# Thinking of swapping from pellet to propane, can I use the same exhaust location?



## movemaine (Oct 14, 2019)

Moved into a new house that has a Breckwell Big E pellet stove in the living room. In our prior home, we had a Harman pellet insert in the den. The Harman was great, relatively quiet and it wasn't right in the middle of the living space creating noise. The Big E is huge and loud. Because it's right in the middle of the smallish living room, I'm thinking of swapping it for a propane stove.

My question is, can I use the same exhaust location to prevent having to cut a different hole in the side of my house? Pellet stove exhaust locations tend to be low on the wall and can hide behind the stove. All of the propanes I've seen tend to be vertical.


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## festerw (Oct 14, 2019)

You'll need a direct vent stove to work with what you've got.


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## jsiets (Oct 15, 2019)

with a gas stove especially on propane i would highly recomend getting some rise off the stove for performance and flame appearance


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## Tech Guru (Oct 15, 2019)

Not likely if your current pellet stove goes out the back and through the wall.  You are correct, they are all much lower on a pellet stove than on a typical rear vented gas fireplace.  And with gas venting (as DV pipe is typically 6 5/8" to 8" outer diameter), you most definitely have to enlarge the hole, even if it were usable.


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## movemaine (Oct 17, 2019)

Tech Guru said:


> Not likely if your current pellet stove goes out the back and through the wall.  You are correct, they are all much lower on a pellet stove than on a typical rear vented gas fireplace.  And with gas venting (as DV pipe is typically 6 5/8" to 8" outer diameter), you most definitely have to enlarge the hole, even if it were usable.



Do any propane direct vents have combustion blowers or are they all dependent on convection to remove combustion byproducts?


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## jsiets (Oct 18, 2019)

None that i am aware of I would suggest just patching the hole shut and relocating it.


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## Tech Guru (Oct 25, 2019)

Well, there are power vented Direct Vent fireplaces (not Freestanding stoves) that could be used, and that would allow a downward run in the vent system.  But for one, that adds a huge amount of cost to a unit, and renders it incapable of working during a power failure (saving genny backup).  All just to try and use the existing hole?  It would be far less expense and trouble to simply patch the existing and make a new hole.  Plus, as I forget to mention, pellet vent holes are typically much smaller than what a gas DV needs, so in reality, even if you found a unit that could use the existing hole, you'd still have to make it bigger.


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