Single wall is leading to cold walls once your pipe goes outside the heated space. Those cold pipe walls will make the smoke (creosote) in your exhaust condense on the pipe walls. Double wall is code for a reason. It helps keep the inner pipe warm which reduces condensation. I don't want to sound harsh but another problem you have is wet wood. Water does not burn so wet wood will always burn badly. If you do not split and stack your wood for drying at last a year ahead, even for western softwoods, you will continue to have creosote problems. Don't blame the bark, it is not causing you to burn wet wood, your lack of pre-planning is. If you are not sure about how dry the wood is, spend $20 and get a moisture meter at your home improvement store. Never try to burn wood that shows over 20% moisture on a fresh split face and most of your troubles will end. Wood burning is not a case of finding some scrap wood at the last minute. If you don't plan ahead you will pay for that lack of planning, as you are just starting to learn.
When I was a kid, am now 74 years old. My Grandfather would drive me out ( in his Model T Truck) and had me dragging bark from the woods up to the road. Old Growth Fir Bark, would burn very hot, Sometimes the bark would be 6 inches thick. Somewhere in my travels, I was told the chimney should be higher then the peak of the roof. For a better draft. Not sure.
If you can't do a double wall exterior pipe then perhaps you could install a T instead of the elbow? That way you can easily clean the pipe without having to take it all apart.You are correct that the fire wasn't hot enough but also the double wall keeps the smoke hot longer preventing excessive creosote build up. Great channel.
Totally our thinking except a single wall t might be hard to find or not exist since it's not technically chimney right? It's stove pipe. We figure we'll give it a few weeks and see if it's going to hold up and if so a t would be rad to make cleaning faster but if not... A spending $$$$ we go! Haha. Yea we've tried to get it hot but that double wall chimney pipe on the cold days would help. I just don't know that it would solve our problem completely. Might be less of a problem if anything. Lessons learned about burning mill ends too. Half bark, half wood. Makes a mess! And doesn't make a ridiculous amount of heat either. Though we are keeping warm. :)
+Pure Living for Life I didn't read all the comments but I had the issue with excessive creasote build up it the first month after I installed my woodstove in my home, it was the unseasoned wood and letting it burn too slow at night while sleeping. once my wood was properly seasoned and i let it burn hot problem solved, been heating our home for nearly four years now with only minimal chimney cleaning.
+Pure Living for Life Single wall Tees are made in every wood stove pipe diameter and in gas pipe as well. FYI for all reading this; We used 5 " pipe outside a two story schoolhouse in Kansas. I shielded it with 6" gas pipe. I screwed them together with long screws which held them in place and acted as spacers as well. That worked beautifully and we had sub zero weather North of Topeka many times. The last two years there, I lit exactly two fires, one the first winter, and one the second winter. And THAT was using an Elk hunter camp stove from Cylinder Stoves. It was the Outfitter Model. They make Bigger one now, The Yukon. They should send me one of those for this endorsement!!! :-) Seriously, they are the most perfect design for a large portable stove ever made. Lash rings for packhorses, warming trays, 5 gallon water tanks, flue oven, and able to hold fire for 30 hours. I barbecued inside on racks, just amazingly prefect design!!! ...and portable...think about that. Less than 100 lbs with tank, tray, legs and grate...
Pine has a much high sap/creosote content than fir, especially in the outer few inches of the wood. Burning the bark with what would be mostly "sap wood" will give you VERY VERY high creosote content even when burning hot. Also I just installed my first stove/chimney with single wall. -25 C here and it drafts just fine now, no insulation. The problem was clearance over the peak of the roof, once you get past the strange vortex created by wind hitting a sloped roof. I extended it and cleared the peak all my issues stopped, just by maybe 8" or so was all the difference. Good luck, love what you guys are doing here!
Because it's 'wet' firewood you can turbo dry it by stacking it up inside against the split betwwen your temp barn and the carport tent. The draft wil turbo dry the wood whilst the wood wil function as an extra inside insulation.
+J. Verheulst That's genius! We're trying to get things put away in storage for winter and make room for a few days wood inside. That should really help dry things out. Just picked up another cord today and it's seasoned, but been rained on a few weeks. Hope to get it dried out soon so we can start burning it. So much to do! :)
Don't work to hard guys. Rome wasn't built in a day either... ;-) Tip (if I may): Prioritise those task that'll save you the most work in the future and give you most comfort and relaxation. But you guys probably already thought of that.
