Wednesday, February 3, 2016

I Have A Fire!


Yesterday I lit up my new wood stove for real for the first time! The final parts and pieces we were waiting on finally arrived on Monday. That evening, I got everything ready, and yesterday my friend helped me put everything together.

In case you missed my last few posts, my new wood stove is a Mini CT12 from Grey Stove Works. I decided to add a wood stove to my house for several reasons. First, I have access to plenty of free firewood right around my house thanks to lots of standing dead trees, many of them beetle killed. Removing them helps lessen the wildfire danger in the area. And this is certainly cheeper than buying propane. A wood stove does not require electricity and my vented propane heater does to run the fan. So this will greatly lessen the drain on my battery bank in cold weather and thus the amount of gas I buy for my generator to top those batteries off on short and snowy winter days. Lastly, wood heat produces a very dry heat, helping out greatly with reducing condensation and the resulting mold issues that tend to plague very small spaces. So, I decided a small wood stove would be a great addition to Fy Nyth.

Here's a short video tour of my first fire burning, and some details on installing the stove. Below, there are a lot more photos and a description of the whole process. 



The stove is set up to use standard 3'' pellet pipe. The two main brands seem to be Dura Vent and Selkirk and they both seem to be good. I went with Selkirk just because I was more easily able to source all the parts I needed from them from where I live. Above and below you can see what the pipe looks like. 


It has a double wall and fire braid set inside each connection. All the parts were silver, but I wanted them to all be black just because I didn't like the look of silver pipe coming out of a black stove.


So I bought a couple of cans of heat safe black spray paint and used my friend's shop to change the color on all the pieces.


Next I needed some kind of fire shield to protect the walls around my new stove. My local welding shop made this shield for me. It is made from 1/8 inch steel and weighs enough to be very stable all on it's own as a free standing piece. 


It's up on small feet that allows air to pass under it keeping the heat moving and preventing anything behind it from getting too hot. And the L shape on the edges holds it out from the wall, again so that nothing nearby can get too hot. I forgot to snap a photo, but I did spray paint this whole shield black as well.


Next, I needed a hole in my wall for the stove pipe to pass through. Even though I've now had several holes drilled through my wall for things like a new propane line and the cables coming in from my solar panels, it's always a little scary to put a large hole in a perfectly good wall. I could have gone through the roof instead, but in my experience, any kind of a hole in a roof eventually develops a leak and I wanted to avoid that possibility.


Here you can see the hole for the wall thimble being cut out from the interior of the house.


Look at all that great spray foam that makes my house so cozy and tight!


After repeating the process on the outside as well, I had a huge hole in my wall!



Here you can see the thimble installed. It allows the pipe to pass through the wall but keeps all combustibles far enough away to be safe. Hence the large hole in the wall.


All the pipe parts snap together. It is a bit hard to do this, but once put together, the joint is very secure.


Here you can see that thimble from the outside and the pipe running up above the roof to get a good draft going. Drilling the hole and putting everything together took less than two hours.


Now it was finally time to light it up! So I stacked my wood in there and used a bit of newspaper to ignite the pile. It started up with just one flick of a lighter.


It took off right away and has been burning great since a few seconds after we finished the installation.


After a bit more than one day of use, I will do an update with my thoughts on actually using it and a full review of it's performance. So far, I like the little baby a lot!

26 comments:

  1. Great looking little stove and it appears you've done a well thought ouy and safe install.

    One point to consider for the future...change out the exterior elbow for a "T" with a cap installed at the bottom which will allow easier cleaning of the pipe riser. (As the flue gases hit the cold pipe/air bit of creosote scale will form and eventually flake off, dropping into the elbow and cutting off some of the draft.)

    Enjoy, safe heating and thanks for your great blog posts!

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    1. Thank you. The "T" setup you are describing works well for pellet stoves because of the dry creosote free ash they produce. It does not work with wood burning and can actually cause a creosote buildup and be a fire hazard. Codes prohibit installing the "T" set up for a wood stove.

