How to Install a Wood Stove & Chimney

[JGaulard]

When we moved to Maine in November of 2013, one of my very first tasks was to install a pellet stove in the house. Within a few days of arriving, I did that. While the pellet stove performed well, that first winter was rough. The house came with existing oil heat that worked in tandem with the pellet stove, but during an extremely cold evening, many of the baseboard pipes for that oil heat froze and burst. It was at that moment I decided to rip out the oil heat altogether. I’ve never liked that and I’m determined to never use it again. It’s expensive and complicated and I just don’t enjoy having it as a part of my life.

As we progressed through our lives in Maine, we decided that a wood stove would serve us well. The electricity seems to go out quite a bit in these parts and during those times when the pellet stove wouldn’t be able to run, we thought a wood stove would keep us nice and toasty. Later in our second year here, I installed a huge Englander 30-NCH, which I love very much. I’ve never felt a wood stove put out so much heat. The only problem is, I installed it in a smaller part of our house. It gets too hot and I end up sweating for half the night. The reason I did this was because the area I would have installed it was occupied by the pellet stove.

A few months ago (during the winter), I came to the decision that the pellet stove had to go. I was getting tired of using a fan to blow the majority of the heat from the wood stove from one room into another. While the pellet stove was great, it didn’t provide the warmth that I would have liked for the rest of the house. So, with this in mind, I began purchasing parts for my next project. I first bought the wood stove itself (Englander 17-VL), the pad for underneath as well as all the interior and chimney piping. I still have to pick up some more chimney piping and a roof bracket, but the most challenging parts of the job have been completed.

I had initially wanted to go through the wall with the piping, but then I thought it better to go through the ceiling. After realizing that things wouldn’t line up through the ceiling, I settled on the wall idea again. The only things that concerned me about this idea was a wall stud being in the way, cutting the actual hole in the wall and how far out I’d need to extend the exterior horizontal chimney pipe to make it past the roof overhang. There are angled pieces that would have helped with that, but those cost about $300 per piece. Extremely overpriced and I’m not one for throwing that type of money around, especially when there are better solutions to a problem like that. I just had to figure some things out in my head.

Installing a Through-the-Wall Wood Stove & Chimney​

I’ll start off by showing you a photo of the stove itself. Again, this is the Englander 17-VL. It’s the smallest wood stove model that Englander makes currently and they claim it will heat a house of 1,200 square feet. The area we need to heat is only about 1,000 square feet, so that should be good. I’ve also read reviews were people claimed that this little stove can heat a heck of a lot more room than that, so I’m excited to see what it can do.



The only thing with this stove is, while the manufacturer claims it will burn 18″ logs, I’ll tell you that it’s a pain in the neck getting them in there. I’ve got that size in the garage, but I’m not too interested in struggling with feeding the fire while it’s going. It’s because of this that I asked for 14″ firewood for my most recent purchase.





Yes, I’d say I’m fully stocked up. I’ve got about seven cords out in the garage and only burn about two per year. I like having multiple year’s worth. It brings me peace of mind.

My concern about the stud in the wall wasn’t born out of having it there, per se; it was more about me being able to cut through it. The exterior walls on our house aren’t load bearing. We’ve got post-and-beam construction and most of the weight of the house falls on those posts and beams. I knew a single wall stud wouldn’t mind being cut through. I just didn’t know if my reciprocating saw would do it. As it ends up, my saw did fine. I actually hit two studs because there are also horizontal studs called “nailers” that the pine board and batten is nailed to from the outside. I didn’t care. I drew my 14 1/4″ box and I cut right through everything. The hole came out okay and I framed the entire thing out with additional 2x6s. It looked pretty good. I immediately inserted and installed the wall thimble and the interior pipe. I still have to add a few self tapping screws here and there to make sure nothing comes loose, but I’d say this looks pretty good. All the clearances are perfect and it’s very solid.



Okay, so this was the big thing that worried me. The overhang of our house only goes out about a foot past the wall. I knew the nine inch piece of “through-the-wall” pipe that came with the chimney kit wouldn’t clear that distance. It actually didn’t even make it through the wall completely because of the 2×6 construction. Also, I wouldn’t be able to go up through the overhang because there just wasn’t enough of it there. You need to maintain a two inch clearance around all combustibles, so that was out of the question. The only thing I could do was buy an extra two foot chimney pipe and just go around the overhang completely. So that’s what I did. I just needed to figure out a way to attach the entire contraption to the wall. Check this out.







Since the support base of the tee-adapter wouldn’t be flush up against the wall, I had to figure out some way to extend it. I set everything up and hung it in place with a tie-down. Then, I made my measurements and cut up some pressure treated 2x4s. I screwed everything together and made a nice box. I then installed the box by screwing it to the wall and the chimney pipe support base to it. It’s very sturdy and it holds the chimney pipe firmly in place. As you can see, I used the straps that were included in the kit to help secure part of the base. I still have to add additional straps as well. I also need to finish installing the remaining pipe above the roof line, but that should be easy. I’d say I’ve got about $500 more to spend and the project should be completed. The total will most likely be around $2000.

The reason I’m writing this post is because I know there is some person out there who is scratching their head right about now, wondering how to build something that will let them install Duravent chimney pipe out and past their roof overhang. Well, this is as good of an idea as any I’ve seen. Take a close look at the photos I’ve provided and let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to help in any way I can.

 

[JGaulard]

Installing the Last Section of Wood Stove Chimney​

I received the final section of our wood stove chimney yesterday. I’ve been purchasing these things a few at a time over the past few months as to keep the expense of installing a new wood stove as least noticeable as possible. Overall, I say I’ve done pretty well because, as I’ve mentioned in one of my previous posts, the slow purchase of these parts has given me time to think about exactly how I’d like to set things up. It’s also kept a big chunk of money from flowing out of my bank account all at once. Since this is the final section of chimney, I’d say this job is done.

I knew I’d like to write a post about positioning this three foot piece of pipe all the way on top of all the others, but I wasn’t quite sure how I could get that done. It really is a balancing act up there on the ladder and roof and it’s no time to be taking photos of myself. And I wanted to avoid taking pictures of a naked chimney. That’s pretty boring. So I got around all that by asking Laura to snap some photos of me in action. It’s so much better and more fun to be in these types of pictures. I get to show off how daring I am. Either daring or stupid. Since I completed everything successfully, I guess we’ll stick with daring. And handsome.

Okay, let’s start off with me looking straight up the outside of the chimney. This is just my artistic side coming out.



I already installed two three-foot sections of chimney, plus a smaller one foot section that came with the “through the wall” kit, so what I wanted to do was remove that one foot section, plus the cap and attach the section to the new three-foot section. So, the first thing I did was climb up on the ladder to unscrew and take that piece down.





When I got that small section down, I attached it to the larger one.



After that, the trick was to carry the sections up the ladder and onto the roof. This is easier said than done because the ladder was somewhat shaky and the roof is at a 45 degree angle. It’s pretty steep. I did it though and then I stretched out as far as I could to to connect the chimney pieces together.





When I put the pieces together, I then drilled some more sheet metal screws into them to make sure they stayed that way. It’s not like these sections would ever come apart, but the screws helps keep the entire chimney stiff and secure. I don’t want things swaying around up there in the wind.

By the way, these three-foot pieces of Duravent wood stove chimney are galvanized and they cost approximately $75 each from Home Depot. With free shipping. The stainless steel pieces cost about $25 more each.

This was the scariest part because I felt like I was going to slide down the roof. The pitch is just at the point of me sliding. My Crocs held tight though.



No wait. This was the scariest part because if I moved the wrong way, complete and utter disaster would occur. I had to partially climb the bracket.



