New Stove and No Warmth

[elbow]

I just bought a wood burning stove, made by CFM Corporation. Its rated at 10,000 to 29,000 BTUs. I have an fireplace, so I stuck the stove in the fireplace. I was told by a friend that I can just stick a flue up the chimney, seal the chimney and be set. I put about 8" of flue to a 45 degree elbow around the damper, then attached to 12" flue. Thats where it ends and goes up the chimney. I then tried to seal around the flue as best as possible.

The problem is that the stove is producing hardly any heat to the house. I only have a 900 sq ft house. Its in Hawaii, but we are at 4000 ft so it gets a bit chilly at night. But we are only battling 40 degree weather at the most. When there is a full fire in the stove you can not feel any warmth 3 feet away from it. My neighbors who have stoves are able to heat their entire living area with a small stove and it gets hot in their houses, but they dont have their stoves in a fireplace.

So whats my problem? If I lined the entire chimney would that help? It seems weird that it would produce so little heat. Can a wood stove be defective? The wood burns all night and there are still hot embers in the morning, but there is just no heat the house. The stove sits right inside the fireplace, not sticking out too much. Would pulling the stove out a little more help?

Also, if liner is the problem, is there a good place online to get flexible liner. The only places I have found were in England.

Any suggestions/comments much appreciated.

 

[elkimmeg]

couple of things are happening with your setup
if that chimney is located on an exterior wall ,then most of your heat is radiating into the bricks/ masonry and lost to the outside, never making it into the living space

5 of the 6 surfaces are inside that setup absorbing all that heat. If you pulled it out then radiation would be supplied from all surfaces into the living space
then there is the issue of probably not that good of a seal at the damper area further loosing heat being sucked up that chiney

Next problem is the venting itself Chances are the area you are trying to draft into is too large and too much heat is wasted trying to heat the existing liners just to create a draft If the damper seal is not good then it has to over come the influx of all the cooler room air It just is not going to happen. The colder it gets the better wood stoves draft Many here have problems over 40 drgrees especially combined with large cross-sectional issues exteriot chimneys and poor draft plate seals

then there are the code issue. HI subscribes to the insternational codes of USA, as all states adopted them. A connector pipe can not enter past the damper block off area

You have 3 issues that need correction, lining that chimney, pulling that stove, out and sealing off that damper area. And your friend also needs to get educated he gave you bad advice

Welcome to hearth.com I was trying not to be so blunt but you asked

 

[Corie]

I'm with elk here on all counts.

Line that puppy to the top and insulate the liner as well. These century stoves have fairly tiny air inlets and need at least a decent draft to get the stove running at maximum efficiency. You're dumping a very small quantity of hot flue gas into a large, cold chimney so its no suprise that you have a weak draft and poor heat production.

There are TONS of places to get liners from. I've dealt with ventingpipe or ventingsystems.com before and had great results. Although, a mainland hearth dealer could order you the liner parts you need and then have them shipped to you.

 

[Michael6268]

. A connector pipe can not enter past the damper block off area

Welcome to hearth.com I was trying not to be so blunt but you asked

Arent most "direct connects" installed that way? My understanding is a direct connect is when the connector pipe goes through the block off plate and terminates in the first flue tile, and is acceptable by code.

 

[elbow]

Thanks for all your advice.

I just measured my chimney this morning and it is an oval shape, with 15" wide by 11" long. So that a lot bigger then the 6" flue recommended. I will start by lining the chimney.

A couple follow up quesions:

sealing off that damper area.

This stove says that it works without a damper. Does it still have a damper area?

A connector pipe can not enter past the damper block off area

What is the damper block off area? How do I connect the stove pipe to the stove if it will not come past this area? Maybe thats a stupid question, but Im not familiar with the vocab.

insulate the liner

What do you insulate the liner with?

 

[webbie]

I think you may be able to get away with out insulating a liner in a place like where you live. If you do decide to insulate, many of the same places that sell liners will also sell insulation for same. This place is one of our sponsors, but there are many similar online sources:
http://www.fireplace-chimneystore.com/page/page/1580350.htm

Most important thing is to have a nice tight sealing plate which goes at an area immediatley above your fireplace opening. This will assure that the heat produced will flow out and not sit up in the upper fireplace area.

See the article at:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/making_a_block_off_plate/

You need a magnetic thermometer on your stove. maybe it is already getting hot enough, but we have no way of knowing that. A $15 investment in a stove thermometer will allow you to see clearly if the problem is draft.

Does the stove start easily? When you open and close the draft control, does it respond quickly? if the answer is yes, just making a tighter sealing plate may help.

Another ideas is to use a small fan - to blow air into the fireplace from the front - that will blow air around the stove and out again.

 

[GVA]

. A connector pipe can not enter past the damper block off area

Welcome to hearth.com I was trying not to be so blunt but you asked

Arent most "direct connects" installed that way? My understanding is a direct connect is when the connector pipe goes through the block off plate and terminates in the first flue tile, and is acceptable by code.

No direct connects with wood... I believe
and I think what Elk is referring to here is the liner is the only thing that can run beyond the damper plate all the way to the top all elbows and connections must be on the side of the damper that can be visually checked.

 

[Gooserider]

Elbow,

When elk was talking about the "damper area" or the "damper blockoff area" he was referring to the place where the damper was on your original fireplace, and where you should now have a metal plate blocking everything but the liner. A chimney liner can come through that metal plate, and goes up the chimney, but any connector pipes, "T"'s or other fittings must be below the blockoff plate so they can be inspected.

Gooserider

 

[Michael6268]

Maybe Craig or MSG can add something to this. It was my understanding that connector pipe can be installed though the damper up to the first tile on a direct connect. You can use connecter pipe into a clay thimble which doesnt provide inspection access. Large stove shop in my area says they do it all the time??

 

[elkimmeg]

Not MSG or Craig but I think I can explain. Most direct connections rea done with a round to oval Stainless steel liner called a starter piece this can be one piece the deffinition or explanation is onec the pipe enters the chimney it has to be non corrisive 24 gage connector pipe is not it can easilly rust out same when connecting threw a thimble a connector pipe may be used up to the interion of the clay liner beyond that point again liners are ss and non corrosive, One can use single gage connector pipe behind an insert up to passing threw the damper

Well I tried to explain it

 

[webbie]

Maybe Craig or MSG can add something to this. It was my understanding that connector pipe can be installed though the damper up to the first tile on a direct connect. You can use connecter pipe into a clay thimble which doesnt provide inspection access. Large stove shop in my area says they do it all the time??

Yes, it is up to code to use a direct connect up to the first flue tile - usually about 5 feet from the insert top.

This assumes the tile is not 12x12, which according to newer code is too big to accept a 6" pipe - you need to reline all the way.

BUT, even with a direct connect, a metal block off plate that is mechanically fastened should be installed in the upper fireplace area .

When it comes to regular pipe into a thimble, you do not have the problem of a large cavity like a fireplace smoke chamber so the wood gas explosion is less likely. Also, these pipe are mechanically fastened together by screws and then should be cemented or gasketed into crock.

As far as cleanout, this somewhat depends. Bottom line is that there should be a relatively easy way to inspect it and take it apart for cleaning. In the field, this often means removing the whole interior black pipe as one piece and taking it outside to clean....and then inspecting the chimney and cleaning.