Thread: How do I vent my wood stove?

I bought a little wood stove to heat my very cold workshop.

Yesterday morning I plumbed in the exhaust tubing and fired it up to see how it would perform.

3 minutes into the test burn, I had smoke pouring out of every joint in the stove, and every joint along the tubes, the adhesive from the metal duct tape was melting and bubbling, and my smoke alarm blaring.

Needless to say, I grabbed the bucket of water I had next to me (just in case) and extinguished the fire immediately.

Then I lit another fire - my ciggarette, and idly dragged on it, staring at the thing, pi$$ed off and confused.



I have looked into some forums on the subject since this event, and have some thoughts on what went wrong. I have some inklings on the solution, and would like some outside corroboration, before I go and buy more stuff.

1. I used the wrong pipe. - The vent portal in the back of the stove is 6 inches. I stuck a 90 degree elbow on the portal, and immediately put on a 6" to 4" reducer (stupid me trying to saved a few bucks by using the smaller ducting). I suspect the large diameter is needed to handle the heat and smoke. By constricting the flow, the smoke had nowhere to go, and so burst out of every pore.

2. I used single wall galvenized HVAC pipe. - the galvenization started burning off. I understand now I should use stainless steel pipe with heat resistant paint. I will definitely do that, but what about the single wall / double wall issue? Is the extra wall just for insulation, or does it do anything to mitigate smoke and toxic gasses?

3. Hieght. The smoke stack goes 10 feet up the interior brick wall, elbows 90 degrees horizontal into a hole I cut in the plastic warehouse windows (yes, it is insulated properly. I did THAT right). Outside the shop, the pipe elbows 90 degrees back to vertical, and instantly truncates into the vent - perhaps 12 feet up above the side walk. I understand significant height is needed to create proper draft. Everyone says "the higher, the better". OK, great, but really, HOW high does the Chimney NEED to be?

4. Is bare pipe (whether single wall or double walled) acceptable for an exterior chimney on the side of a brick building?

I've checked the forums, they give a lot of general advice. I need specifics. Help me out.

I think that your problem is the double 90 elbows. Can you use a 45 with a straight adapter to preform the same? The rule for height is that the top must be at least a foot higher than any point 10 feet away. Try lighting a sheet of newspaper in the stove and see how well the draft pulls. I have to do this with my fireplace to get the warm air up the chimney