I didn’t make a wrong move though and I survived. Knock on wood. I completed the install and came back down the ladder. Here’s the finished product.



Once I got up there on the roof and realized how tall the existing chimney actually was, I knew this was somewhat of a risky maneuver. I thought about it and decided that I was going to enjoy myself while I still can. I love climbing on things and I’ll likely continue to do so until I can’t anymore. If I keep at it and stay limber, I figure I can continue to have this type of fun well into my 80s.

 

[JGaulard]

How to Break in a New Wood Burning Stove​

I have a word of warning for you. Don’t try to get a fire going in your brand new wood stove if it’s warmer outside than it is inside. Actually, don’t even try doing this if it’s only marginally cooler outside than it is inside, unless you’re prepared to smoke out your entire house. Unrelenting and awful smelling smoke. How can I offer you this advice? Hmmm…let me see.

Okay, here’s the story. Over the past few months, I’ve been slowly installing a new wood burning stove in our living room. I created a pad for the stove to sit on (pavers on concrete board), cut a big hole in the wall and connected all the piping. It’s a beautiful setup. The reason I went about the project slowly is because I simply couldn’t bear to see my bank account drain away so much in one sitting. I figured that if I purchased everything I would need over time, I’d barely miss the money. I’d say that was a good idea, not only because of the financial aspect of things, also because it gave me time to consider how I wanted to place everything. You know, the details. I like thinking of details when it comes to projects like this.

Anyway, the stove is now installed and everything is perfectly aligned and ready for action. Since brand new wood stoves need to be broken in over the span of three short fires, I thought that I’d get the process completed while it was warmer outside and while we could have the windows in the house wide open. We wouldn’t be frozen out from the winter air and I’d also have the opportunity to test out my handiwork and to make sure everything I had done was functioning correctly. One of the aspects of breaking in a wood stove consists of “cooking the paint,” which absolutely stinks. I’ve done this before and for about an hour, I visibly saw the paint smoke from the surface of the stove, only to leave an acrid stench throughout the room in which the stove was installed. It was an unpleasant experience, to say the least. Long story short, I wanted to get that part out of the way.

The first time I attempted to make a fire in this new stove was last month. That didn’t go so well. There was no draft in the chimney because of the lack of inside/outside temperature differential. All the paper that I’d ignited inside of the stove only burned for about a minute or so and then went out. Because there was no draft, all the smoke from the smoldering paper spread out throughout the entire house, which left me scrambling to open the windows and to point the floor fan in any direction that might help reduce the impact of the situation. I don’t even know why I tried getting a fire going. I knew it wasn’t going to work. Which makes me look a bit silly, because, yes, I performed the same routine a few days later.

The next time I tried the same thing, I gave Laura all sorts of assurances that we wouldn’t get smoked out again. She didn’t trust me at all. There’s really no reason she should have because after a few minutes of smoldering paper and the room filing with smoke (again), we were in exactly the same position as the one I’d previously put us in. This time though, I decided to get my torch and light up all the paper in a big way inside the stove. Apparently, this did the trick because after a few minutes, a draft formed inside the stove and the wood began to burn. And after that, we had a full-fledged fire going in our brand new wood stove.

While this was all fine and good though, due to my excitement about getting the fire going and the challenge of doing so, I completely forgot about the “cooking the paint” process. So, for the next hour, Laura and I both enjoyed the stinking awful smell of paint smoking from the surface of the stove. At least we had the windows open and the floor fan at the ready. It wasn’t that bad.

What’s the moral of this story? I have no idea, but I had fun telling you about what we went through a few evenings ago.

 

[JGaulard]

How Long to Bake the Paint on a Brand New Wood Stove?​

We’ve now had three full-length fires in our new wood stove. During the first burn, I got a bit nervous that the stove was too small. I’m so used to jamming huge logs into our other stove that I wasn’t quite prepared for what I’d need to satisfy this one. Our new stove is less than half the size of our larger stove. In case you’re interested, our larger stove is an Englander 30-NCH, which burns up to 22 inch logs. This new stove is a cute little Englander 17-VL, which comfortably burns much smaller 14 inch logs. Not only do the logs need to be shorter in length, they also need to be thinner all around.

At first, I was trying to burn the largest logs that fit into this smaller stove. That didn’t turn out too well. It didn’t like that at all. Once I accepted the fact that the actual size of the logs needed to be smaller and then agreed to this fact, I’ve had two very nice fires. The stove really cranks and I’m happy to report that I’m fairly thrilled with it.



So far, we had one fairly cool fire, one medium fire of around 300 degrees and a hotter more recent fire of about 400 degrees. I read that you’re supposed to break in a brand new stove, so that’s what I’ve been doing. The thing is, each time I have a fire going, the paint bakes a bit more than it did during the previous fire. I’m starting to wonder how long we’ll have to deal with the stink of baking paint. I’ll tell you this though; the first fire was horrible, the second fire was pretty bad and last night’s fire was semi-bad at the beginning, but wasn’t bad at all towards the end. I’d say that fire lasted approximately six hours, so I’m guessing all the baking was done at the beginning.

I was doing some reading last night on this topic and apparently, this is how it works. Every time you increase the temperature of the stove, more paint will bake off of it until you reach the highest temperature you’ll ever reach. I’m happy with last night’s temperature as the entire house was over 80 degrees. Granted, it was about 50 degrees outside, so that’s not much of a feat in and of itself. We’ll have to see how it does in mid-January, when things get real. I have a feeling this little stove will serve us well. I could sit there and watch those flames behind that window all night.

 

[WendyMay]

Why Does Smoke Exit My Wood Stove When Door Open?​

Lately I've been opening the front door of my wood stove to add wood to the fire and smoke has poured out into my house. I have no idea why this is happening. I was wondering if anyone has any advice for me. Thanks.

 

[CampFireJack]

There may be a few reasons for what you're experiencing. Some will say that it's because your chimney is too short, but I don't know if that's entirely true. I've seen lots of folks make that claim, so I don't want to discount it. It's just that I've never experienced that being the cause. I run two wood stoves in my home and one of them has a relatively short chimney and the other has a much taller chimney. The taller one is the one that smokes when I open the door to load firewood. The only difference between the two stove setups is that one (the taller chimney one) has a few angles in the pipe that leads out through the wall and then a 45 degree angle that goes straight up into the air. On the other stove, it's a straight shot up through the roof. I've rarely ever seen smoke come out of that stove. The draft is great. So angles in your piping can cause a lack of draft.

Regarding draft, if you're not familiar, that's what sucks the smoke and gasses up and out of your chimney. If you've got bad draft, your smoke will sit still and likely come out of your stove and into your house.

One huge factor that might cause smoke is it being too warm outside. I've had both of my stoves smoke when the door is open on warm days. That's simply because there isn't much of a temperature differential between inside your home and outside of it. Chimney draft is created when the inside of the chimney is warm compared to the outside temperate. Heat rises, so if your pipe is hot, that heat will go right out, smoke along with it.

If you've got a new house that's very tight, that can have an effect on draft. Essentially, because the house has no air flow, there's not much air to pull up through the wood stove and out the chimney. For this, I recommend a fresh air vent on your wood stove. Similarly, if you're house is two or more levels and is old and has got lots of air leaks (usually through old drafty windows), you may experience what's referred to as the stack or chimney effect. This occurs when your entire house is acting like a chimney and is pulling the warm inside air out through the upstairs windows. When this happens, the suction comes from down below and a great place for that suction to occur is through your wood stove piping. So if you've got a bad enough situation, you might actually experience a reverse draft, which would be terrible. You would need to take a close look at the efficiency of your home if this were the case.

