It's code for a reason.... it's a bad idea. Smoke from one appliance can end up coming out another one and CO winds up into the house. Can you direct-vent the pellet stove out a side wall?
As TurboDiesel said, you want a core drill to get through your foundation. Every rental place should have them.
In one room on our first floor, we have an oil furnace and an oil hot water heater that currently vent out of the existing chimney. In the past there was a wood stove attached as well. I took that off as it was out of code. All of this on the first floor slab.
We did look into boring a whole in the granite for another reason, and the cost was out of this world at the time. It might make sense today as I really want to put a wood stove back in the living room. From what everyone is saying, I could use a power vent for the oil furnace and the oil hot water heater. It's within code to have both of them use one flu for us. I hope it's ok to use one power vent so that I'd only have to bore one hole for the power vent. That done, I'd be able to simply use the existing chimney for either a wood stove or a pellet stove.
I'm thinking if you were to vent both appliances through one vent hole, you'll probably want to wire the fans on each device to come on simultaneously so as to not allow a backdraft of CO2 to come in on the appliance that isn't in use at the time. That would be what I would do, they don't call me "Overkill" for nothing!! Whatever you do, DO NOT go against code. First off, it's not legal. But the MAIN reason is you don't want to harm your family or yourself. Safety first and foremost, we don't want anything to happen to our brothers, sisters and their families here at FHC!!
You really don't want to give the Ins. Co. any excuse to deny a claim for an unsafe, or not to code installation in case of fire, either. The foundation is under the structure, is it not? Or, are the walls granite?
Just a guess but I doubt it's a "good" chimney if it's had multiple chimney fires over the years and every few weeks you let the fire "roar" to clean up the creosote. I bet if you run a camera down it you will find some joints missing some mortar or cracked at the very least. Is the chimney clay lined or a brick chimney? Either way dropping a liner down it not only makes it safer it also sizes the chimney to the correct size for the wood burning appliance that is being connected to it. Modern stoves don't perform well on chimneys with a large cross section. For example a 6" round flue has a c/s of 28.28, if your chimney c/s is close to that is may work fine but it's probably much larger.
YES, very good answer. It is the most important part of you're journey. Insurance now days does whatever to prove it was someone else's fault, don't give them ammo. If this chimney goes through your house (not external) it's best to do it correct. This is not answering your question, but new electric water heaters are very efficient. Sure they cost $1000+ but how much are gonna spend trying to run three flues?
I guess I'm lost, you say granite foundation that you have to bore through but you say no basement, built on slab? Wouldn't your walls be wood or is like a berm house or something? I guess without the pics we're all just guessing right now.
Had a somewhat surprise insurance inspection here at the house a couple years ago and he made a b-line right to the wood stove. Measuring tape/ pad and paper/camera/and attic inspection with a ton of questions. Everything was fine and the guy was pretty decent about it and did tell me the ins companies are all over our set-ups do to ever increasing house fires. Have fun with whatever ya do 33
Sigh... I tell customers this all the time, it pays to do things the right way! It may cost you more up front, but in the long run it always.... ALWAYS, pays out. Have your chimney inspected, and each appliance (oil furnace, oil water heater, and wood/pellet stove) needs it's own flue. First and foremost for the safety of your family, and secondary to comply with code, making the insurance company happy. Do it correctly and only do it once.
Why done you use your furnace to heat hot water and install a hot water tank. Then all you have to worry about is 2 the furnace and woods stove. Place a stove pipe along side the chimney for the wood stove. If you get a pellet stove. All you need is a simple external exhaust vent.
Questions have been answered well so I'll comment only on the title. "Not legal, but should you do it?" The real simple answer to any question like that is that you do the right thing, because it is the right thing to do.
Just reading along on an interesting thread and evilroyslade's photo caught my eye. Pretty cute kids, and fun looking setup, evilroy. I think Backwoods Savage has it right. Set it up right the first time and save yourself time, worry, and pain.
I like the idea of the electric water heater. How old is your oil water heater? Time to replace it? Move it to a better spot to free up some space? check out the tankless water heater threads here. Mine is the size of a briefcase
You can get a stand alone power vent unit to vent several alliances . It can be wired to kick on from whatever appliance is in use . IT is not recommended to run multiple appliances with separate power vents through on exit . This will bypass built in safty features . If one PV fails on the inop apliance you could have a problem very fast
You'll love this. Our house is built into the side of a hill. The low side is towards the street. The granite foundation was the walkout basement on the street side. An addition was added sometime in the early 1900's for 1 car garage. The kitchen and everything else was on the second floor with bedrooms on the third floor. No attic. When my dad purchased the house, he moved the kitchen, dinning room and living room to the first "basement" of the house. As a result, the exterior walls are granite on the first floor. We have forced hot air in the house. It's my understanding that I'd need a forced hot water system in order to heat my hot water with a buddy tank. This would require I put in an air handler on top of the buddy tank. Not sure I'd be able to get all of that in the one room. I'll get pictures today. The oil hot water heater is only four years old. The oil forced hot air furnace is only 3 years old. Our electric company just raised rates 24%. Yeah us.
Again, not being in your shoes and blasphemy spoken here. I would put large efforts in energy efficiency. You may not end up with a wood stove but you can drop your bills. ROI is tough but look also at comfort and I do not see utility prices ever going down. Ever. The fact that you're on oil makes it even more worth while.
