Good afternoon...excuse my ignorance, but I am a transplant from Florida living in the state of Maine and do not know a whole lot about having to heat anything that requires more then a microwave or boiling water. We are moving into a 60+ yr old camp we are remodeling for the owner. There is an existing fireplace with a metal chimney (brick facia). The owner has given us an old flat bottomed legless wood stove. My question is do I place this stove directly into the fireplace? It would be sitting on metal not the brick which is only in the hearth. Also should the stove be on a stand of some sort. All the stoves I have seen seem to have legs or be elevated by somesort of stand. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Its already getting down into the 20's at night, and I have been burning in the fireplace directly during the day as we work
installing old wood stove
- Thread starter bruinboru
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First you need to find out for sure what type of fireplace you have and how it's vented. For example, some fireplaces are called "prefab" or "zero clearance," and these are often vented with a type of pipe that is not rated for a wood burning stove or a wood burning insert. You can't just cram that insert into the fireplace, unfortunately. An insert will generate far more heat than an open fire place, but we need to see what you've got before we can suggest the best and safest option. Can you post photos?
i can probably post photos tomorrow. Here is what I know. The cabin was heated 5 yrs ago with a woodstove which is no longer there. The would stove had an attachment which went up into the chimney. I know that I will have to vent the stove and I have looked into that. What I am concerned about is this is an old generic stove (no name number anything) its about 3 ft deep, 2'high and 2' wide approx. It has a 5" pipe opening in the rear. it is very thin and weighs maybe less than a bucket of joint compound 40lbs. This stove would be sitting in the existing fireplace which is metal. Does the stove need to be elevated off of the metal or is it safe to sit directly on it. Thanks for the feedback
bruinboru said:
Well we are talking Maine and so I would caution you by saying that while the cabin was heated with a woodstove 5 years ago it doesn't necessarily mean it was a safe and proper installation.
I agree with Pagey . . . from the sounds of it, sounds like a zero clearance fireplace . . . but a further check by a sweep or mason might yield more info . . . and let you know whether it's safe to use the wood-burning insert that it sounds like you have ready to go.
bruinboru said:
Is it "blue steel" by any chance ? Thin guage metal stoves made in the 1970's?
I stayed in a cabin heated by one of those things once. If I recall correctly, the stove was nearly burned through in a few places, glowed red when the fire was anything warmer than a smoulder, and didn't seem very safe (and that was before I knew Jack S**t about wood burning).
Do you have any other way of heating the camp?
Peace,
- Sequoia
I would visit your local hearth retailer, have an inspection done and have them measure for a ZC rated wood burning fireplace insert, let the tax credit help you out.
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