I like to build small cool fires in my wood stove because many days it's just too warm outside to get a roaring fire going. The problem is, these cool fires never heat up the chimney enough to create a good draft. So when I open the door to add wood, I see all sorts of smoke leave the wood stove and enter my home. Wood stoves like hot fires to operate smoothly and properly. They don't like cool or cold chimneys.

Along the same lines, if you build cool fires, expect to have a clogged chimney cap a lot if you have a spark arrestor screen inside of it. Take a look at the clogged chimney cap post for more information on this. And always make sure your chimney itself is clean. Do this at least once per year and possibly more if you burn a lot of wood every season. It's critical to clean your chimney for safety reasons, but if it gets too clogged, that could be the cause of a poor draft as well. Remember, wet wood smokes a lot and makes for cool fires. Neither of these things is conducive to a well drafted chimney pipe.

Lastly, if it's a windy day, expect to see some smoke when you open your wood stove door. Wind creates all sorts of varying pressures inside of a house and the smoke travels up and down that chimney pipe like a yo-yo if it's windy enough outside.

If anyone else has any advice or suggestions (if I'm missing anything), I'd love to read them.

 

[KristinaW]

Two things: I used to own a wood stove and when I would sense that I was going to get smoke in my house when I would load wood into my stove, I'd open the door just a little bit for a few seconds (probably around 10 seconds) to let some air in. I'd get the flow of air going up the chimney before I would open the door all the way. Also, an ex-boyfriend of mine once wrapped heat proof insulation around the piping that was inside and outside and that helped keep the pipe warm and the draft good inside of the pipe. That reduced the smoke that came back into the house a lot, especially on warm days.

 

[JGaulard]

How to Install Wood Stove Chimney Around Roof Overhang​

I received a comment on my blog today that pertained to someone who was interested in installing a wood stove chimney around their 18" roof overhang. I know how much of a pain in the butt this can be, so I thought I'd write a post here to get some feedback and ideas about this.

Basically, there are a few ways you can do this, some more challenging and some more expensive than others. Personally, I went with the easiest and cheapest route when I installed my chimney. If you want to read my post and see some nice photos of my finished job, you can do so here. If you'll notice in the photos, I decided to go with a longer horizontal pipe and 2x4 spacer to extend the entire chimney out past the overhang. Many people don't want to do this because of the snow that may slide down their roofs into the chimney. I clean my roof with a roof rake every time it snows, so I'm not too concerned about that. I could always install a snow wedge to push the snow aside if I became overly concerned.

Another method I've seen is to cut a hole right through the overhang and slide the chimney pipe through it, up into the air. I am not fond of this method because it's a challenge to do and...well, it's a pain in the ass, truth be told. I thought about it and wasn't inclined to cut a hole that large in my roof. Plus, I don't think I had enough room for a hole the size I needed. It needs to be pretty big.

Just this past weekend I helped out a friend who needed a wood stove chimney installed. To get around his overhang, we decided to utilize two 45° angle pipes to maneuver the pipe where it needed to be. I'll include photos so you can see what we did and how it turned out. This is a really great idea as it keeps the lower pipe close to the wall and personally, I think it looks great. The only problem is, I think those angle pipes cost around $150 each, so that's something to think about.

What are your ideas for something like this? How did you install your chimney so it travels past (around) your roof's overhang? I'd love to know. Thanks!

 

[JGaulard]

Swapping the Englander 17-VL & 30-NC Wood Stoves​

A few years back, I bought an Englander pellet stove. That only lasted about five years because I outgrew it. It still ran fine and worked wonderfully, but since my house gets cold in the winter, I upgraded to a wood stove and sold the pellet stove on Craigslist. I think I got around $600 for it, so it held its value pretty well. Had lots of offers on it too, which says a lot about Englander. I like that company.

Anyway, after some thought, I decided to go with the Englander 17-VL as a wood stove. It was a nice small model that would fit nicely into the corner of one of my rooms. I already owned the Englander 30-NC and had that parked in a different room, so I was pretty hooked on this brand of stove.

After having it shipped to me from Home Depot and hooking it all up, I made a few fires. At first, I was fairly happy with it. I realized I had bought a stove that was too small for my house after just a few fires, but I continued to run it for the entire winter. Here's what I discovered:

- It's a great little stove for a smaller room or a cabin. It gives good heat and runs well.
- The wood you buy or cut needs to be small. It doesn't take the 18" logs it claims to take. Perhaps if they're pencil thin it can, but real firewood - no.
- The logs need to be split small too. You can't fit much in this stove and if you have thick wood, you won't be able to get it in. If you do, only one piece will fit.
- The stove doesn't give a long burn time. A few hours at most. And as the coals build up, they consume valuable space inside the stove, which makes fitting more wood in quite difficult. Don't expect to run this stove overnight. You'll wake up freezing in the morning.
- For some strange reason, coals don't like to burn all the way down to ash in this stove. All other stoves I've owned, the coals burned down to dust. These remain as black chunks. Maybe it's my chimney's fault. Not enough draft.
- And for the most annoying thing in the world, once coals begin to build up in this stove and when you try to place a new piece of wood inside, as you open the front door, glowing red coals will fall out all over the place. I've had this happen on a number of occasions and I've got big black melted holes in my carpet to prove it. Even with a large pad which this stove sat upon, those coals like to roll and go all over the place.

Because of all these factors, I decided to swap positions of my 17-VL and my 30-NC. The larger 30-NC was totally too big for the room I originally placed it in and was getting a bit annoying in its own right. I do love the stove though and don't have one bad thing to say about it. It cranks and it's a real wood stove. It'll heat any house you put it in. Everyone who owns it loves this stove. The thing is, my smaller room was crying out for the smaller 17-VL and the larger house area was crying out for the larger 30-NC. I would sometimes sweat because of the larger stove, so it was an awesome swap.

I tackled this project last week. I had to build a larger pad for the bigger stove, but that was easy. And now that we're getting colder nights, it's been absolutely beautiful building fires in these. I'm not even sure I need to run the smaller stove at all. The bigger one does all the heavy lifting. Oh yeah, I also had to buy a few additional pipes to make things work, but that was no big deal. Check out the pics.

This is the 17-VL in its new spot. The room it's in is only about 300 square feet, so it'll do just great. It's a nice looking little stove, but be warned, if you plan on using this model in a regular sized house for regular use, you'll regret your purchase and will return it for something else. You've been warned. Only use for occasional use in a cabin or something. This is not a production stove.





Now here's my baby. I do love this wood stove. This is the Englander 30-NC in the main part of the house. It heats it incredibly and is worth every single cent I spent on it.





I even hooked up the fresh air vent and ordered some side heat shields for this stove. I'll be all set up. I didn't need to put side heat shields on because it's well past clearance from the walls, but what the heck. Just to make sure. And look at that pad. Plywood, concrete board, and big 18" square pavers. About two inches thick. A big four foot by five foot. Love it.

Let me know what you think. I've got a sweet set up now that I've quite proud of.

 

[CampFireJack]

The consensus out there is that the Englander 17-VL is a very nice little stove. You can read some reviews in this post over at Hearth.com:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/englander-model-17-vl-stove-installation-and-review.114897/

I've owned this stove and yes, while it was built well and put out a fairly decent amount of heat, I had to sell it because it just wasn't doing it for me. I have to agree with all the reasons given above for owning and not owning the stove. If it's going to be used as a part time stove in a cabin or very small house, maybe to get the chill out of the air, it's awesome and it's probably what I would buy. If you're a serious wood burner who lives in a cold climate though, DO NOT buy this stove. You'll become more aggravated than anything else. It's simply too small. Regular sized logs don't fit in it and coals really do fall out of the front door every time you open it. Don't believe what you hear or read out there. Small stoves are not meant as full time wood burners. There are many reasons to buy a small stove, but heating your home full time isn't one of them. Now, the 30-NC, on the other hand, is an incredible wood burning stove. If you have the room and a larger home, that's the one you want to buy. Again though, only if you have the space for it. And because it's a giant and if your house isn't large enough, you'll actually overheat. So don't buy this one if you're living in a 1,200 square foot ranch or something like that. You'll end up having to open the windows just to cool off. But if you live in Vermont in a house that's over 2,000 square foot house, go for it. That's what I would do.