I realize this video is from some time back but want to make a few comments. If you have not upgraded to double wall pipe you should. It will make a lot of difference. Also every turn in the pipe effects the draft and how the flue draws. Remember that in the future for your house. You want as straight a shot for the smoke gases as possible. Consider building a woodshed to store and season your wood. I live in hardwood country and it is of course different but I season my wood in the dry a minimum of a year. Wood I cut this year will not be burned until next. I have never burned softwoods but you have to use what you have. In hardwoods the bark is not so much a problem so long as it is real dry. Good luck!
You really need to eliminate the elbows should be straight through the roof clean out at the bottom. Debris will accumulate at each bend straight though will end up at the bottom clean out.
First sorry about the book; just some idea's that I've used on house's: Check with your wood stove shop's around the area and get broken fire brick and high heat mortar: Then crush the broken fire brick up into 1/2"-3/8" minus and mix with the mortar to use in your rock thermo mass will help to retain heat better and give it up better too: Also you can put up oiled play wood on your wall joist and hang chicken wire with some through joist support in 2'sections and jump pour; "( Then do 2" more and when the bottom 2" can support it self move that form up for the next pour: It will also cut down on drafts too)" and pour the fire brick mortar mix with larger rock into the space's for more thermal mass "(For safety put 6" to 1' wide ply wood braces across the thermo mass in your wall at the joint and in between While leaving the most exposed that you can)" and on the floor around your stove: Use the "T's" to make your clean out easier but just put caps on the bottom's and make a wand for your compressor to blow the level area in so as to clean it to your next "T": "(I guess this post is more for others to read for their Info ? But this can be used on your house and barn: For house get ceramic tiles and make patterns behind your wood heat stove and wood cook stove for thermo mass and good looks at the same time while having zero clearance Go from lowest level to highest level with your thermo mass for best result's and as close to the center of your house that you can)".
If you let your fire go out, light a few rolls of newspaper to pre heat the chimney before lighting it.. I mostly burn Ash and don't have too many problems. Loved the improvised chimney rods lol
We used to live in WV. Out in the sticks. We had a house that didn't have any heat in the basement. So I purchased a wood heater. We used slab wood from a mill a little down the road. It was always various hard woods. It burned great. However, we used double-wall SS pipe. We move away over 30 years ago & that pipe is still working well. Just my 2 cents...LOL
From the looks of it you are in the midst of a huge forest in Northern Idaho. There is a ton of dead and down or dead and standing wood to be had with a truck and a saw thanks to the numerous logging roads. I would say hit and git it before more of the white stuff falls. Wood is a #1 priority in these parts.
Oooooo so glad you shared this with us! I grew up with wood heat but I never new the details behind burning wood. As a teen I didn't pay attention to stuff like this. So grateful you are helping me to avoid this.
If you don't have a lot of money get cheap 8 inch pipe and put around the 6 inch it's not perfect but works better than single wall it keeps the pipe hotter
Andrew Tiefry I used that hint and went all the way out with double and a ring cap at the end so the 6 inch pipe is centered and can go the last 6 feet to finish the stack. It was too cold to light without lots of smoke but Ill add 2 more feet of stack and a cap that should get a good draw. I feel safer doing it this way than with double wall that has a smaller footprint sure but the bigger space lets the outer pipe stay cool. Thanx again for that post it helped me save a lot on a temporary thing.
I am enjoying from afar (New England) your willingness to share what, for many of us older "back-to-nature" folks, are long ago memories, and lessons learned as we, in our youth struggled with the onset of our first winter. My suggestion is that you both, make full use of the wealth of information available from those experienced individuals in your Idaho "neighborhood" whose knowledge will prove invaluable to your ability to not only survive the winter of 2016 ...... but thrive. Planning to keep yourselves safe and warm through the current winter should have been you absolute priority during the ten week window of opportunity; Spending precious time starting the frame for a hot tub made no sense. With firewood, you get what you pay for; $50.00 a cord for wet, slab, softwood and then stacking it, uncovered, and planning to make it your primary source of fuel was foolish and very unsafe. We all have made our share of mistakes over the years, learn from them and you will succeed.
Way after the fact, I know, but YES single wall pipe will clog far sooner, no matter what wood you burn. It cools, slows the smoke, condenses the water, freezes it and clogs the pipe. We had about 30 feet of pipe outside a schoolhouse. Single wall clogged weekly. We covered the 5" wood stove pipe with 6" galvanized gas pipe. That made all the difference. Cleaned it very rarely after That.
