# getting the most out of an orley



## area_man (Dec 24, 2013)

Gents,
I have an older Orley an will have to live with it for a few years.  Its installed slammer style on an exterior chimney.  Will installing an insulated liner make it more efficient?  Would adding firebricks make it slow down?  It tears through wood like crazy!

Can I use pine/fir needles (once dry) as tinder?


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## begreen (Dec 24, 2013)

Is there a state exchange program in OR? A clean burning modern stove is the answer to the questions.


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## area_man (Dec 25, 2013)

begreen said:


> Is there a state exchange program in OR? A clean burning modern stove is the answer to the questions.



There was one, but it's over with now.  There is a tax credit I could qualify for, but it's not in the financial cards to do that right now.  The best I can do is get what I have squared away as best I can.  I would like to install secondary burn tubes if I could.  I haven't found any yet.  There are a couple of companies that make cats for Orleys, I'll have to check into those after Christmas.
I don't see the point in putting in a mediocre insert now when I could barely scrape it together when I'll be in a good position to get what I really want in a couple of years.


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## 930dreamer (Dec 25, 2013)

A salvage business in Albuquerque, NM has a floor model Orley, that stove puts out some serious heat. I'd use the stove until I could buy another one.


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## rwhite (Dec 25, 2013)

930dreamer said:


> A salvage business in Albuquerque, NM has a floor model Orley, that stove puts out some serious heat. I'd use the stove until I could buy another one.


 
They are a big stove but it still shouldn't be tearing thorugh the wood. Is there a damper on the stove? Some pics may be helpful.  I have never seen an orley insert. Seen a lot that were set up as a hearth stove though. A liner will definately make it safer ( I personally wouldn't run a stove without one) but I doubt it will slow it down. In fact a better draft is liable to make it burn more. At a minimum for safety I would do a direct connect liner. Not the safest but is considered acceptable in most areas.


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## area_man (Dec 26, 2013)

It's a hearth stove, you've probably seen it.  Oh, it puts out the heat.  If I could circulate the air in my house better it would be amazing.  As it is, the basement room that it's in gets cooking and so does my bedroom, but my kids' bedrooms don't really benefit much.  Too hot for me, too cold for them.  I'm going to see about putting in cold air returns in their rooms and one in the upstairs living room/kitchen area.  

The stove has been installed in this house slammer style for 30 years and I just had the chimney cleaned so we'll make it through the year somehow.  I can probably swing getting a 6" insulated pipe in the chimney, but after that I don't think we have the money for a new stove.  Frankly, if I can improve it I want to keep it.  I've checked out the offerings that are available and I don't think I can set up another stove as a hearth.  The orley's a barrel style that's wider than it is deep so it sits right on the sweet spot for the way the hearth and chimney are constructed.  Everything else is too tall or too long to fit.  I'd have to switch to an insert and those don't throw out the heat the way this one does.  There are bolt-on combustors and cats, and if I can figure out what secondary tubes are and how to get some installed I'd be a lot closer to EPA type efficiency.  As it is, I get almost zero smoke out the chimney.

Putting a box fan on the stairs is a deal breaker.  I've already tripped over the fan once, and it's a long way down.  Since we have toddlers who don't listen, I am getting a door installed at the top of the stairs.  That's going to mess everything up for air flow.  I'll make it a dutch so the air can get out the top half, but cold air return is going to be a pain.  There's just no way I want to take a chance on my daughters winding up with their hand stuck to a 700 degree stove, safety is more important than comfort.  

I'm still learning how to burn it.  This year is much better than last year, but the wood's also had another year to dry.


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## Dustin (Dec 26, 2013)

area_man said:


> It's a hearth stove, you've probably seen it.  Oh, it puts out the heat.  If I could circulate the air in my house better it would be amazing.  As it is, the basement room that it's in gets cooking and so does my bedroom, but my kids' bedrooms don't really benefit much.  Too hot for me, too cold for them.  I'm going to see about putting in cold air returns in their rooms and one in the upstairs living room/kitchen area.
> 
> The stove has been installed in this house slammer style for 30 years and I just had the chimney cleaned so we'll make it through the year somehow.  I can probably swing getting a 6" insulated pipe in the chimney, but after that I don't think we have the money for a new stove.  Frankly, if I can improve it I want to keep it.  I've checked out the offerings that are available and I don't think I can set up another stove as a hearth.  The orley's a barrel style that's wider than it is deep so it sits right on the sweet spot for the way the hearth and chimney are constructed.  Everything else is too tall or too long to fit.  I'd have to switch to an insert and those don't throw out the heat the way this one does.  There are bolt-on combustors and cats, and if I can figure out what secondary tubes are and how to get some installed I'd be a lot closer to EPA type efficiency.  As it is, I get almost zero smoke out the chimney.
> 
> ...