Now, there is a middle ground here. It's called the Englander 13-NC. I think it may be called the Englander 15 now or something like that. It heats a house that's around 1,500 to 2,000 square feet and it's probably the best bet for most people out there. Check out this post where the author offers a comparison of Englander wood stoves:

https://www.firewood-for-life.com/englander-wood-stove.html

Although I've never owned this stove, I have looked it over in Home Depot once or twice. I actually ended up getting the 30-NC instead because the 13-NC seemed too small in the firebox. It really is kind of cramped in there.

What people need to stop doing is reviewing stoves based on the amount of heat they feel it puts out. Yes, that's important, but usability is just as important. If you have the wrong size stove for your home, you're going to hate it. If it's tough to use or just a general pain in the butt, you're going to hate it. You really do need to do some research on which stove you want to buy.

Here's an interesting post on how the little 17-VL is actually too much for someone's house. Who knew?

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/englander-17-vl-cooking-me-out-of-the-house.136857/

 

[Phoenix1]

Why It's Important to Have a Wood Stove Outdoor Air Source​

I've run wood stoves for years with no outdoor air source. Everything seemed to be okay, but the more I thought about things, the more I wanted to set one up. I know there's some controversy around this topic, but I'll offer my own thoughts and experiences below. But just so you know, I think it's a good idea to set up a fresh air source for just about any wood stove.

Okay, here it is. Houses are being made quite well these days. They are tighter than tight. When you use a wood stove, air from the living area is consumed. If a house is built very tightly, not enough air may enter the house to allow for it to be burned. That's going to reduce the amount of draft you have going up your chimney.

Conversely, if you have a house that's drafty, you most likely have what's referred to as chimney or stack effect going on. This is when the air that enters your house on the bottom floor is sucked out by the top floor. Your house effectively becomes a vacuum that's got negative pressure, just like a giant chimney. If you open your wood stove front door down on the bottom floor, guess where the top floor is going to draw its air from. That's right, your chimney, which is going to create a negative draft. You certainly don't want that.

Do you have a whole house fan? If so, then you may create huge problems if you turn it on when you've got a fire going in your wood stove. Want to talk about negative pressure? Those whole house fans pull air from anywhere they can to blow out into the attic. If you've got a fire going in your wood stove and if you don't have an outdoor air supply, the fan is going to get its air from your chimney, which will fill your house with smoke. Terrible experience.

It's very simple to install an outdoor air source for your wood burning stove, so there's no really good excuse not to. And even if you subscribe to the controversy surrounding this topic, you can't hurt anything by installing a fresh air source. So just do it.

I recently set one up for my own wood stove, so I thought I'd share a few photos. If you've got one, please do the same. I'd love to see it. And if you've got any thoughts or comments about this topic, please let me know down below.

This is the fresh air source connection to the wall. I first cut the hole in the wall and then put a piece of cut PVC drain pipe (at the proper length) through the hole. I cut a piece of 3/4 inch plywood to fit the pipe into. Then, I screwed the wood to the wall and attached some foil dryer vent hose to it. To tape it up, I used foil tape. That's some awesome stuff. Oh yeah, I also used some clear silicone caulk to seal the PVC pipe to the plywood.



This is the outside view of the same pipe. I pretty much did the same thing as inside, but I didn't attach any dryer hose, obviously. I also put some rabbit fencing (screening) over the open pipe, so no critters could get inside.



This is just a view of the foil dryer hose leading to the stove.



Now this is the fun part. I had to connect a four inch hose to a three inch opening at the wood stove. I found a website online where I could make a pattern for a cone. I made the pattern and then used it to cut a piece of aluminum flashing to make the cone. Then I used some more foil tape to connect everything together. I've already made a few fires and it works great!

 

[CaptainDan]

An outside fresh air source also helps when lighting the stove. If you've got negative pressure in your house and you try to light your stove, you'll end up with smoke filling your room because the vacuum of your house will be pulling the air down your chimney as opposed to up. While the fresh air source won't solve all your lighting problems, it may help. It'll at least alleviate a bit of that negative pressure by pulling some air in from outside. You can also open a window while lighting the stove to accomplish the same thing. You can read posts on this site to learn more about smoke filling up your house while lighting your wood burning stove.

 

[15Katey]

Side Heat Shields for Englander NC-30 Wood Burning Stove​

I've seen this wood stove called both the Englander NC-30 and the 30-NC. I'm assuming it's the same stove, just slightly different names. Anyway...

Last week, I ordered a set of side heat shields (AC-30SHSB) for my Englander from Mountain View Hearth Products. They're located in Montana. Here's the product page, if you're interested. I got the set for $117 and free shipping. I thought that was a pretty good price, so it was a no-brainer. I've seen these heat shields for upwards of $140.

Here's the thing. The shields I received came with the holes drilled on the wrong side! If you look at the product page (or any other photo you can find online) at the photo, you'll see that the attachment holes are supposed to be drilled in the wider bend side. This is because that wider bend needs to reach behind the stove and attach to the rear heat shield that comes standard with these fireplaces. Mine are drilled on the more narrow bent side. Take a look.



If anyone has one of these stoves, you know these shields can't be attached this way.

I called the company and told them about the problem. They asked me to send them a photo so they can reach out to Englander Stove Works to see if they could ship me some replacements. I hope this happens soon, as I was excited to receive these and install them on my stove. I do want to mention that customer service for this company has been helpful and shipping only took a few days. I don't think this product actually came from Montana, so it must have been drop shipped or something like that.

Anyone ever experience this type of a problem? I was going to just go ahead and drill my own holes to attach this to the back of the stove, but if they'll send me replacements, I'll take 'em. Plus, I really don't want to see these already drilled holes facing the front of the stove. They're rather ugly.

 

[15Katey]

I haven't made an update on this issue in a few days. After I began this thread, I was contacted back by customer service and was told that Englander was going to be sending me out some replacement shields. They also mentioned that these new shields will be inspected by the plant manager as to avoid any further mistakes. I received those replacements today. They were inspected by Roger. They shipped from England's Stove Works in Monroe, Virginia. Do you want to see what I received?





Can you believe it? I got the exact same things. I am beginning to think that something larger is going on here. I suspect that if these shields were made in China or something, the entire batch has the holes drilled or punched on the wrong sides. Just to make sure I wasn't going crazy, I checked the part number, which is AC-30SHSB, against a number of seller's pages online. Every single seller shows these shields with the holes drilled on the wider bent sides, not in the narrower ones. It's got to be a mistake by the manufacturer. Check for yourself. Please. Compare my shields in the photos with what you find online. Here's the seller's page. Take notice of where the holes are drilled.





It's actually not the seller's fault here. They've been great. Somewhere along the lines, something got screwed up at the plant or somewhere else. I have no idea.

I was going to say screw it and drill the holes myself, now that I've got two sets of these things. No one asked for the old ones back. Probably because they're really cheap to make and the shipping costs more than the product is worth. Also, they're junk, so the manufacturer can't really do anything with them. But then I thought better of it and contacted customer service again. If I can get a new set with the holes punched properly, then I can install them and not have those ugly holes facing forward on these existing shields. I'll also (hopefully) have two extra sets, so I might be able to sell them with a caveat that says the holes are in the wrong spots. I'll update this thread with the response I receive. Good thing it's going to be 80 in my area this weekend. I was excited about trying these things out, but I suppose I'll have to wait.

