a place that can be slept in?
Any chimney or wood stove people in the house?
--
--
Sincerely,
Stephanie Colombo
321-331-3719
_______________________________________________
FingerLakesPermaculture mailing list
FingerLakesPermaculture@...
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/fingerlakespermaculture
Visit http://FLXpermaculture.Net to manage your subscription.
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