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.