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  2. Absolutely add that T. It'll make chimney cleaning a quick sweep.


    I'll show myself out.

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    1. Thank you. The "T" setup you are describing works well for pellet stoves because of the dry creosote free ash they produce. It does not work with wood burning and can actually cause a creosote buildup and be a fire hazard. Codes prohibit installing the "T" set up for a wood stove.

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  3. Awesome stove! You need a little cast iron tea pot on top to humidify the house. Our friends have this little fan that runs by heat convection and sits on the top of the stove. Not sure you would need it in a tiny house. You can find them on Amazon. Thoughts?

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    1. I thought about getting one, but the air seems to circulate quite well in my small space without it.

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  4. So how does adding the stove change the dynamics of your table and seating arrangements?

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    1. Not at all. If I fold the table out and have three people seated around it, the one seat is pretty warm, but it's not uncomfortable for a while.

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  5. I just got the same stove and its great to see how you have it set up!!! I'm about to order all the parts today. Would love to chat if you are available. Ezra

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  6. Would you be willing to list the parts that you have used to install the stove?

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    1. Yes, I want to write a whole post with that info, but I'm kinda busy tonight. Email me at ariel.c.mcglothin@gmail.com and I'll get you a list.

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  7. My friend Sharon just recently had one of these wood stoves installed in her den. I was really surprised at how little space it takes up. The stove looks really great and I could not believe how warm I heated her house up. I'm thinking about getting one for my own house.

    Melinda Rose @ Phoenix South HVAC

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  9. I am building my tiny house now and have loved referencing your blog! There are plans for a fire place in my little setup too, and I was wondering if you would share why you opted to run the chimney pipe through the wall rather than taking it up through the ceiling. Thanks!

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    1. Because I didn't care to cut a hole up through my roof now. In my experience, holes in roofs always leak sooner or late. Had I designed a wood stove in from the start I would probably have gone strait up.

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  10. I wish I had known of the Tiny House Movement before I became a partner in a second home in Florida which I dislike more than I can say. I have 14 acres on a ridge in Pa. with a Well and Power and wonderful wildlife. Unfortunately now I don't have the cash to build the 400Sq Ft. Building that I want. One thing that seems strange to me is that the pricing on these homes ranges from reasonable to out of this world and I'm talking the same size and roughly the same items inside. Being a fan of Tiny House World on TV I have seen that 40K can build a beautiful Tiny Home with Full Kitchen, TV, Washer/Dryer, Claw Tub, all the things most would want in a home they will live in. Now that they have awakened me to how different pricing can be I now only need to find financing and one of the builders from that show. I'm thinking I can put my land up for the money. What I would like to know from you is how did you finally choose your builder and the items you wanted inside? Can you give me a ball park idea of what you paid on delivery of the home? I think I read it was a tumble weed or something like that and the pricing I found seemed to be very high. Just hoping you can give me advice on that part because money of course is very tight and I'm now on a disability. Love the wood stove. Reminds me of my childhood when we actually cooked and heated with a large wood stove that had an oven and room for four pots on top. What a wonderful way to live. Sure I want some modern items such as computer and TV but I'd like to live with a small footprint with my pup. And oh one more thing.. Be so careful with with the wolves as they will hunt your cats. They will hunt them in packs. Very very smart. Better to chase them away from your living area. They are a class A predator so please be careful.

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    1. You can have more than a ballpark figure. This post (http://fynyth.blogspot.com/2015/12/my-tiny-house-loan.html) has all the details. My house was somewhat expensive, but totally worth it for me. The pricing of tiny houses varies widely because some spend thousands of hours collecting free/used/recycled building material and do all the work themselves, and some just pay for someone to build with new materials and do the work for them rapidly. Also, know that not all prices you see on tv shows are real. I can say this for sure because I was contacted by one asking me to lie about my house, wether or not it was for sale, and how much it cost.