That's why I take the cap OFF my chimney for the winter, and put it back on to keep the rain out in the spring. Yer welcome from Fairbanks. Happy New Year. Oh- and get a 2nd year pile of wood going separate from what you''re going to burn this winter. It takes some time but it can be done. Good way to manage your firewood AND emissions.
pine burns awesome! but ONLY after its been "seasoned"👍 ive been using single wall "stove pipe" as a chimney on my barrel stove for awhile now and as long as ya dont burn garbage, wet wood ect it'll stay fairly clean! ive got probably 4 cords of dry seasoned pine that I will burn on the occasion! however, I dont burn it all day or on a regular basis. its good for quick hot heat but it can cause build up in ANY kind of chimneys! keep up the great work guys👊 stay warm and stay safe👍
Hmmmm my grandparents had a fire stove like forever and i loved it so much! But they always combined wood and coal for the same problems you got also changed the ratio in the night to more coal than wood .
Softwood, it clogs the chimney, it is not only the bark but also the same wood has, a number of resins, varnishes .. burning only coniferous wood, chimney cleaning is common. cleanly burn soft hardwoods like alder I don't how you call in english :) .. chimney cleans well potato peelings, just put together with firewood logs in hot stove.
I have burned pine wood for years and never had a problem, but I have find that for pine wood of any kind needs three years plus and then let it burn hot. lots of air flow. Also split your pine wood where it is no larger than 3 inches in diameter and put in three or four pieces at a time to burn hot. Bark will not cause any problems unless it is wet. Keep pine wood in doors for a few days to get dampness off wood before you burn it.
The rotary wood splitter (The screw type) can be used to remove the bark. Once you get a huge pile, rent a wood chipper to turn it into mulch. A Cheaper paving idea is to use old roofing shingles pulled off buildings, The hard part is getting all the nails out, if they used copper nails pass on that load, Steel nails can be retrieved using magnets when it's chipped. All asphalt is, is a durable waterproof coating, to keep water off your compacted gravel and to keep the dust down. Tar paper is no good, you need the sand on the shingles.
Wet wood will give you problems. On chimney - cheap option is to insulate the chimney yourself. Use some batt that can handle few hundred degrees, use some cheap (ventilation) tube as outer tube, build a cap and thats it.
Simple and actionable! We have a laser thermometer we borrowed and the temps really aren't that high which is reassuring so maybe we'll get around to insulating if a bit. :) Cheers!
+Pure Living for Life the purpose of the insulation isn't to keep the outside of the chimney cool, its to keep the smoke in the chimney hot. Smoke start to condense around 300 degrees F and that is what causes creosote and the clogged chimney cap. For a point of reference the gas inside the chimney is usually twice as hot as the pipe its self so keep the pipe over 150 as a minimum.
+Pure Living for Life Laser guns rock!!! You can know what is normal on stove front, wall, back, flue inside, outside. Excellent!!! I love it. I can check temps on stove, walls, ceilings in four rooms in the house I am staying in and know that the stove on the gay end of the house is okay, bc the temp at ceiling is 65 degrees, same as living room, dining room, kitchen. I can ping all of them from the couch I sleep on. The whole greenhouse amazingly is about the same temp also, other than near the stoves.
+Tyler Johnson This is educational for everyone who will read it, shop even though I am way late, everyone who might ever beat with wood should listen, remember and learn from this saga. Tyler is right, and I had already said the same thing before I read good comment. Listen, learn, remember. You may help save someone life with the information. I have seen so many houses burned down here, I cannot remember them all. Shoot, My son has helped rebuild more than I can remember. Most were caused by utterly stupid wood stove mistakes; throwing gasoline on a Fire to "get it going" while being allowed to live in a basement apartment. It worked...Burned a two story house down...someone else's. Nobody was killed. A child died in one fire. Washington said that Fire is a great servant but a terrible master...like government. MANY people will be heating with wood I the next few years. File this information away in your mind. You might be one of them and the life you save may be your own.
You chimney is running to cool and create lot of sod i was live in poland we have brick build chimney and burning pine because hard wood is so expense and wen is chimney is on fire we just let burn because roof is metal or clay.Take a look on rocket mass stove heater the work pretty good and burning clean .
Already stated by a few folks on here, but getting rid of those elbows would help in a major way. If you can do the work to properly seal it going through the roof with the proper flashing, you are way better off going straight up and through the roof from the stove.