 

[15Katey]

I think we've almost gotten to the root of the problem. Support from Mountain View Hearth Products has informed me that England's Stove Works in Virginia stores flat pieces of steel in their warehouse with the holes already punched in them. When someone makes an order, they bend the metal on the spot and ship these shields out. Apparently, someone down there is bending them incorrectly. The very nice woman from support has once again emailed my photos of the messed up shields to Englander and she'll get back to me with their response. Someone is gonna get a talking to down there. I have a feeling... I feel bad. They're surely not making any money on this sale.

 

[15Katey]

I just received word from Mountain View Hearth Products. Kimberly informed me that a batch of these heat shields were bent incorrectly at the England's Stove Works warehouse in Virginia. They pulled the bad shields and set them aside, but somehow shipped one of those sets to me a second time. They'll send me a third set either today or tomorrow. What a shame. I hate to see them spend all this money, not only on the product, but on the shipping as well. I guess these things happen though. Other than this mishap, I've gotten great support from Mountain View and England's Stove Works has rectified the situation and shipped the products out very quickly.

 

[15Katey]

After some delay, I have received the proper heat shields for my Englander 30-NC wood burning stove today. What a relief. When I opened the package that was delivered by FedEx, I was pleasantly surprised to find two wonderfully crafted shields that had the holes in the correct positions. I went ahead and found six self tapping screws that I had lying around to install the stove with (the screws that came with the shields weren't self tapping and therefore couldn't be used because the holes on the stove weren't threaded) and went to work. I quickly attached the side shields to the rear shield and now this project is complete. I even took a few photos for you. Since it was getting dark outside and the indoor light didn't help the lighting situation much, I used a flashlight to brighten things up. If you click on the thumbnails below, you'll see the installation. Also, if you have any questions, please ask.

 

[WendyMay]

Wood Stove Heat Shield Ideas​

I've been trying to come up with ideas for my wood burning stove heat shields and I'd like to get some opinions. Basically, I've situated the wood stove in the corner of a living room type room. It's catty corner, so the stove is at an angle from the corner. It looks nice, but I'd like to add some more protection on the walls, since those are wood. Some sort of pine tongue and groove. I've got at least six inches past code as far as spacing from the rear corners of the stove and the walls goes, but I like to be sure. My last stove heated those same walls up pretty good, so I don't want that to happen again.

Anyway, I've got a list of heat shield ideas and some pros and cons that go along with each one. If you wouldn't mind, please give me your opinions so I can better make a final decision.

Original Equipment Shields: I would love to buy these from the manufacturer, but they're priced at around $150 for the set of two. The reason I like them is because they screw right onto the back of the stove. The rear heat shield that comes with the stove has some pre-drilled holes in it that makes setup easy. They allegedly also do a very good job of reducing the amount of heat that hits the wall. I read on one forum that Englander heat shields reduced the temperature of the walls from 185 degrees to 125 degrees. That was for the 30-NC. Again, I like them as an option, but they're expensive.

Corrugated Steel Roofing Panels: This is a contender. My friend placed a corrugated roofing panel up against his wall that's next to his wood stove and while the stove was very hot, the panel was cool to the touch. It was incredible. They're also pretty cheap at only around $17 per eight footer. The only thing I'm concerned about is the look. I would only go up the wall about three feet, which would keep the appearance of the room appealing, but I've seen some people go from the floor to the ceiling with multiple panels. I wonder what these people are smoking and if they have wives. In other words, what I've seen like this looked absolutely horrible. The smaller, the better in this case.

Bricks: I saw a video where a guy stacked bricks up on each side of the outside of his wood stove. While this might actually block too much heat, it's an idea. Under the right circumstances, I think it may even look sort of cool.

Cement Board: I had an idea a while ago that I could cut some HardieBacker or regular cement board into something like 2'x3' panels and somehow stand them up about a foot away from each side of the stove. While this wouldn't look very good, the entire heat shield project would cost less than $15. I could also mount this board right to the wall behind the stove, which would look a bit better, especially if I painted them black or something.

Tiles: I've seen people make boards with tiles affixed to them and mount them to the walls behind or next to their wood stoves. Again, it's a good idea, but I think this might be a bit complicated. I'm looking for simple. If I lived in an expensive house and this wood stove would going to live in this spot permanently for the next 30 years, I would maybe do something like this. I'm not confident about any of that.

Standing Metal Heat Shield: I've seen these for sale for about $100. I think I saw them in Tractor Supply and then again online. I like the idea of having a steel foldable heat shield placed at the back and rear corners of the stove, but this solution is a bit expensive. Also, the outside air source hose runs from the wall to the rear of the stove. I think that would get in the way of this shield.

Heat Shield Boards: I've seen black heat shield boards for sale at many fireplace shops and online. These usually measure around 3'x3' and really don't cost that much. It's an option.

Brick/Tile: My friend's father had an entire hearth made from brick for his wood stove. While that looked wonderful, it must have cost a fortune. The same is true for having custom tile installed on the walls themselves.

Copper Sheets: And finally, I've seen sheets of copper affixed to people's walls in photos I've run across on the internet. I don't think that will work for me because where the heck am I going to find copper? It might look cool though in the right home.

So there you go. Which one would you choose? Do you have an existing heat shield for your wood burning stove? If so, can you please post a photo? I'd love to see it. Thanks!

 

[Cameron]

How Long Will My New Wood Stove Smell?​

I bought a new wood stove this year and lit it up a few nights ago to enjoy a nice fire. After about a half hour, I noticed an awful chemical smell coming from it. Boy did it stink! Does anyone know what this is and how long it will last? I can't imagine that the wood burning stove will smell this bad forever.

 

[Newman]

That bad smell can last anywhere from one to three or four fires, depending on how hot you burn your stove. If you only burn a few twigs in it for five fires and never get the steel or cast iron up past 200 degrees each time, you won't cure the paint. If you get that stove rippin' hot the very first time and get the metal to 700 degrees, the smell will most likely disappear after one use. So to answer your question, the terrible chemical smell is coming from the brand new high temperature paint the manufacturer applied to the wood stove. Since that paint was never baked on or cured, you're essentially doing that in your home. Like I said, after a few uses, that smell should go away because the fires you make in the stove will bake the paint.

If you've got a new stove though, I suggest you break it in according to the manufacturer's instructions. Basically, you make a fairly cool fire that goes to about 250 degrees the first time. Then, make another fire the next day that reaches 350. And then, on the last (third) day, bring the stove up to 450 degrees and it should be broken in properly. Read your stove manual though, as I'm only throwing out random numbers here. I don't know your specific situation.

If you're using an old stove that's had new high temperature paint applied to it, you'll likely need to go through the same process of curing it. That paint will smell too, but only for a few fires. Also, be aware that if you change your old pipes to new pipes, you'll get the same smell. The stink is not only coming from the wood stove, it's also coming from the black pipe that comes from the stove and goes to the wall or ceiling. The same is true for heat shields that get attached to the sides of a stove. If they're close enough to the steel or cast iron and if they're painted with that black high temperature paint, you'll likely smell the same thing. From experience though, I'll tell you that it gets better every time you light the stove and eventually the smell won't even be there anymore. You'll forget all about it in a few days.

What I did was to light my first few fires on warmer days. I got the stove pretty hot and opened all the windows of my house and used a fan to suck some of the air out. That was much better than lighting the stove on a very cold night and being forced to keep all the windows closed. I didn't want to breath in the smoke that comes off the paint. It can't be good for you.

