Heating with a wood stove

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by arctichomesteader

Yes I cleaned the chimney 3 times this season. That experience made me paranoid. My problem is leaving the stove on low all day when I am gone, and at night while sleeping. I try to run it hot in the morning and evening but I still get more creosote than I like to see.

Minimum standards around chimneys are not really good enough during a chimney fire. The masonry chimney in the addition I am building will have 8 inch walls around the flues rather than the minimum 4 inches. I think I might use fire retardant on the framing through the chimney chase too. Maybe cement board line the chase too. And more than just 2 inches clearance.

That makes sense.

We lived in this house fifteen years without homeowner insurance. In 2020 we needed to get a home equity loan for an investment property so I had to get an insurance policy for our home. The insurance company had a bunch of forms to be completed. After I submitted them, the office came back that they wanted photos to prove the clearances that I claimed. So I took a lot of photos to document the clearances. From our stovepipe the nearest wood framing [or anything combustible really] is twenty feet away.

[gemstone1]

"From our stovepipe the nearest wood framing [or anything combustible really] is twenty feet away."

I'm curious about the construction methods used to accomplish this...

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

"From our stovepipe the nearest wood framing [or anything combustible really] is twenty feet away."

I'm curious about the construction methods used to accomplish this...

My house is a steel building. Originally marketed as an airplane hangar. A big rectangle, 40' by 60' with 12' eaves and 14' peak. Every hole was pre-drilled, all bolts, washers and nuts were included. it was possible for one-man to assemble.

I had to hire a crane operator to lift girders up into position while I bolted them in place. That took the crane three hours and cost me $150.

We have two woodstoves. Both sit on the centerline. The nearest wall being 20 feet away.

To the sheet metal of the walls and roof, I sprayed two inches of spray-on urethane foam, and nine inches of fiberglass batting.

After the shell was complete, we went to a local window manufacturer and got quotes to make some big windows. I wanted six foot wide windows. The guy said that due to the square-footage of the windows many other building codes kicked in, for hurricane resistance and a bunch of other stuff. He ended up quoting us over $800 per window. As we were leaving he said that you could almost use sliding glass door replacement doors for a lot less money. From his office we drove straight to Home Depot. Sliding glass door replacement doors were $116 a piece. Triple-pane, Argon filled, Low E [whatever that means] and they comply with all building codes. Turn them sideways and they make great windows for a fraction of the price.

Our house has no interior walls [well except for around the bathroom]. I like high ceilings.

[gemstone1]

Sounds a lot like my shop building on the farm....best money spent was hiring the local billboard company to set the steel trusses....for about the same cost....the rest I did, 34x72 with 18' peak

[M3 Mitch]

Thanks to everyone who posted here, the debate about how clean or not my wood stove is led me to look at a copy of the owner's manual online, which reminded me about the "pilot hole" on the old Waterford Erin wood stoves, and the need to keep it clear for proper burning. Which I am now doing and enjoying the performance I remembered when the stove was new.

I guess the answer to how clean my stove is turns out to be "Fairly clean, clean compared to an old-tech stove, but not clean enough to sell new today." Well I remain satisfied with it, the chimney exhaust is completely clear when it's burning properly, I'm out in the country where I'm not smoking anybody out with particulates which the stove is accused of producing.