How do we cut a hole in a concrete chimney to add a thimble into an existing flue?

[ebinmaine 67,266]

3 minutes ago, Burnerman said:

if you have electric heat in the house already and reliable electric supply use wood and supplement with wood. 

It's mostly reliable. The state of Maine is the most heavily forested state in the nation and we have some pretty aggressive weather so we lose electricity half a dozen times a year from trees taking out power lines.

Usually not for more than a few hours but it's been out for 3 to 5 days sometimes.

Between the generator n the wood stove we do just fine.

 

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,300]

I don’t know squat about wood stoves so I can’t help ya with that hole cutting thing...maybe dynamite 🧨 !! 

   But doesn’t a house have to have a real primary heating system? Maybe not now but if you were to sell this house isnt a wood stove considered a secondary heating system and not a primary (even though it’s going to be your primary system). 

[ebinmaine 67,266]

7 minutes ago, Sparky said:

...maybe dynamite 🧨 !! 

   But doesn’t a house have to have a real primary heating system? Maybe not now but if you were to sell this house isnt a wood stove considered a secondary heating system and not a primary (even though it’s going to be your primary system). 

 

From what I hear tannerite would also work quite well but it might leave a slightly larger hole than I was originally looking for.

 

You are correct about the heating system situation.

In our case the electric system that we install will be considered the primary, at least on paper.

 

[jebbear 377]

6 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

Ours would be a propane tank installation.

My bad. I guess when I hear "gas" I think of natural gas, seeing as I live in the middle of gas country with Marcellus wells popping up everywhere.

[ebinmaine 67,266]

Couple weeks ago we had the Mason come over and cut a hole in the chimney and he tied in a thimble for us.

 

 

 

 

Over the last few days we have finished the wood stove installation.

 

We allowed for extra clearances in every direction to increase safety level.

The top horizontal piece of stove pipe is a double-wall insulated piece that requires only 2 inches of clearance to combustibles.

With the notch cut into the top of the wall there's around 4 inches.

 

 

 

The vertical portion of the sheet steel is spaced 2 inches from the wall studs.

There's a 1.25 inch air gap at the bottom so air can flow behind the whole piece.

Both floor and ceiling pieces are 16 gauge where minimum is 24.

 

 

 

This stove requires 2 inches of masonry below it. We went with 8 inch hollow blocks so as to increase airflow under the stove to keep the floor cooler.

 

 

 

 

Trina started a fire as soon as it was in.

Good draft.

Seems nice.

 

An excellent addition to our home.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by ebinmaine

[adsm08 2,022]

When venting a wood stove there are two rules to keep in mind. 

 

1) NEVER go down in size from the stove's outlet.

 

2) Keep it as close to the stove's outlet size as possible.

 

It is acceptable to vent a 6 inch stove into an 8 inch chimney, but doing it into a 6 inch one is better. You loose exit velocity and can backdraft like was mentioned earlier.

 

I had a fire in one chimney a few years back, and while it didn't do any damage the wife still wanted it lined. Her BIL does HVAC and the like, so ordered a liner kit from Rockford Chimney Supply and we installed it on a Saturday afternoon. I got the flex kit, the stacked solid ones would probably have been better, since that chimney is a straight shot down to the stove, but I was on a tight budget and it was a few hundred dollars difference.

 

I really liked how they deal with the T-fitting at the bottom. They have a nifty two-piece thimble, so you can get the piece that goes through the wall in place, then drop your liner and inner thimble in from the top and draw them together with a clamp. I burned on that all last winter and had less crap in the chimney at the end of the winter than I did after a few weeks of intermittent use on just the clay liner.

[Stormin 9,981]

 Our wood, or maybe I should say, multi fuel stove, has a back boiler and heats the hot water supply and central heating.

[ebinmaine 67,266]

11 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

Keep it as close to the stove's outlet size

This one's 6 all the way

[ebinmaine 67,266]

4 minutes ago, Stormin said:

central heating

So you have forced hot water radiators being heated by your wood stove?

 

[Stormin 9,981]

Just now, ebinmaine said:

So you have forced hot water radiators being heated by your wood stove?

 

 

Yep! Work great.

[adsm08 2,022]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

This one's 6 all the way

 

That's ideal.  6 inch gives good exhaust velocity. I've even seen some with an outlet as small as four inches in the last year or so.

[tunahead72 2,403]

On 10/13/2019 at 4:10 PM, ebinmaine said:

Couple weeks ago we had the Mason come over and cut a hole in the chimney and he tied in a thimble for us.

 

 

 

Just curious Eric, how did he cut the hole?

 

[ebinmaine 67,266]

9 hours ago, tunahead72 said:

 

Just curious Eric, how did he cut the hole?

 

Mostly a cement drill.

Combined with a side angle die grinder and hand chisels.

 

 

I figured he might use a round 7" hole saw but he's done this in this manner for only 30 years or so and the hole saws have a much shorter life span (dry) than the tools he uses.

More cost effective for him...

 

[tunahead72 2,403]

Thank you sir!

 

I was wondering, because I need to replace a couple of concrete blocks under one of my sheds, and I was thinking of adding a couple of 3" or 4" round vents in each one while I was at it.  Clean holes would be a plus, but his method would probably do in a pinch.

 

I don't mean to hijack your thread, it's a good one, carry on! 

 

[ebinmaine 67,266]

8 minutes ago, tunahead72 said:

don't mean to hijack your thread, it's a good one, carry on! 

Never worry about hijacking one of my threads. I'm always glad to learn new stuff whether it was the original posting intent or not. It's all good!

 

Glad to help.

 

[tunahead72 2,403]

Oh, that's a very generous attitude Eric, and I appreciate it greatly, but please be careful.  With people like me on this forum, we'll be skipping from masonry tools and wood stoves to motorcycles and music in a heartbeat! 

 

[ebinmaine 67,266]

3 minutes ago, tunahead72 said:

.  With people like me on this forum, we'll be skipping from masonry tools and wood stoves to motorcycles and music in a heartbeat! 

 

 

Yeah me too.....

Hey squirrel!!!

 

 

 

 

Soooo..... Anyway.... What were we on about???