 

[KristinaW]

Why Does My Wood Stove Smoke When I Light It?​

I've owned a wood stove for two years now and it seems that every single time I light it, smoke billows back into my house, filling my home and making it stink. I have to open the windows and the doors, just to get the smoke out. It's getting kind of old. It really does happen pretty much every time I light it. It's so bad. And the reason I'm writing this post right now is because the temperature is dropping outside and I just tried to light a fire. Yup, smoke everywhere. All my windows are open and it's about 30 degrees out there.

What I'm finding is that after lighting a piece of paper inside the firebox, it's slow going. Additional paper catches and that's when the smoke starts. Last year when this happened, I'd close the front door and boy was that a mistake. The fire went out, the paper smoldered, and there was no other option but to open the door again in an attempt to light the paper again. But by this point, the smoke was so thick that it just poured out of the stove and into the room. My smoke detectors would go off and everything. Since then, I've begun using a propane torch to light my fires and now the smoke just comes out of the stove for about 30 seconds. I keep the torch going to generate lots of heat inside the firebox and it eventually creates a draft to go up the chimney. Then, once that happens, I wait a few minutes before closing the front door and I'm good to go.

What I'd really like to do is eliminate all smoke from coming out of the stove. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[CaptainDan]

Your issue is lack of draft. Basically, for any smoke to go up your chimney, you need a flow of air to be going up the chimney as well. For that to happen, you need a temperature differential between the firebox and the chimney itself. As it stands, you've got a cold firebox and a cold chimney. When you light the stove, you've got a big air dam and nothing is moving anywhere. The trick to fix this issue is to somehow warm up the firebox so its temperature is warmer than the chimney. That will make any air inside it want to flow upward and outside.

Here's the solution to your problem. Before you light a fire in your wood stove, open the front door for 30 minutes. This ought to warm the inside of the firebox up enough for air to begin flowing up and out of the chimney. Then, once that happens, you can load the stove and light your fire. If you'll notice, right now you're actually creating a draft from the heat of your torch. So there really isn't too much to it. It's not like you've got a very stubborn air dam or anything because the air is eventually moving. You'd simply like it to move a bit earlier than it currently is.

If you find that the draft doesn't begin by itself from opening the front door and letting the inside of the stove warm up, you can try burning a fire starter block or a wax log to get things going. To test the draft, light a match and blow it out. As it's smoking, hold it near the entrance of the stove. See which way the smoke blows. If it goes up into the wood stove, then you're good. If it blows back at you and into the living space, you need to get that draft going by burning a starter log or something like that. Remember, paper smokes. Those was starters are pretty good at not smoking. Pick up a carton of them if necessary.

 

[CraigHardy]

And for the love of everything that is holy, make sure you are using nice dry kindling and not trying to start a fire with wet or unseasoned wood. If that's the case, you'll never get your fire going no matter how much draft you have.

Here's a tip too. During the winter months, you may have what's known as the chimney effect or stack effect going on in your house. This means that your entire house has a negative air pressure because any heat that's inside wants to rise and go out tiny crevices in your upper floors and roof. Old windows and lack of proper caulking cause this. Anyway, because your house might essentially be a vacuum, it's going to be really challenging to get a draft going in your wood stove. And actually you may never get one because your house may be pulling the air down your chimney to pull out of the upstairs windows. The trick is to open a window while trying to light your fire. The open window will negate the negative pressure and that will help tremendously.

 

[CaptainDan]

I've done some quick YouTube research for you. Here's what I found. Basically, don't add any wood to the firebox before you get your draft situation squared away. Simply crumple up two or three pieces of newspaper and light them inside the stove. You may get a hint of smoke at first, but those big flames the paper creates will quickly move a nice draft up the chimney. Add some pieces of cardboard if necessary until you can feel that your inside chimney pipe is warm or hot to the touch. Then add your wood and paper and all that afterwards.

Alternately, you can hold a torch for about three minutes inside the stove, pointed up the chimney. This will give the warmth that's necessary for a draft.

And finally, and this one is a bit weird, but you can cut out a piece of cardboard so it's just a little larger than the stove door and so it fits right over the opening of your stove when the door is open. Cut a hole the size of a hairdryer at the middle of the cardboard. Then, place the cardboard over the open door space and hold a hair dryer up to the hole and turn it on. Let that heat go up the chimney for a few minutes and that should start a draft for you.

The problem is that you've got cold air in the chimney that's just sitting there. The taller the chimney and the more bends it has in it, the worse this problem can be. By adding smoke free heat to the firebox, you'll move that cold air right out.

How to Light a Wood Stove/Fireplace & Never Smoke Up the House

How To Stop Smoke When Lighting a Log Burning Stove

 

[LukeLewis]

Do Wood Stove Side Heat Shields Block Heat?​

I bought two side heat shields for my wood stove a few months ago and after burning wood for a while now, I'm beginning to realize that not as much heat is radiating from the stove as I'm used to. The stove gets very hot, but for some reason, I'm not being sweated out of the room like I used to be. I think the heat shields have something to do with that. FYI - the heat shields cover both sides about half way. They begin half way back on the stove and attach to the rear heat shield. They sit about an inch or two away from the sides of the stove and they do a very good job at blocking the heat. I was concerned that the stove was going to be too hot for the corner walls I situated it near, but with these shields, there's no problem at all. I can probably place the stove six inches away from the walls and I wouldn't have an issue. I wouldn't do that, of course, but I'm sure I could.

Anyway, does anyone have any experience with not feeling as much heat once they added side heat shields to their wood stove? Please let me know.

 

[CaptainDan]

Any type of heat shield can affect the heat output of a wood stove. If you've got shields that are attached to the walls of the home, obviously those won't affect anything, but if the shields are attached to the stove itself, then yes, you'd notice a difference. Primarily, you'll lose radiant heat from the areas in which the shields are placed. Theoretically, you'd still feel heat from those areas, but it would be through convection, not radiation. If you've got a fan going, you may increase the heat output, but I don't know of anyone who has a fan attached to their stove so it blows upwards through side shields.

I've read a lot on wood burning forums that the radiant heat is replaced by convective heat. I think the people who claim this have their heads in the clouds. There's no way you're going to get as much convective heat out of your stove as you were getting radiant heat. The purpose of the heat shields is to block the heat and that's exactly what they're doing. Now, if you were to add some mechanical air movement so the heat trapped behind those shields was somehow liberated, then you'd be in business. But as it stands, any natural air movement is minimal and you're feeling the effects of the shields.

 

[KodyWallice]

Jay, can you send me exact measurements of the pressure treated 2x4s that you used to make the box. I have the exact setup, with a 2 ft stainless pipe to get away from wall, but have yet to cut the hole in wall. I am now wanting to cut and construct the box you mentioned, but thought I’d you had dimensions it would save me time. Thanks.

PS - Also meant to ask you how you braces the piping against the wall....the straps that I have are meant to be only a couple inches away from the wall. Not sure how I will make the 18 foot run steady since it will be just around 2 feet away. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[JGaulard]

Hi. I will do this in the morning when it's light outside. I'll take measurements and more photos and post everything here. Also, just to let you know, I have walls that were built with 2x6s, so yours will need to be built with the same thing. You'll need to adjust your own measurements for your wall thickness.

UPDATE

Here are some photos and measurements.

First, this is the extension box itself. It was constructed with pressure treated 2x4s.



The distance from the exterior wall is 13".



The height of the box is 11", which is the same as the support mount, I believe.



The width of the box is 17", which is, again, the width of the support mount.



I attached the chimney directly to the edge of the roof. I didn't need to add that aluminum flashing and I wouldn't do that again. I would also use screws that don't rust to construct the box, like exterior decking screws.



This is the (almost) entire setup. The reason I have that flashing on an angle coming from the wall is to keep the rain from splattering against the siding.



This is the Duravent chimney roof support bracket.



