Hey everyone, I've been reading from this site for awhile and have learned a lot but now have a question for the experts. My family and have started to build a new home and we will have our first wood stove. I grew up burning a lot of wood but it was always in fireplaces. I've purchased a Woodstock Progress Hybrid. While I have pretty good handle on the stove itself, I am looking for recommendations on solving a tall flue issue. The home is a walkout with 1.5 stories above the basement. The main room where the stove will be installed has tall vaulted ceilings and the stove will be installed on a raised hearth in the corner. The stove pipe will exit the home on the lower end of a 12:12 roof line and then extend 8-9 ft in the air to clear the peak of the roof and meet code/draft requirements. Because the pipe will exit on the walkout side of the home it will be a 3 story fall if you would go off the roof. I also have to somehow get 9 ft in the air once I'm on the 12:12 roof line. I'll attach some pictures for reference. I'm looking for ideas on how to best clean a chimney like this. I'd like to pipe to come straight out the top of the stove. Getting up on the roof isn't the problem. The problem is getting to the top of the pipe once I'm up there. I have a couple of ideas in my head ranching from framing in the pipe so I can lean a ladder against it to installing a steel grate platform on the roof that would allow me to harness in and walk out to the chimney. I'd appreciate any ideas on how to best solve this problem or at least make in manageable and safe. Even if I would hire a chimney sweep to handle it I still have to convince someone to do it. Thanks and great to meet all of you. Seems like a great group.
The pipe is usually in 3 ft sections. If you are happy with going up there (I wouldn't be), it could be disassembled each time for cleaning. I wonder if a sooteater could go that far from the bottom?
Bushpilot - I asked that very question to company that's going to help with the install. They said that the pipe that goes to the outside would be crimped and very difficult to get appart. I also asked them about coming out the back of the stove and then going straight up but they said the length of cleaning rods required with the short clearance above the floor would be difficult. I'm also not the crazy about going up there. Well, I guess I'm more worried about the coming down part
Welcome Lakeside , my set up is very similiar-I am 12/12 out, 9/12 in-peak of great room at 23’-be happy to share pics and ideas-I was straight shot when installed but when I switched to the Fireview, I went from top flue exit to rear so now I have a couple 45’s and of course a 90* out of the stove-I’m using the flexible fiber glass rods with cordless drill from bottom up now x3 yrs and have had zero probs as long as you burn seasoned wood....Anyway, the mantra is we like pics, dogs and beer-we also like spending your money on accoutrements to enhance your addiction, er , hoard that is. Lots of great folks here willing to lend advice or a hand. Nice to meet ya
BTW, welcome to the forum. And to tag someone (like this Lakeside), just type the @ sign and start typing their username, and it will pop up. I sounds like Ashwatcher might be using a sooteater? It looks like they sell it with as much as 39 feet of rods, so maybe you could use it? You could always add more rods, but there must be a practical limit.
I'd go out and up. Over what looks like a back deck. Through that deck's/sunroom's roof if it has one . Exposed or with a chase with an acccess to the bottom clean out. Or use a sooteater up thru the chimney inside.
Welcome to FHC Lakeside .... As Ashwatcher ... Mentioned I'd go with a sooteater. I've got a soot eater, cause I don't go up on my roof more than I have to. Plus my pipe is out of my reach right off the roof peak, and I'd have to take a section off... Just easier to do it while my feet are on the ground.
Welcome to the forum. You’ll need to clean from the bottom. The sooteater others have mentioned are more flexible than your average cleaning rods. Never tried one myself but I’ll have one next year I used to run up my roof like a goat when I was young. Last fall I decided that’s not happening anymore LOL My best advice is to present this problem to Woodstock. They’ll know exactly what needs to be done as they sell stovepipe also. Not saying you need to buy your chimney from them but they will be glad to answer your question with specificity and professionalism. A great company for product and informational support. My guess is you’ll come out the back but I build masonry chimneys. Not familiar with all the particulars of metal chimneys. You also may want to shop around for a different installer They gave you the wrong answer IMO.
Call me crazy but???? Building a brand new home. Why would you place your new stove (great stove choice!) where you cant access the entire system easily? Let me guess? Architect involved Someday you will want to get up there and at least eyeball your cap etc. If not remove it for cleaning. Or pay a sweep who wants to show up and find something easily accessible. I am also a believer in bottom up cleaning with a Sooteater as mentioned. They work well. Also. You will benefit greatly from centrally locating your stove if your intentions are to use it for a large portion of your heat load. My 2 cents. Enjoy your PH.
A sooteater I would think should clean it just fine, especially if it's a straight shot. It will be a little bit of a hassle with the amount of rods needed but certainly doable. The only issue will be accessing the chimney cap, but aside from aesthetics, cleaning it isn't nearly as important as keeping a clean flue, in my opinion. That said, DO NOT put a cap with a screen up there, assuming that "some day" that screen will get plugged and then you will pretty much have to get up there to either take it off or clean it. Maybe my advice of "don't clean your chimney cap" sounds kind of weird but in your case it's just not going to be an easy task, likely more trouble than it's worth unless it was actually plugged.
