So I was on the roof today.... I took my spotlight up to check out the second chimney. Looking down at it, it looks PERFECT! Rectangular and looks brand new!! I can see all the way to the bottom and it' perfectly clean. Upon asking more questions, Nic's previous bf years back bought what sounds like a questionable pos wood stove and had a small fire within one month. He was an idiot, so it was probably all his install. We can get FREE hardwood scraps from my neighbor's pallet shop, so much that he says we couldn't store it all on our property. I'm seriously thinking about picking up a small wood stove for the dining room to use only when we are home to offset the price of running the propane fireplace. Is there really any downside to this???? I already will need to fix where the last fire was. It' a 24" section of one wall in a corner. I can rebuild it to accommdate a decorative wood stove.
Sounds like a great idea. If it were me I’d do anything I could to get away from the propane truck being in my driveway.
Sounds like you're on to something! If you have an extra flue use it! The more wood burners the better! You can't let a perfectly good flue sit idle and go to waste like that
Sounds like destiny...a flue is not complete unless it's got a fire box attached to it. I would say it's a sign...don't mess with destiny!!
Anyone know the model/specs on this Vermont Casting CS-45??? Still searching for a nice piece for the dining room.
How long of pieces is the free wood that you get? If you get a lot of shorter pieces, and your room is not all that big, you might consider going with a smaller stove like a pot belly stove, or a wood/coal baseburner. They take up less physical space then other stoves, and being from PA should your free source of fuel ever be cut-off for whatever reason (I hope that it doesn't), you have the option of burning coal. Such stoves can also be quite decorative too.
Rob, we have a new oil furnace and two propane fireplaces. With our small town lot there is no room for an OWB. LodgedTree, I did get some 13" blocks, but mostly will be 6-7" end cuts and smaller all hardwood. Some only 1-3 wide. All scraps. He started this business 2-3 years ago and it's growing. I can take anything he throws in the bin and he was burning a pile weekly behind the shop. I plan to get a load at east every week until I have no room to store it. In the spring I plan to buy 2 cords of wood to season and add in with the hardwood. Looking at a VC Vigilant this week. It's cheap enough and can be painted whatever color the boss wants. Right now it' a decorative piece in the woman's house.
Being laid off sucks, so I figured I would get out of the house and see if the neighbor had scraps before the snow storm. He did. Stuff that was frozen is leaned up against the wall to thaw. Couldn't fit it all in the picture.
Cranking Jotul now to heat the house and dry the wet stuff. I moved some of it away from the front of the stove for a walkway after taking pics. I would get another Jotul #4 for the first floor. I like the look, but Nicole doesn't want a Dalek in her dining rom.
I understand. I was not sure if you were shopping for a stove, or in the case you cited above, knew of one to be had already. I got a pot bellied stove (1898) and enjoy it. It really cuts down on wood consumption because the wood has to be small going into it, but then again my house is super-insulated so it does need a ton of constant BTU's.
Well...you came to a firewood hoarders site and asked is there's a downside to burning wood...lol The answer is always... burn wood! Non epa stoves are ok if you are trying to get started on a low budget, but an epa certified stove or better yet a cat stove will make more heat with less wood. Tell us more about this flue. And pictures are good too
Trying to save money by not using our propane fireplaces, so dropping money on a new stove negates that. Wood, as you see, is mostly free. I plan to buy 1-2 face cords to have wood seasoning and pallet scraps gathered all summer. The flue is on the side of the house. Ceramic rectangel 7 x 11.5 surrounded by block. Looks absolutely clean all the way down...20' to bottom if I remember. No pictures due to today's ice storm. This chimney starts on the ground at the first floor level and rises above the roof 3'-2". There is a clean out at the bottom. If we see a good deal on a newer stove and she likes the look, we might swap it out. Looking to burn only when we are home and we like sleeping in colder temps at night. The propane can be set to kick on if it really drops.
Oh, and my neighbor explained the past wood fire. One of Nic's exs was less than bright. The chimney was already there for something else (propane maybe) and he cut a hole to pass a pipe through. The hole was the size of the pipe, no space for an air gap or fire proof material. Did I mention he was a member of the fire company? Nic said there was a fire within a month. Neighbor said more like a week or two.
Sounds like you will need to drop a liner in it, preferably insulated...way too large to run many/most stoves properly. That's ~80 inches or so in area...most stoves call for a 6" round flue, which is 26 inches in area...so yours is almost triple the size...which makes for a poorly operating stove and creosote issues too... Also, is this wood kiln dried? If not then it will need to be dried for a year or two (three?) before is can be used for firewood reliably and trouble free.
I honestly do not think you will have a problem burning wood with that flue. That is a common size here, and with that much height you are really going to get some draw. Perhaps when first starting out you might have fits, but once the flue warms up (with all that ceramic and block) I think you won't have any problems with a draft. I don't think you will have a problem with the wood not being dry either. Since the wood is so thin, and wood air dries for lumber at a rate of 1 inch per year, after a summer seasoning; I think it will be really dry actually. Now if we were talking normal firewood, it might be a different story, but so thin and with the heartwood sawn out; I don't see it as being a problem at all.
The center chimney is from the basement, up two floors, through attic and 4'-6" above the peak of the roof. Inside it measures 6.5 x 11. Cold, I open the real baffle 100% and clean out the ashes. There is enough draft that I get no mess or dust. We live in a river valley up on the hill, so draft from a breeze is never a problem. I think LodgedTree is correct and there won't be any issues using the other chimney. And most of the pallet scraps will be small cuts of 6" or less. Currently throwing off nice heat quickly. Larger stuff is just me getting lucky that he gets tired of moving it. Lights off fast and burns nice. Kinda like a size between logs and pellets, lol. It nicely burns completely to powder. The stuff I gather through the summer will be tossed in a pile in front of a fan.
So, taxes are done. Refund on its way, countertops picked out, guns ordered and now to the stove. The first floor has 4 to 6 foot openings room to room, so heating will be easy. We will still keep the Jotul #4 in the basement to keep that from getting cold. Also going to insulate those walls. The first and second floor are both 870 Sq ft. I am really looking at heating the first floor and residually the second. We can't sleep if the upstairs is too hot. So, that said......Jotul F600, #8 or #3. Thoughts, opinions and reasoning all welcome.