I used the support strapping that came with the through the wall chimney kit to hold the rear of the mount to the wall and then I used some additional strapping I picked up at the hardware store. I'll likely replace the longer strapping with something that doesn't rust.





If you get lucky like I did, the chimney will sit about two inches from the roof line. If you don't, you may need to use two 30° angle pipes, but the entire reason for using the two foot extension pipe through the wall and the DIY mount box is to save the $300+ for the angle pipes.

Let me know if you have questions or need more pictures.

 

[JGaulard]

How to Install the Englander NC-30 Wood Stove​

I really didn’t think I was going to get to this project until September. I mean, I knew it had to get done, and the sooner the better, but the way I’ve been procrastinating lately – well, let’s just say I’m surprised.

I think it was two Sundays ago when I said to Laura, “let’s go.” And we ran off to Home Depot to pick up the stove. I figured we’d grab it, let it sit for a while and then get to it when we got to it. Apparently, my brother’s personality in me kicked into high gear sometime between the time we bought the stove and today, because for some reason, I just “had” to finish this up.

I’m going to be honest with you here when I say that I was a bit intimidated. I’ve never put together a wood stove system before and now that I have, I still say it’s a tough project. Every house is different and getting lucky with structural layout is most likely a rare occurrence. I just happened to park the stove almost directly between two of the many beams that hold up the roof. The big black support box that needs to get screwed up there needs to be between those beams. That, my friends, was luck. I actually thought I was going to have to configure things differently, but Laura ended up making a suggestion that made sense. Sometimes I wonder where I’d be without her.

Things went smoothly. I began putting together the hearth, then finished it and moved the stove upon it. After that, I tore some of the ceiling down and put up the chimney. It’s real sweet – and straight – and level. Just the way I like it. Take a look.





I know those pictures are dark. If you click on them, they’ll get bigger and might be easier to see. We still have no light in that room, so getting pictures to look good in there is difficult.

On the flip side of things, taking pictures outside is remarkably wonderful, even in these Maine day of off-again, on-again rain and sunshine. At least it’s warm. That’s all I can say.

Here are a few pictures of the chimney. I still have to purchase one more two-foot section of pipe and a support bracket, but that’ll take about ten minutes to pop up there. This thing is finished.







If you look closely, you’ll notice two shingles above the chimney flashing that don’t match the rest of the roof. I had some spare black shingles stored above the garage and decided to use them. They are on the part of the roof that’s rear facing, so I think the birds and crickets will have to get over it. They work well though. All my caulking, shingling and sealing kept out the water from one of our mid-afternoon sprinkles. Better than yesterday, when I was up there in a rain storm. These things come out of nowhere.

Okay, let’s go back inside for a second. I’ve got a few up-close shots for you. First, we have the finished hearth. I decided to use cedar 4x4s, purchased from a friend up the road. He’s got a saw mill up there and I figured that buying the wood from him would be nice and they would give the hearth some character as well. I may clear coat the wood in the future, just to keep things tight. Also, if you notice the screw heads, please also notice that they’re six inches long and penetrate all the way through the sub-floor. The wood is rock solid.



As for the box that connects the interior stove pipe with the exterior chimney, that was a job and a half. And I did it alone. Let me tell you, it’s not easy holding the box at a specific height, level and plumb, with one hand while attempting to measure a length of stove pipe. I don’t know how I got that done, but I did. And it’s straight – again.



Once that was installed, the rest was easy. Attach the pipe, screw it together with self-tapping sheet metal screws, paint it up a bit and seal it together. Looks brand new.





I tried to start two fires already and failed both times. All I did was make a lot of smoke. I need dry kindling. I thought some cardboard and thinly split Ash tree wood would do the trick, but it didn’t. The fire smoldered out both times. Now, I think I’ll get busy with the kindling situation.

Hopefully, we’ll be better this coming Winter than we were last Winter. While the pellet stove worked well, I’d like to reduce our use of electricity as well as the expense of the pellets themselves. I’ll always have a few tons of pellets on hand, but I gotta say, finding firewood is much more fun. There’s something rewarding about going out there and hunting around some, only to locate a wood source that will eventually turn into heat during the dead of Winter. I like that.

Testing Out the Wood Stove​

If you have any type of heat issue in your house (meaning not enough heat), I can suggest that you get a wood stove. I’m testing out our new one right now and all I have to say is “wow.” That thing puts out some heat. Granted, it’s 63 degrees outside, but still, as soon as I enter the log cabin room – BAM – right in the kisser.

The separation of cool to warm between rooms does give me concern, but as Steve suggested, a fan may cure that problem. Just sit one on the floor at the bottom of the steps and blow the cold air in. There is another issue though, that I’m concerned with and that’s not having enough seasoned wood. When I started up tonight’s fire, which was wonderful with my new kindling, by the way, I heard some hissing after I threw some logs in. After a while, the hissing disappeared, but I don’t like the fact that I used wood that’s been sitting in the shed since December and it’s not seasoned yet. Things may possibly turn better with the onset of Summer, but I better have a plan B just in case. Purchasing seasoned wood? BioBricks? Nah, that would be so bad. I’ll get my wood seasoned soon enough and I’ll have a good time burning it.

So, why did I start a fire in May? Well, I wanted to see how the stove burned. If there were any issues, I’d like to solve them now as opposed to when the snow is falling. Also, I wanted to feel how warm things got, such as the support box up above and the hearth down below. Here’s my report: The support box gets warm, but not really all that warm. And it may be because the box is situated directly above the stove, which is really hot. As for the hearth – man, all that hubbub about the hearth. The hearth is cool to the touch and so is the base of the stove. I really don’t think I’ll have a problem in that area.

Tomorrow, I’m going to climb atop the roof again to check things out. I want to take a look at my caulking job as well as the chimney pipe. I’ll see if everything is a-okay and if it is, I’ll really begin collecting wood. It’ll “be time.”

 

[JGaulard]

Englander 30-NCH Burning All Night​

This December has been shaping up to be a very cold one. A big surprise was getting snow around Thanksgiving and another surprise was having the temperature fall to -2 degrees last night. Well, since it’s still hovering near -2, I’m inclined to think it went down even lower. When things cool off like this, we tend to want to report extremes.



The way it works is like this: When we wake up in the morning, I turn the pellet stove on. I also walk into the other part of the house where the wood stove resides and get that lit as well. During the day, we feed both stoves. If it’s really cold when we wake up, the temperature in the house is around 40 degrees. It usually takes until noon to heat up to around 65 degrees.

Around 8:30 at night, I’m sweating. The walls have warmed up and if things get too hot, I open the window that I have my desk next to. We keep things like this until around midnight when we get ready for bed. During that time, Laura turns the pellet stove off and I stop adding wood to the wood stove. Overnight, things burn out.

With this recent cold snap, things have changed slightly. I looked at the forecast yesterday morning and noticed that it was going to be very cold for the next few days. I suggested that we keep the pellet stove running through the night and that I fill the wood stove up as much as I could to keep the house warm. In general, I don’t like doing this because, in my humble opinion, it wastes fuel. We kept the stoves on and when we got out of bed this morning, while cool, the temperature hovered around 50 degrees. That’s not bad, considering the wind and freezing temperatures we had last night. Low temps are one thing, low temps and high winds are quite another.

I sort of enjoy waking up in the cold. I like hiding under my blankets until the last minute and then having to rush around trying to get dressed and all that. I feel that this type of thing builds character. If life were too easy, I don’t think I’d be nearly as strong as I am. Since I keep certain areas challenging, I keep myself relevant. It’s weird, but it works.

By the way, if you’d like to see our stove in action, take a look at this video.

Englander 30-NCH Wood Burning Stove

 

[EmeraldHike]

You really don’t load that stove up and damper it down? It’s only – what 4 pieces of wood? Then the next morning you have coals and a warmer house.