Retired sheetmetal worker here. It is not double wall pipe you want, that is for water heater and low temp furnace applications. You need all fuels pipe from 12 inches below the ceiling (check local building codes.) to the chimney cap. You need a thimble where it passes through the ceiling so no combustible material can get near it. Use black single wall from the all fuels to the wood stove. Do not penetrate the inner pipe on the all fuels with a screw.....
Hardwoods are tough to find out west. All woods are good to burn. Correctly seasoned wood is key. Good luck you two... keep up the fight! We are with you.
Thanks for the info. It is my first wood burn and I was tossing wood in there and knowing it was wet. NO more of the that, I will monitor the smoke because I was definitely had a lot.
Great Channel. Just found you guys. Double wall chimney would make a huge difference. (stove pipe not as much) Lots of money up front but often come with a lifetime warranty. Stove pipe (black pipe / what you are using) looses heat way too quick. You want the temp to be above 250 F or higher because creosote starts to form rather quickly. Stay safe and warm.
Another cheap thing to use for a brush to clean your chimney is a cloth bag filled with sand or stone and pull it through the stove pipe with a rope or chain.
If your looking to save money you could also use another single wall stove pipe. Looks like you have 6" pipe so if you had 7" or 8" single wall stove pipe on the outside of that it would keep the 6 " warm. When you put the larger pipe over pack it with fiberglass insulation (unfaced). It will act like the double wall or metal bestus pipe for a fraction of the price. Nothing like the real thing but this is an inexpensive alternative. I've been using wood for years and even sold for a few!Any questions let me know!! Love all the video's!! Nice to see that the wife is by your side and is a (Huge help) with the project!!
we had that happen, we had to switch to very dry wood. we had other wood, but when it was cut you could see water coming out. ok but it was seasoned for a year. unfortunately it was sitting wet for 4 weeks. no matter. well it doesn't burn. you can only use it when the fire is roaring and then only one piece in relation to all the other pine pieces. pine burns great and extremely hot. so far so good but the spark arrestor looks black. so we are getting new wood
You guys are doing an awesome job, and like others, I would hate to see it all end in disaster. Take the advice given... I would use double wall inside and Selkirk double wall outside. The spark arrester screen is your biggest problem - get rid of it! Your investment in good appropriate materials will pay off. You will be replacing that stove pipe a lot due to failure. Buy the good stuff once and you can reuse-reconfigure for your needs down the road when required. If you can make a wood stand inside and load up a lot of wood along one wall, it will help insulate a bit plus dry out over time. Also, take advantage of your bricks. Build a corner fire back stop with brick(heatsink) - just dry stack - they will heat up and release warmth when the stove is not fully loaded - at 3 in the morning!. Will also ad some protection... Nice stove - is it an airtight version? What is the efficiency rating? Carry on...
The problem is that pine has alot of sap that creates tar or creosote in your chimney. Hardwood has much less of this tar / pitch in it. If you have green sappy wood it is even worse. I use green hardwood here in Chile and it has alot of sap which actually drips from my chimney pipe. I collect this and make creosote for my board fences. You boil it down and add burnt motor oil and it makes great fence paint. If you burn a really hot fire and have a lot of build up in your chimney it will cause a fire in your chimney, so you will need to clean it often. Once you have seasoned wood or wood that has been put up one season ago and had time for the sap to dry out you will have a better fire without all that hissing too.
It's been so long since I've burned wood for heat I'm having to relearn so many things. Thanks for the tip on catching the dripping creosote. I saw some a few drops bit since setting the pine aside there isn't much at all. I do need to find a way to treat posts. Going to keep our used oil and figure that out someday. Learning so much! Hopefully when we are able to properly gather firewood it'll help too. It's all lessons learned. This why we are sharing! I remember chimney fired as a kid. We had some powder stuff we used to burn up the soot. We are trying stuff and learning though. I thought this setup wouldn't work. Seems it does but like anything has personality.
I can't wait until the fire is hot enough to burn fresh green cuts- fresh is very hard to light, but when it gets going it throws off three times the heat, and doesn't give off any smoke.
you need a t with a clean out on the out side as it goes to towards the cap. in that elbow will be a bad clog from creosote droping into it. replace the elbow with a T for a clean out cap.
You could do with more of a gap at your cap to make better airflow we have about a six inch gap under the cap and we burn all sorts of green wood etc and it never seams to soot up that bad , it might be a cheap fix and worth a try
+Sthilboy56 You nailed it! We put on a gas vent stove cap which has a much larger breathing hole. Took out the spark arrestor (it's rained non stop the past month, so if something catches fire....you get the idea) and boom, she's happy breathing chimney again. Thanks for the tip. We're' burning everything again and learning this stove loves a few pieces at a time and smaller pieces.
