Better looking horizontal vent

[BoroMonster]

Hey everyone!

I am new to pellet stoves and am relatively new to New England.
My wife and I purchased and older 1850's house which unfortunately currently has NO HEAT.
I need to sort something out pretty quick before it gets cold. My plan was to install an Absolute 63 on the bottom floor, but I can't find a place where my wife will accept it.

The best option right now is to place the stove in the corner of the dining room. Because the house is a corner house, the wall where the vent would go is almost right on the sidewalk/street, so the snorkel will be very visible. Is there a better looking option than the dangling robot arm / snorkel?

 

[johneh]

Welcome to the forum
No Matter where you put your stove you will need a chimney .
Just my nickel's worth to turn it up and take it beyond the eves
and end about 24 inches above then at least it will look like a chimney
But will cost a lot more. Others will chime in with their suggestions

 

[bogieb]

Take it out and up to between the 2 floors (just make sure there is enough clearance to the windows). I'd use the silver pipe, not black, it will blend with the house. I think the vertical run will keep the "snorkle" from looking out of place. At that height, no one will even notice the cap is there. You can always paint it white with high temp paint next year if your wife doesn't care for the looks of the silver pipe along the siding.

Or, you could run the vertical inside and just have a jet cap out above the 1st floor window. In that case, depending on decor, you may want black pipe inside and silver cap outside. I personally like the black pipe inside even with light paint on the walls. It looks intentional where the silver to me looks kind of cheesy (but that is personal taste all the way).

 

[BoroMonster]

Apologies for the very bad photoshop job.

The plan was to run the vertical "chimney" inside the house and then pop the wall thimble up towards the roof. The inside flue would be black. Like Bobieb said, I think it is better to make it look intentional than to try and hide it.

Is there no such thing as an exhaust Sconce for a pellet stove, similar to what they sell for the gas stoves?

 

[zrock]

Not sure how cold it gets their but your going to need more than that 1 stove to keep things from freezing.

 

[Highbeam]

You have no existing chimney at all in the home? All electric?

Was there an old furnace in the basement that now has an unused flue?

 

[BoroMonster]

The house was originally a coal burning house, so we have the little "stick chimneys". Of the two original chimneys, there is only one that is still functional. The 2nd one was cut just shy of the roof, and roofed over.
The 2nd, still operational chimney is there, but the rooms are so small that my wife said "NO!" to putting a stove in front of one of them on the first floor. There is only enough room for one chimney liner, so the plan is to install a Jotul Allagash (propane) in the master bedroom for supplemental heat.

When we bought the house it had a non-functioning, 50+ year old, diesel (fuel oil) powered boiler in the basement with single pipe radiators. There was obvious signs of leakage around a lot of the radiators. The boiler was dry and the exhaust had ruptured in the basement and had been venting diesel fumes under the house for ??? years. I stripped the old system, asbestos insulation and all. The radiators were hideous and it would have cost a fortune to get that thing running again.
Even disassembled and busted up into sections, getting that old boiler out with three strong guys was really hard. I can't even imagine how the hell they got it into the basement in the first place.

I found this brochure from Selkirk that shows a cleaner looking installation. Does anyone have any experience with the Selkirk Direct-Temp line and is this suitable for the Absolute 63?

 

[BoroMonster]

Zrock,

The winters here so far have been pretty mild. I think the coldest night last year was 20degF or so. I am right on the coast in Stonington, Connecticut. It does get pretty windy though. We have not lived through a winter in our new house, but it seems better insulated than the 1765 home I am currently renting in the same area. My wife and I move in to the new house in November. Lots of work to do in the next month!

 

[all night moe]

Get yourself some space heaters. You'll want them until you figure something else out for additional heat.

What about relining the flue for the oil furnace and putting a wood stove in the basement? Or is the wife saying ''no'' to burning wood. If yes, it would help for some heat sourcing.

 

[bogieb]

The house was originally a coal burning house, so we have the little "stick chimneys". Of the two original chimneys, there is only one that is still functional. The 2nd one was cut just shy of the roof, and roofed over.
The 2nd, still operational chimney is there, but the rooms are so small that my wife said "NO!" to putting a stove in front of one of them on the first floor. There is only enough room for one chimney liner, so the plan is to install a Jotul Allagash (propane) in the master bedroom for supplemental heat.

When we bought the house it had a non-functioning, 50+ year old, diesel (fuel oil) powered boiler in the basement with single pipe radiators. There was obvious signs of leakage around a lot of the radiators. The boiler was dry and the exhaust had ruptured in the basement and had been venting diesel fumes under the house for ??? years. I stripped the old system, asbestos insulation and all. The radiators were hideous and it would have cost a fortune to get that thing running again.
Even disassembled and busted up into sections, getting that old boiler out with three strong guys was really hard. I can't even imagine how the hell they got it into the basement in the first place.

I found this brochure from Selkirk that shows a cleaner looking installation. Does anyone have any experience with the Selkirk Direct-Temp line and is this suitable for the Absolute 63?
View attachment 330370

The "cone cap" is what I was talking about as a "jet" cap (depends on manufacturer as to what it is called.

I don't see why that couldn't be used on any free standing pellet stove. There are advantages to it as there is just one hole thru the siding and some people say in the deep of winter their stoves burn better. The pipe is larger than what you see on standard installations because it has the OAK (outside air kit) embedded into the assembly.

It sounds like your wife is very interested in aesthetics, so I'm unsure she would be happy with the overall picture. The outside diameter of the pipe may seem to visually overwhelm the stove (like if you had a 8" wood stove pipe going up the wall instead of a 4" pellet pipe going up). But, maybe she will be fine with it.

Most standard assemblies have the OAK separate and in the configuration you show the OAK would probably come in right behind the stove so that it would be two holes (where you wouldn't be able to see the OAK pipe).

 

[BoroMonster]

"What about relining the flue for the oil furnace and putting a wood stove in the basement? Or is the wife saying ''no'' to burning wood. If yes, it would help for some heat sourcing."

We can line the flue for one appliance only. Wood is out of the question as neither my wife nor myself are going to maintain it. Fire wood around here is also fairly expensive, although I haven't tried buying it in bulk.
Wouldn't a heater in the basement be pretty inefficient at heating the rest of the house? It's 1,200 ft^2 of damp dirt and rock. The floors don't have a whole lot of insulation, so I am sure the heat will work it's way up to the first floor but I can't imagine a heater in the basement doing much for the 2nd floor.

My wife is leaning towards us biting the bullet and selling our kidneys so we can have a mini-split system installed. We got 3 quotes and the cheapest one was $33k for 72kbtu worth of Mitsubishi Hyper Heat in the house.
If we went this route, we could still get a little gas stove to utilize the one flue but it would be for supplemental heat not primary and would be expensive to run since Propane in CT is also pretty expensive.

 

[zrock]

Zrock,

The winters here so far have been pretty mild. I think the coldest night last year was 20degF or so. I am right on the coast in Stonington, Connecticut. It does get pretty windy though. We have not lived through a winter in our new house, but it seems better insulated than the 1765 home I am currently renting in the same area. My wife and I move in to the new house in November. Lots of work to do in the next month!

That is still getting cold and 1 stove is not going to heat multiple levels well your upstairs is going to be cold unless you have a good way to get the heat upstairs and circulate. If it was me i would install 2 stoves 1 on the main floor and the 2nd upstairs then i would also run a dehumidifier in the basement. The dehumidifier should generate enough heat to keep things from freezing