Hi all, I have a nagging question. I have a fireplace in my basement
(!!!) which has been pretty much not used. The chimey is like 12"
square inside, some of the tiles look like they could have moved.

I'm putting n a wood furnace - so it should have much less heat that a
fireplace: its supposed to heat the flu to around 280 degrees according
to its specs, to prevent creosote.

Do I need a liner? Furnace requires minumum 8" round flue. Chimney guys
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS say I need something, and I don't trust those
mofos. Can the township tell me or what?

Don't want to spend another 1-2K on a liner if its totally unnecessary.
The chimney has 2 flues, the other one is for a fireplace on the ground
floor, which I use all the time with no problems.

Thanks,

Dean

"dean" wrote in message
....
some of the tiles look like they could have moved.

I'm putting n a wood furnace - so it should have much less heat that a
fireplace: its supposed to heat the flu to around 280 degrees according
to its specs, to prevent creosote.

My woodstove puts out much MORE heat than a fireplace. YMMV Where is the
280 degrees measured? As th e flue gasses rise, they are cooled a bit and
may condense at one particular spot in the chimney.


Do I need a liner? Furnace requires minumum 8" round flue. Chimney guys
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS say I need something, and I don't trust those
mofos. Can the township tell me or what?

Only way you should need a liner is if the chimney is in need of repair. A
competent chimney sweep can put a camera down the stack and see what it
really looks like. If it is solid, all the joints intact, no reason not to
use it as is. You may be able to inspect at least some of it with a
flashlight and mirror.

The township may be able to tell you minimum code, but they will not have
the specific requirements for every brand of stove or heater.

When you say your woodstove puts out much MORE heat, are you talking
about up the chimney or into the room? I can't imagine anything giving
more heat than a fireplace going up the chimney!

"dean" wrote in message
oups.com...
When you say your woodstove puts out much MORE heat, are you talking
about up the chimney or into the room? I can't imagine anything giving
more heat than a fireplace going up the chimney!

Both. My stack temperature on the stove run 400 degrees but I can crank it
up even more.

"dean" wrote in message
oups.com...
When you say your woodstove puts out much MORE heat, are you talking
about up the chimney or into the room? I can't imagine anything giving
more heat than a fireplace going up the chimney!


Forgot to mention, it is also a velocity thing too Fireplaces have lots
more air moving with the gasses compared to an airtight stove. That is one
of the thing that makes fireplaces so inefficient.

Oh yeah, didn't think of that.

The furnace has a butterfly valve of some kind that opens up when its
cold outside, to redirect some of the heat away from the heat exchanger
so it goes straight up the chimney when its cold. Not sure if this is
a manual thing, I don't have the installation instructions yet.

dean wrote:
Hi all, I have a nagging question. I have a fireplace in my basement
(!!!) which has been pretty much not used. The chimey is like 12"
square inside, some of the tiles look like they could have moved.

I'm putting n a wood furnace - so it should have much less heat that a
fireplace: its supposed to heat the flu to around 280 degrees according
to its specs, to prevent creosote.

Do I need a liner? Furnace requires minumum 8" round flue. Chimney guys
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS say I need something, and I don't trust those
mofos. Can the township tell me or what?

Don't want to spend another 1-2K on a liner if its totally unnecessary.
The chimney has 2 flues, the other one is for a fireplace on the ground
floor, which I use all the time with no problems.

Thanks,

Dean

your first call should be to your insurance company - provide them with
the stove specs and they will make the decision for you.

They said as long as its passed by the township code, I'm good.

For another example, a Morso Squirrel with about 8' of 6" smokepipe:
With primary draft at about 50%,
700 deg F at stove-top front,
~ 250 deg F about 1' up smokepipe from stove,
smokepipe cool enough to hold hand to it at thimble,
exhaust transparent, unless ambient below ~20 deg. F.

With this unit, it's pretty hard to get temp above 350 deg F in pipe,
just above stove, under any conditions. YMWV.

Fireplaces really rip when you have chimney fire.

HTH,
J

I just installed a wood stove...

I wanted to use my existing chimney, but was told by several people and also
read several different places... That new wood stoves heat more efficiently
and therefore do not send as much heat up the chimney.

Therefore it is important to have the same size chimney as the wood stove to
get proper draft. Also I heard all sorts of nasty stuff about old existing
chimneys and that in every case, they should be lined.

The building inspector and insurance guy went strictly by my wood stove
manufacturers specs for chimney and installation requirements.

It was less expensive and better for me to install a new chimney in another
location than to have my existing chimney relined.

I don't know if all this applies to a wood furnace or not? The important
part is to get your insurance company to cover it, and do what is necessary
to get them to cover it. That was my main concern.

When you line a chimney, aren't you just inserting a stainless tube
down the middle?

correct - at a size specific to the required dimensions to the wood
burning unit to provide adequate draft for safe burning.

So how come that's more expensive than building a new chimney?

dean wrote:
So how come that's more expensive than building a new chimney?

in building are you refering to a brick chimmney or a prefab chimney. i
had a liner installed in my chimmney 30 feet for around 600.00 - this
included the liner, the spark arrester, the cover for the brick
chimmney and the elbow going to the stove.