Thanks for the advice!!! We have tons of ponderosa pine die in California and need to eliminate the bark as much as possible. We are using the oldest/dry as possible.
With our place and the living room stove, we use 2 stoves but the living room is the most often used, daily in fall and winter, we went single wall to the roofline then dual wall from the ceiling through the attic area and out for fire safety. With our install we were told for a wood stove you can not have bends like you guys have due to heat and soot buildup and the probable fire hazard with buildups in the areas of the angles. Gas and pellet stoves are OK with bends for the exhaust but not wood stoves, unless that's changed in the last few years but I doubt it. Since your current setup is not permanent I get it, but when your actual house is being built don't chance it, build the stove piping the way that lessens the fire danger for you guys. You also already need to get the stove pipe cleaning tool, stiff bristles with long heavy wire sections. Locally at any of the building supply places, Home Depot in Sandpoint or as with everything else, Amazon! Screw the brush top on a section, and it takes 2 sections to clean out the pipe at our house, I think they are in 10 foot sections, and we do that every year in the fall and sometimes we have to clean ours out at some point during winter, since we're in the same general area as you guys we also have various types of wood we use for the stove. Continued good luck!
FYI, fir is a type of pine tree and these are not good to burn in a fireplace or stove since they all create lots of creosote. Hard woods like oak, maple, etc are much better since you will have a safer hotter fire that lasts longer.
Even pine mill ends are not dry for at least a year after they were cut and stacked for drying. Typically wood for stove should be dried for at least 2 years before it is used and 3 years is better. Bark is not an issue with properly dried wood splits.
Your pipe sections are upside down. The crimped end (make) should be inserted downward so creosote flows down the inside of the pipe instead of coming out and creating a fire in your house. The draw will keep smoke from coming out of the connections.
I'm really enjoying this series of yours. Please, keep 'em coming! One minor tip. The wood that you have inside to dry out? Wood dries faster at the ends than the sides. Might be better to stack it horizontally, against the wall, rather than vertically. And maybe splitting into slightly smaller pieces, maybe wrist size. Just my opinion, though.
Great tips Ron. I've been splitting some and noticed exactly that! It dries quicker and burns easier and faster. Excellent suggestion. Soon we hope to build a proper firewood box. Till then this tote keeps our cabin from being a filth pile. Haha. Thanks for joining us!
+Pure Living for Life I don't know if you are familiar with the Wranglerstar channel, but Cody over there did a multi-part series of videos recently on building a really sweet kindling box. He also has about a bazillion homesteading videos of all sorts.
put a t in where that 90 is then cap the bottom... then you can clean it from the ground with a sweep, from the bottom of the T.. I removed the screen from our cap because it would plug up quickly. adding A T is the way to go for easy cleanouts.
A 't' is on the project evolution list. We want to try this for a bit and see its weak points. We removed the spark arrestor already. Waste of time. If this setup is working we'll put in a t and totally like you said life will be easier with cleaning. If it fails on us we'll have to look at the options others have mentioned like schedule 20 pipe or double wall stainless. All great lessons!
Hi guys. Love the content. Looking to do the same thing very soon. On the chimney issue: There is something weird about your cap. Do you have a part number for it ? The cap that I have is completely different and it looks like the air flow is very restricted on your cap. The tubular section seems to come within a very short distance of the cap that keeps the rain out. Go to ventingpipe.com and look at the caps that they have. Of course the "proper" cap is made to go on the end of a piece of a class A pipe, but look at the type B caps (used for lower temperature flues on NG and propane chimneys). Even if you got a cap meant for class A pipe, you should be able to adapt it to fit over your stovepipe. For a wood stove, you should remove the woven wire spark arrestor since otherwise that will certainly plug up in a very short time. You would also benefit from a cheap plate steel stove for $400-500 that are sold by the big box stores, which has a secondary air system and thus burns clean and hot. Century is one of the names. The cast iron stoves (so called EPA exempt) are wood wasters.
From someone who has had a chimney fire, be really careful about creosote build up. A chimney fire sounds like a jet engine up close. Having a stove that is air tight and can be completely shut down by closing the draft works, IF, the chimney is also air tight. The wood wall near the stove seems too close??