So, I'm lost. 

When I think of a "slammer" I imagine an insert placed in a fireplace with no pipe / liner ect.

But, I'm having a hard time visioning a free standing hearth stove as a slammer. Is there pipe running into the fireplace somehow? Up to the first flue tile? Is the stove sitting inside the fireplace? 

And welcome, to another Oregonian!


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## area_man (Dec 26, 2013)

The fireplace is blocked off with a plate, and a pipe from the stove runs through the plate into the fireplace.  I'm probably not using the terms right, I'm new to burning wood and having a fireplace and all that.  The stove sits on the hearth.  If you give me a minute I'll find the pics I posted earlier when I was trying to figure out what it was in the first place.


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## area_man (Dec 26, 2013)

This thread has the pics.  Seein as how I'm a n00b, please ignore my original comment that this isn't enough stove to heat the house.  I had no idea.  

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...w-to-run-an-orley-insert.105744/#post-1384573


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## rwhite (Dec 26, 2013)

These are the things that I see (or don't) in the pics that I would do:
1. What is you chimney construction? 8x8 clay flue or big open masonry?

I would pull off the surround and see how it's connected to chimney. I'm assuming by slammer it goes through the surround to another 90 and stops there. If thats the case I would at least get 4-5' of liner and take it up past the damper and do a direct connect, if you have 8x8 flue I would take it past the first tile and connect. While you have the pipe out I would install an inline damper behind the stove. Lastly I would get some flat gasket and seal the door.

Hears the bad news...

This may all be a futile effort and may actually create a different problem. With that install in the basement it may need to burn like a banshee to draft. If you slow it down you may get a poor or worse yet a back draft. Being a non-epa stove as  you slow it down your smoke out the chimney will likely increase.

As for all the other things you mentioned (cats, secondary tubes). None of these will do you any good if you can't slow down the primary air.

Also there are plenty of stoves and inserts that can be had that would be compatible with your install assuming you have the correct clearances to non-combustables to the front. I doubt that any modern stoves are much wider front to back than the Orley. There are also hearth heater style inserts which protrude out from the masonry a foot ot better and are a good compromise to a free standing. You can find decent EPA stoves on craigslist all day. I was able to get an insert (used) and do a full insulated liner for under a grand.

Lastly (this is not meant as a slight of your parenting skills) your toddler touching the hot stove is likely the least of your worries as far as safety is concern. There is a reason why slammer installs are illegal.


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## area_man (Dec 31, 2013)

Today I tried something new.  I aimed a fan into the basement bedroom, which is adjacent to the basement living room where the stove is located.  It moderated the temperature very nicely throughout the house.  The basement bedroom has the biggest cold air return in the house.  Just by aiming the fan into that bedroom, I apparently found a way to mix the cold and warm air such that the heat pump fan likes it.  Maybe it's that I spread the heat out over an 800sf area that has six or seven duct openings and two vents that go between the upstairs bedrooms and the downstairs bedrooms.  The kitchen and living room areas are noticeably cooler, but that's perfect for sleeping.  Nobody's roasting, and nobody's freezing.  I guess you just have to mess around with things to dial it in for your particular situation.

Maybe I won't have to install a door to shut off the upstairs bedrooms from the kitchen and living room areas upstairs.  Maybe wood will be for nighttime heat, and I'll let the electric heat pump run during the day.  I don't get a nighttime shift in electricity prices, so it doesn't make that much difference to me which part of the day is primarily heated with wood.

My daughters' bedrooms upstairs are comfortably warm, the basement room doesn't heat up to an uncomfortable degree, and the basement bedroom is right around 74.  I wonder if this is the trick I was looking for.

It doesn't hurt that I figured out how to keep the stove between 500 and 700.  That's made a lot of difference, too.


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## Its_A_Kilt (Oct 27, 2015)

Hello all.  I just purchased a home built in 1978, and it came with an Orley Hearth Stove installed slammer style.  I actually found the manual for the monster and that was the recommended installation at the time!  Yikes!  Upgraded the system to include a Flex King HD, and it drafts like a monster now.  Hopefully next year I can upgrade to the Hearthstone Clydesdale that I have been drooling over.


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