      My builder is Tumbleweed and they are more expensive than some. They also do very good work. I selected them because they were one of the few builders doing prebuilt homes when I bought mine and because I'd been in one of theirs in person and was happy with the quality.

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  11. This sounds very exciting. I used to have a place with a fireplace. It takes me back. Also, to be able to use firewood in order to feed the fire makes it a great experience. It is nice to have a friend that can help you with the fireplace so that you can have it working well.

    Kendra Tran @ Leco Concrete Forms

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  12. I absolutely love that. I just moved into a new home and we do not have a fireplace. We were considering building an outdoor one so that we could sit outside any time of year. But this is pretty neat looking. It reminds me of an old country cabin and it has such a great classic look with the iron.

    Lane Pemberton @ Metcalfe Heating & Air Conditioning

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  13. I can gain the knowledge from your site which is really interesting. Thank you so much for sharing valuable information. Fireplace Man is able to configure and install a fireplace that suits your requirements and the ambience of your house.

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  14. Nice blog post. Buy the best Firewood for sale online from trusted resource: buy online Firewood for sale

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  15. I noticed you don't have any kind of heat shield under your stove. Doesn't the floor get warm?

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  16. Sorry, sorry, just went back and saw that there is something between the stove and the floor.

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    1. You got it! That has confused several people since those tiles look so much like wood.

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  17. I’m a retired professional woodstove installer, certain considerations need to be addressed when installing a woodstove. First is whether you need a permit to install your woodstove and have it inspected before you use it? Many if not all home owners insurance won’t cover you if you put in a woodstove that’s not had a and been inspected by a licensed inspector. If you have a house fire caused by your woodstove, plan on having your home owner insurance denied your claim! I highly recommend checking with your home owner insurance about installing a woodstove before you install one! Also check with your county/city on permits requirements and codes for installation! Unfortunately I see some issues with this installation that wouldn’t pass inspection. Rather than running thru the wall and installing a elbo, there should be a support box with a clean out installed and then either triple wall pipe or equivalent outside pipe like metal bestos stainless steel pipe that has locking rings on every joint.
    Triple wall pipe is designed to slip over the lower pipe and twist to lock in place on the lower section of pipe.
    Many people try to avoid buying the correct pipe cause it’s really expensive to do the installation correctly just for the cost of materials!
    Another issue many diy installation do is install their single wall pipe incorrectly too. Your upper section of single wall should slide inside the lower section of pipe so creosote will run down the inside of the pipe rather than being able run out of the upper section of pipe on to the outside of your lower section of pipe that’s not only ugly to look at its dangerous if the creosote catches fire! Many countries or cities now require outside air source to be at least 18” from the woodstove air intake.
    Many of these codes have gotten stricter than they used to be. . For example many areas require woodstove to be UL approved to be legally installed. You can’t just install any cheap woodstove any more. Unless you live outside any city or county that requires these restrictions? But again you still need to talk to your homeowner insurance before Installing your woodstove! There’s more to installing a woodstove correctly than majority of people know and it’s so easy to make mistakes that can cost you your house or building! Which can end up coming out of your own pocket to fix or replacing your house or building if your homeowner insurance denies your claim? Believe me, if you’re homeowner insurance can get out of paying for your fire damage they will in a heartbeat! Woodstove installation got so ridiculous with all their codes and regulations making it harder and way more expensive to do the installation, that’s why I got out of installing woodstove and went back to my original trade building kitchen and bath cabinets. Government doesn’t want you installing woodstove due to all the air pollution caused by woodstoves! New woodstoves today are designed to be less polluting than the old woodstoves use to be. But the new woodstove doesn’t seem to get near as hot as the older woodstoves either? Not to mention how expensive they are now too! Just be forewarned about installing a woodstove, especially if you live in a area that requires permits and inspections!

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