So there has been some excellent advice on the chimney and especially on the placement of the stove to begin with. I'd like to touch on one more thing here and that is stove, or rather, what you will be feeding it. We find that most people really do not appreciated the importance of really dry wood in the stove. Also we find that new wood burners will install the stove...and then start thinking about the fuel. In my opinion, that is backward thinking. Burning wood is different than burning oil or gas. With those, you indeed can get stove or furnace and then start thinking about the fuel. Not so with wood and one should NEVER expect to buy good dry wood; it just very, very rarely happens. Wood sellers can not take the time nor the extra handling of the wood to properly dry it, so they just tell everyone that it is "seasoned." That term can be spelled a bit differently starting with the word bull. You have bought a first rate stove that will burn extremely clean and will find that you rarely will need to clean the chimney but only if you burn the right wood. Learn the different types of wood and the length of time each need to properly dry and the techniques of drying and storing. Here is some reading that you might find helpful: Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage This can be found on the "Resources" page on this forum. We wish you the best of luck on some tough decisions.
Wholeheartedly agree with the comments. Placement. Fuel and cap screen. Tossed my screen the first year. Can’t say it was clogged but it was dirty and of no use to me. Saw no sense in reinstalling it. Alleviate the possibility of needing to go up on the roof in winter. As for placement maybe closer to center. The PH is a beautiful stove and is better to watch at night than any TV. Make it more a focal point than an add on. That’s a lot of chimney free standing outside in the wind and cold. Last but not least fuel. As backwoods stated dry is best. The PH will burn moisture pretty well. Ask me how I know. Yet you can see the difference as winter goes on in draft. 2016 and 2017 I ran my PH without a brush. Mostly Oak which is a pain to get dry. Cleaned it this year. Not much came out. This season I’ve been burning all well dried Tulip. I may not even bother cleaning the chimney this year. I’m not recommending you follow my lazy methods but the PH runs pretty darn clean if you feed it dry wood.
First off Lakeside Welcome to the greatest group of guys and gals on line. You said the stove was going in the walkout correct? Why not go out side then up easy to clean cheaper to do. Also no matter how you do it think about out side air supply with out it your stove being in the lower level will be a bear to light.( I know this from experience) I did not put a air supply I just open the window a crack near the stove when lighting this has worked fine. Good luck and I will repeat we love pictures!!!! Very easy to clean from out side.
Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. I'm going to look into a soot eater and what they are capable of. Has anyone tried cleaning a 28 ft pipe from the bottom? If you have how did it work out? I should have mentioned that the woodstove location has moved some. Basically it slid to the left as you look at the picture about 12 ft. That really doesn't solve the flue height issue but it puts the woodstove in the center of the house. I'll have about 28 ft of pipe all said and done. 9 ft of it will be outside. I spoke to my contractor today and he is going to bid out framing in the pipe with a 3 ft by 3 ft frame. That would be plenty strong enough to lean a ladder against and since the flue will be more centrally located it won't be right next to a steep edge. That wood allow easier access to get up there safely. Running the pipe up the outside of the house a good idea but not one I'm interested in for a number of reasons. Woodstock also recommended keeping the pipe inside if possible for draft reasons. Although I'm sure the stove would run just fine with the pipe outside. Woodstock also recommended against an outside air kit. I have to rely on the experts for that because while I understand the concept of an outside air kit, I don't know enough about it to go against woodstocks guidance. Fuel is not something I have to worry about. While this will be my first stove I crew up doing a lot of heating with wood in centrally located fireplace. It was inefficient as hell but it kept the house warm. I currently have about 14 full cords stacked and drying. It's maple, red oak and ash. The maple and ash that I'll be burning this coming winter will have 2 years of drying time. I never bring oak in until it's got 3 years under it's belt. I've actually owned this property for 3 years while I've slowly be logging the build site alone. The required wood has been in the plan since the beginning. My current home doesn't have a wood burning capability and it's a part of my life that I miss a lot. I've read more about wood stoves than my wife cares to admit but after talking to woodstock a number of times I'm confident I'll be confident with the PH. No architect involved bushpilot . I could never afford it. Also, are you a flyer? I fly C-130s in the Air Force. I'll post a pics of the dogs and wood stacks when I get home from this TDY. If anyone has any other ideas for dealing with a tall flue please feel free to add to this thread and thanks again for the advice.
Our wood heater is in the basement and it’s roughly 28 feet to the chimney cap. After seaking advice on this forum I purchased two soot eater kits. Purchasing two kits was only a few more bucks than just getting extra rods. I am able to clean from the bottom with no issue. In a pinch, I can also put a ladder on the backside and shimmy across from the top to inspect the cap. Hopefully the bid for boxing your pipe in is reasonable. For me,being able to visually inspect from the top is important.
Welcome aboard Lakeside You've got a lot of good advice so far. Glad to hear that you thought ahead on fuel for the stove. As a former F-16 crew chief, I say a hearty Thank You for your service. Military roll call.
Central stove placement is a great plan for the best heating of your home...and internal chimney is usually preferable, but in your case with a chimney that tall, external would be fine too, you will have plenty of draft...too much actually...you will need to install a damper in the stovepipe to keep draft under control. Whatever you do, you will be able to clean from the bottom with a Sooteater...as was mentioned, buy 2 kits rather than just the extra rods...and there are ways to clean from the bottom, from inside the house, with no mess. (internal chimney) But if you can work it out to have the chimney close enough to the roof, or peak, so that you can access the chimney/cap if needed, that is best case scenario...could save you some headache someday...
Are you talking 14 actual cords at 128 cu ft per cord ? If so. Applause You are definitely a leg up on most new stove users on your wood supply and understanding of seasoning. Kudos. Should be interesting to read how your initial season Progresses