Have you looked into Rocket Mass heaters in any way? It'll actually burn up junky wood and it burns FAR cleaner and far more efficiently than a normal fireplace or wood stove. Check out Paul Wheaton and Permies. I've been wanting to go in this direction for several years now, but have to deal with old east coast city building codes.
Soft woods are a waste of time, people get rid of it for free cause it's nothing good other than for a camp fire. You need to find hard wood(s) and you won't have a problem. The higher your chimney, the better the draft... I don't use double wall for any of my stoves and I have never had a problem, but I also have a good high chimney. I also don't have a cap, again waste of time... If you hear something that sounds like a "jet engine" when you have a fire going, you've ignited creosote and a fire like that can and will burn a house down... Capture your exhaust gases with something like a "Magic Heat" the amount of heat waste is staggering... I've been heating my home with wood for over 10 years. It's a labor of love and it warms you more than once for sure... Later on down the road if you guys make it with this life style... Ditch the maul and get a good gas powered wood splitter... Nice seeing people take on stuff like this. It's not an easy life style, but a rewarding one... Good luck.
Other options: 1. split the pinebark from the wood and run it trough your chippers and then put it in a heap outside in the full rain and the snow so it can start to rot. This will be perfect acidic garden mulch around your acidic loving trees and shrubs like walnut trees and blueberry bushes. 2. Use those stones and rocks around your place to cement around your stove and stove pipe to make a thermal battery.
+J. Verheulst You're a beast! We're stacking all the bark that we can get off the pieces in a pile. Hoped to find a use for it around the property. How much do people pay for bark mulch right? $$$ On the rocks we're still trying to figure out a way to wash them. We have lots of rocks, but limited water. Might not get that done this year, but if we can find a way to collect more rain water we can use that to clean the rocks up. I call this job security. LOL :)
You can dump the bark chips around your future walnut trees and blackberry bushes. They love the acidification that the bark chips provide. They really thrive on it. Same wth rododendrons that you can plant as wind breaks on the northern sides of your property.
We use slabs of bark in layers to make walkways in between our deep mulch garden beds. No chipping necessary and it looks charming imo. Thank you for your great videos!
First sorry about the book; just some idea's that I've used on house's: Check with your wood stove shop's around the area and get broken fire brick and high heat mortar: Then crush the broken fire brick up into 1/2"-3/8" minus and mix with the mortar to use in your rock thermo mass will help to retain heat better and give it up better too: Also you can put up oiled play wood on your wall joist and hang chicken wire with some through joist support in 2'sections and jump pour; "( Then do 2" more and when the bottom 2" can support it self move that form up for the next pour: It will also cut down on drafts too)" and pour the fire brick mortar mix with larger rock into the space's for more thermal mass "(For safety put 6" to 1' wide ply wood braces across the thermo mass in your wall at the joint and in between While leaving the most exposed that you can)" and on the floor around your stove: Use the "T's" to make your clean out easier but just put caps on the bottom's and make a wand for your compressor to blow the level area in so as to clean it to your next "T": "(I guess this post is more for others to read for their Info ? But this can be used on your house and barn: For house get ceramic tiles and make patterns behind your wood heat stove and wood cook stove for thermo mass and good looks at the same time while having zero clearance Go from lowest level to highest level with your thermo mass for best result's and as close to the center of your house that you can)".
In Nova Scotia "they" say it should also be 3' past the roof peak for proper draw. I also have 5 acres and I get all my wood from the standing dead fall. The "t" will save a lot of time in cleaning if staying with that pipe. P.S. You guys rock... Time to go light a fire lol
OUR ONLY HEAT IS A WOOD BURNING STOVE AND THE FIRST THING WE WERE TAUGHT WAS TO NEVER BURN PINE. NEVER! YOU DO HAVE TO CLEAN THE STOVE PIPE NO MATTER WHAT WOOD YOU USE. LOVE OUR STOVE AND THE HEAT IS AWESOME.
I'm sure you guys have seen the bazillion videos on here where people are making or testing "rocket stoves." While the name might be real catchy and people love playing with fire, most of these videos don't display a stove that has the type of burn characteristics to call it a true rocket stove. That has a lot more to do with a self-insulating double pass burn chamber that creates a clean burn and strong draft (hence the roaring sound that I suppose gives it its name). Even a very basic horizontal wood stove like yours could be very simply modified to create much of the same effect as a true rocket stove, which would have multiple benefits. It would go a long ways toward ensuring a clean burn almost all of the time. It would also trap more of the heat inside the house, rather than exhausting it out the chimney. Lastly, since the much higher percentage of the wood is actually burning inside the stove, the amount of heat your get for your home, per pound of wood burnt, will be much higher. Check into the actual theory behind the rockets, and look into getting a liner for your stove and a draft tube that pulls from outside air. These 2 modifications alone would give you a huge benefit, and likely cost almost nothing.