 

[JGaulard]

I try to push it as long as possible, but yes, now that it’s freaking freezing out there, I load this sucker up. It’s a huge stove, so it’s holds a lot though. I really hate burning through wood. So far, this year I’ve burned about 1/4 cord and a 1/2 ton of pellets. I’d say that’s not too shabby. I do suspect that I have a bit of an obsession with this wood thing though. I have a garage full and buy about 3 cord a year. I need to start putting it to good use more.

 

[EmeraldHike]

I’d say you are doing good with those totals. I burn about 3 full cord in my wood stove insert. Keeps my place toasty. I always load her at night to carry me through.

I was just surprised to see 40 degrees in the AM. Brrrr. I’m hardcore, but not that hardcore.

 

[JGaulard]

It’s invigorating for sure. Good thing I’m with someone who knows the cold. If either one of us didn’t like it, we’d have problems.

3 cords is good. I know people around here who burn a heck of a lot more than that. Do you have oil or gas too? We only have wood and pellets.

 

[Newman]

Duravent Chimney Cap Screen Keeps Getting Clogged​

Is it me or does your chimney cap screen get clogged with creosote a lot. I have been having this problem since I began using this brand of chimney cap. I used to burn wood exclusively in my fireplace, but since I got a wood stove, I've only had problems. It seems that I have to climb my ladder once per month to clean the screen out. The screen consists of what looks like rabbit fencing. The holes are only about half inch by half inch square. Why in the world is the cap spark arrestor screen getting so clogged all the time? I bought a bbq brush exclusively to use on this. I bang on it and then brush it. It works well, but the entire situation is annoying.

 

[LukeLewis]

Let me ask you two questions. Do you burn fires in your wood stove in the spring and fall when it's not too cold out? If so, you're probably burning your fires too cool. When you burn cool and let the fires go out a lot, you create lots of smoke and that smoke is what's creating the creosote that's clogging the spark arrestor screen. Also, when you open the door to your wood stove, does smoke come out? If so, that's a good indication that the screen is clogged up and that you need to head up on that ladder to clean it. The clog is stopping the draft from going up the chimney.

Also, I've seen spark arrestors that were all different sizes. A half inch seems pretty small for the holes. You may want to open some of them up or look for another chimney cap.

 

[Newman]

Yes, I do burn cool fires in the fall and in the spring. And yes, it does get smokey. And the wood I'm burning probably isn't seasoned enough because I can hear is hiss when I put it in the stove. All those things contribute to a cool fire that smolders.

I already went up on the ladder to clip a few of the sections of screening away. Now some of the holes are about an inch by an inch. It's an improvement, but I'd still like to get another cap. I've thought about just tearing the screen right out of it, but I won't because I know what it's good for. It reduces the amount of embers that come out of the chimney pipe that might cause a fire. I don't want that, so I'll keep things they way they are. For now. I do have my eye on a nice new cap though. It's called the Forever Cap. Check it out:

https://amzn.to/3oZzqI8

It's got nice big holes in it and it's stainless steel. I don't think this one will clog up too easily. And I must say, the Duravent or Duraplus cap is cheaply made. It's such junk. It's thin metal and it bends very easily. Thanks for your help.

 

[JGaulard]

Cleaning a Duravent Chimney​

I thought I'd share my related experience with you.

Yesterday, Laura and I went on a bit of an adventure. We had a few things in mind to do – most of which I’ll cover in later posts. One part of our adventure was to stop by our local hardware store in Madison to pick up some chimney cleaning products. I abandoned my old supplies in the shuffle of moving around in 2013, so I was forced to restock. I would have only been able to use some of what I had anyway, so I’m not as annoyed as I could be. Only partially annoyed.

Anyway, what I needed (and what I purchased, among other things) was a chimney cleaning brush made out of polypropylene. It’s important to use the poly brush with stainless steel chimney liners because the wire ones will scratch up the insides. I took a picture of the box for you. Unfortunately, while taking the picture, I didn’t notice that the Spanish side was showing. If you speak or read Spanish, have at it.



Since my arms are only a few feet long, I had to buy two, 6 foot long chimney cleaning rods with 1/4″ attachments. These look like fiberglass tent poles and this is what I had to leave behind in Connecticut when I left. They were only a few bucks, but still.

Lastly, I needed to get a handheld wire brush to clean the chimney cap screen. When I climbed atop the roof earlier in the week to inspect the chimney, I noticed some crud buildup in the cap.



It’s a little blurry, but you get the idea.

When we got home from our outing yesterday, I quickly grabbed the ladder and went back up on top of the roof. I was losing daylight fast and wanted to clean the chimney and take some pictures to show you. Here’s what I found:







While I’ve seen worse, it is striking how much creosote can build up in just a few weeks of burning wood in a wood stove. As you can see, the pipe leading down to the stove isn’t bad. The cap is the worst and I attribute that to slow, cool fires, creating a lot of smoke, leading to that smoke settling and condensing onto the coolest part of the chimney – the cap. But that’s why I went up there – to clean it. That’s also why I bought that little brush.



To clean the actual chimney, I assembled the brush and the rods and ran the whole thing up and down the pipe a few times. The way I set up the stove is really beneficial to me when it comes to cleaning time. The pipe is only about twelve fee in its entirety and it’s straight down. And debris falls directly into the stove.



What you see above is what came out of the chimney. It’s not much, but I think it’s indicative of the creosote buildup possibilities. Cool fires in the fall and spring can do a number on your chimney and cap. You have to clean them.

When I was finished, I put everything back together and made a really kickass fire that Laura and I got drunk in front of for hours. Now that’s what I’m talking 'bout.

Yesterday, we had to stop by Campbell’s building supply in Madison to take some pictures for a website I’m working on. I’m doing some pro bono work for a friend of ours and they’ve got a display set up in this particular store that needed to be digitally captured. While we were there, I noticed Campbell’s was selling some BioBricks.



I’ve been wondering about these bricks for some time, so I decided to purchase one package of them. A package includes 20 bricks and weighs 38 pounds. The package makes numerous claims about how great they are and how they are superior to cord wood, but what I really noticed was that I can get a bag of pellets for $4 and that bag would weigh 40 pounds. These bricks only weigh 38 pounds and cost $7.89. That’s almost twice the cost of the pellets and the pellets would give me about one day of heat. Needless to say, I was quite interested in how long these bricks would burn. The package claims the bricks are twice as dense as cord wood, which led me to believe I would see them flaming away in the stove for a good long time.



I burned a few BioBricks last night and I have to say, they burn rather well. I can’t say they did any better or worse than regular wood because I truly didn’t notice any difference. I also didn’t notice any difference in the length of time these bricks burned for. I had them mixed in with wood and when I log was finished burning, so was the BioBrick.

One thing I did notice though was that the BioBricks did burn hotter, which means that you might get away with burning fewer of them when compared to what you’d have to burn in cord wood to get the same amount of heat. I’m sure there’s all sorts of BTU test results floating around out there – I’m just offering a quick opinion.

I’d say that if you can afford them, these bricks would make your life easier. They are super easy to store and burn and you’d get a really consistent fire. But again, I think they are a little pricey. If they were $200 a ton, I’d grab some, but at the $389 per ton that Tractor Supply is charging, no thanks. I just picked these up from Campbell’s out of sheer curiosity.



Lastly, I’ve been thinking about getting back into video editing recently. I haven’t made any videos in about two years and I enjoy the whole process. I’ve even been considering picking up a sweet little GoPro camera to help out in my video production. To wet my whistle once more, I decided to create a short video of the fire burning in our Englander 30-NCH wood burning stove. I added a few effects and put some music to it. I think I just wanted to see if I still had it. You can view it in an above post.