While I'm at it I might as well ask another question relating to my homestead-to-be. As you may know I am building a 24'X32' log cabin over the next 18 months. I live in Quebec, Canada...the Great White Wintery Kingdom. My project will not be electrified, for many reasons, one of them being that I don't want to be dependant on this type of energy. I am building in a great forest with plenty of wood and a lot of acreage so wood availability is not a problem. I plan on heating my cabin exclusively with a wood-fired stove. I eventually will buy one of the Heartland Oval Cookstoves which will cook and heat for me. For now, I am pouring all of my money into the cabin itself, so a 300$ box-stove will have to do for a couple of years. The Heartland has a 7" flue size, I will be installing a 7" stainless chimney (2100 degrees) but my temporary (2-5 years) box stove has a 6" flue size. I know I can get it to fit, but will I have problems with either poor-drafting, creosote, or condensation being that the stove and cimney are not adapted? What effect would this situation have if it was inverted, being a 7" stove flue and 6" cimney? I'm curious since I have to make decisions soon on the chimney size (a quick deal). Any help on this question would be appreciated! Thanx Sport240
I guess I'll fess up to being an ex-pat canuck. Last place I lived was Hull Quebec. As for your questions, I've solved them already. Regarding the Heartland Oval stove, my neighbor has one and it is very pretty and has that "old timey" look to it. But it does NOT hold a fire well and is mean to use for baking or maintaining a uniform oven temp. I bought the Pioneer Maid stove from the Amish. For you it is made in Aylmer, Ontario and the advertisement for "Suppertime Stoves" in Countryside, is the stove I am talking about, but they are a downstream seller that imports them from Aylmer. The Pioneer Maid is firebrick lined, air tight, huge firebox, easy, easy, easy to control, holds even oven temperatures, holds a fire all night, and is the best stove I have ever used, seen, heard of, can imagine. I love mine and would pay even more to have another if it went AWOL. The Pioneer Maid requires an 8" chimney but I had previously installed a 6" chimney in my home. Prior to getting the stove I used a Franklin to heat and it required an 8" chimney. To marry the two I went to my favorite sheet metal shop, took the Franklin with me so they could get it right, and had them make up a conversion cone that fit both. In sum it necked down from 8 to 6, plus it converted from oval on the Franklin to round at the chimney pipe. Cost a few bucks, but not much. The change in diameter resulted in absolutely no draw problems and everything works just fine. With the Pioneer Maid, there is an adapter available to neck it down from 8 to 6. Likewise draws just fine, no problems. Also, since we are talking about wood fired heat in a wood (combustible) home be sure to plan a fire proof installation. I cut up a sheet of 5/8" sheetrock into 1 1/2 wide stips. Nailed two layers over each stud after the wall was sheet rocked and covered those strips with 5/8 s.r., then taped and topped. Did the same on the floor and made the air cavity continuous from the front of the stove on the floor to the top of the wall. The outermost layer is 1 1/2 in short of the ceiling letting air flow from bottom to top as it heats. The top layer of rock can get pretty warm, but the under layer stays cool no matter how hot your stove. And that includes one chimney fire (oops). Enjoy your project, bearkiller
Thanx Bearkiller!! That is some good info! I have been looking at the Pioneer Maid too...actually the FlameView which is a souped up version of the Pioneer Maid but they do look interesting...the only reason why I was gonna go with the Heartland was that it is the brand the local dealer sells and the SupperTime stove store is 12 hours away and the shipping was making the situation a little expensive. I'm glad to hear that the Heartland really is'nt an all-nighter...I'm quite intrigued though to the effect that Pioneer Maids and probably the Margin Gems and FlameViews are made in Aylmer!! My brother lives close to Aylmer....If I could get some info on the company direct (Amish) I really would give these good folk a try!! I would appreciate all you'd be willing to give on this topic.... Thanx Sport240
The required stovepipe/chimney size for any woodburner is based on the size (or area) of the firebox opening (ie, door). The bigger the door, the larger the diameter of chimney required. If you hook up a woodburner that requires an 8" chimney to an existing 6" chimney, you'll get smoke in the house when you open the door to feed wood to the burner. Once the door is closed, it will work just fine without smoking. There is absolutely no problem hooking up a woodburner than requires a smaller diameter chimney to an existing larger diameter chimney. ANd like I said, if you hook it the other way around (with a reducer), you'll only get smoke when the door is open.
While many people do go from an 8" stove to a 7 or 6" chimney, it is not a good idea. It will, many times, cause poor draft, & your stove to bellow smoke every time you open the door. It also is not to code, can cause insurance problems down the road in addition to preformance problems. For new construction, please put in an 8" chimney, & you should be good to go with any stove or furnace you get - I see we are already thinking about different models. You can always go from a 6" stove output to anything bigger. But it is kinda wrong to go from a bigger stove output to a smaller chimney. An 8" chimney would be planning for the future...... --->Paul