As others are saying, soft woods especially pine leave a LOT of pitch, tar, soot and creosote. BARK is not your problem as much as all the sap in the wood that sticks to your pipe walls. they either have to be BURNED out (very hot) or better yet, don't use pine. Hardwoods don't have as much sap.
+Kevin Ashby It's all a less than ideal situation really, but guess what, we're making the best of it! :) Agreed on the softwoods. Hopefully in an ideal world this year we'll rescue some birch from becoming toilet paper!
You have to season firewood. Green wood = problems. Bark is not a real issue, as long as you burn it hot. Double wall chimney would definitely have helped or removed the issue. Learning curves.
The problem is not the ratio of the wood to bark density, its actually the tree's sap which is found between the bark and the wood which causes the buildup of soot. Pine is one of the trees which has the most sap of any USA tree and is the most dangerous to use as firewood because of that factor. The sap's soot builds up in the flue and begins to burn within the exhaust pipe and can set nearby wood walls to catch on fire. Many houses have been burnt to the ground because of burning pine in a fireplace.
I don't know if you have "Hedge Wood" in your area, but it will burn EXTREMELY HOT! Be very careful. Only use a small piece mixed with you other woods. It can cause flu fires!
hi there I'm a new subscriber, I like you're channel. best of luck on the new homestead. speaking of luck you got really lucky with the woodstove. lucky you didn't have a flue fire those are bad news a flue fire could have burnt down everything, trailer included. stay safe burning wood has some danger involved . p.s. if you have a choice in the wood you burn pine is the worst too much resin
+midmo prepper Welcome to the channel! :) No joke on the flue fire. We haven't had one yet and don't intend to, but the risk is always there. Thanks for the tip on Pine. We kinda knew that, but this year what can we do? Make the best of what we have. There's just too much to do and we'll do our best. As a kid our house burnt down, not because of a flue fire. Just a very dry year and a small spark from the chimney caused a small ground fire which ended up taking the whole house with it. Very traumatizing. I've been slowing learning to trust this stove, but it'll never trust any stove 100%. Thanks again for subscribing and coming along with us!
I must have hit the wrong button, looks like my comment vanished. Will try again, I can see day light thru to walls, the cracks so there is going to be cold, rain and snow. you probably corrected this situation BUT old time ship builders and sailors, wood ships, would jam tarred rope in the cracks to make them more water tight, the hulls decks etc. This tarred rope/rags would help keep the weather out and make it somewhat more comfortable.
I am really waiting to see the floor of the garage poured and see if they are putting in the floor pipes or tubing to run hot water thru to heat the building. I have heard mention of radiant heating---don't know if that goes in the cement floor like I mentioned or if it is suspended from the basement ceiling----guess I will find out pretty soon, think the next video is pouring the floor. Thank you for showing your work/ experiences in your project..
Hi Guys! Thanks for your channel (subscribed :)! Quick tip on this problem: try to find some Alder wood around - and use it once a week instead of pine and other wood high in resin. (Very old Russian way to get rid of that stuff; Alder has been called a 'Tzar's Firewood' not only because of its ability to burn without any stuff left in chimneys - 'Tzar's Safety comes first' :) - but to clean a chimney from whatever stuff it has collected). Cheers!
Your chimney is at least 3 feet too short. It should be above t he ridge line plus you are below he wind line so it is very important for higher chimney.
Needs to be 2 feet higher than any part of roof within 10 foot radius around pipe. If it is too short, smoke will chooch out of the stove and into the house when the wind blows.
Hi. The straighter the stove pipe the better. If you can run the stove pipe through the roof straight up it will draw better. You have 3 90 degree bends in your stove pipe and these are drastically slowing down the gases as they try to escape up the pipe. It is recommended to use 45 degree bends wherever possible and to use as few as possible to keep the speed of the gases up. Sorry, but ignoring hundreds of years of experience by millions of people and industry testing costing millions is a bit stupid. If you had fitted the twin wall in the first place you would not have had as many problems and would not have wasted your money on the single wall which you will HAVE to replace if you want everything to work properly. I hope everything goes well for you in the future and the 2 of you have a wonderful life together.
+Pure Living for Life . Thanks for the reply. I have been keeping up with your vlogs, good luck to both of you. Can't wait to see the hot tub finished.
my wife and I love watching you guys.you truly are a inspiration...We are deffently going to go down this road.we are young 31 yrs of age with couple months difference between us.we live in Canada wish we could meet you guys!you look like nice people to be around.keep it up cheers
Awesome! Unboxing and product reviews is one way we support our channel. It's not for everyone but for those who are interested. Without them there'd by no videos at all. Kinda like life. Can't have your cake and eat it too. :)
+HappyHigh I can understand Happy's comments as wel, but I like a lot of the products as wel. Plus they gave me a lot of new ideas like the GoSun and Makita's. Plus I like the fact that I can help you guys by watching them and giving thumbs up and later on even buying them via your Amazon affilliate store. Miss/Mrs Happy you can also look at it from the other way around. The more we watch and like their unboxing videos. The more we help them raise an income and finance their homestead. So the more options they have to produce those other video's that we both like.
I don't understand the building of a "hot tub deck" when you are trying to start a homestead. I don't get it. I thought you'd be putting the energy into building a barn first.
+MotherOfManyHorses This was a great baby step for us and a way to test our our lumber milling technique. And it will give us a place to soak away the sore muscles when we're building the barn :-) Hope to elaborate on this later as many have asked a similar question.
+Pure Living for Life Practicing lumber milling, I understand. Soaking away sore muscles, a hot shower works great. Too much time in a hot tub isn't healthy any way. Just seems like a lot of work (at this time) for something that isn't a necessity. But, it's your project, your time, and your homestead. I see you have already had to alter some of your initial timelines. At least you are flexible.
Single wall is leading to cold walls once your pipe goes outside the heated space. Those cold pipe walls will make the smoke (creosote) in your exhaust condense on the pipe walls. Double wall is code for a reason. It helps keep the inner pipe warm which reduces condensation.
I don't want to sound harsh but another problem you have is wet wood. Water does not burn so wet wood will always burn badly. If you do not split and stack your wood for drying at last a year ahead, even for western softwoods, you will continue to have creosote problems. Don't blame the bark, it is not causing you to burn wet wood, your lack of pre-planning is. If you are not sure about how dry the wood is, spend $20 and get a moisture meter at your home improvement store. Never try to burn wood that shows over 20% moisture on a fresh split face and most of your troubles will end. Wood burning is not a case of finding some scrap wood at the last minute. If you don't plan ahead you will pay for that lack of planning, as you are just starting to learn.
When I was a kid, am now 74 years old. My Grandfather would drive me out ( in his Model T Truck) and had me dragging bark from the woods up to the road. Old Growth Fir Bark, would burn very hot, Sometimes the bark would be 6 inches thick.
Somewhere in my travels, I was told the chimney should be higher then the peak of the roof. For a better draft. Not sure.
If you can't do a double wall exterior pipe then perhaps you could install a T instead of the elbow? That way you can easily clean the pipe without having to take it all apart.You are correct that the fire wasn't hot enough but also the double wall keeps the smoke hot longer preventing excessive creosote build up. Great channel.
Totally our thinking except a single wall t might be hard to find or not exist since it's not technically chimney right? It's stove pipe. We figure we'll give it a few weeks and see if it's going to hold up and if so a t would be rad to make cleaning faster but if not... A spending $$$$ we go! Haha. Yea we've tried to get it hot but that double wall chimney pipe on the cold days would help. I just don't know that it would solve our problem completely. Might be less of a problem if anything. Lessons learned about burning mill ends too. Half bark, half wood. Makes a mess! And doesn't make a ridiculous amount of heat either. Though we are keeping warm. :)
+Pure Living for Life I didn't read all the comments but I had the issue with excessive creasote build up it the first month after I installed my woodstove in my home, it was the unseasoned wood and letting it burn too slow at night while sleeping. once my wood was properly seasoned and i let it burn hot problem solved, been heating our home for nearly four years now with only minimal chimney cleaning.
+Pure Living for Life
Single wall Tees are made in every wood stove pipe diameter and in gas pipe as well.
FYI for all reading this;
We used 5 " pipe outside a two story schoolhouse in Kansas. I shielded it with 6" gas pipe. I screwed them together with long screws which held them in place and acted as spacers as well. That worked beautifully and we had sub zero weather North of Topeka many times.
The last two years there, I lit exactly two fires, one the first winter, and one the second winter. And THAT was using an Elk hunter camp stove from Cylinder Stoves.
It was the Outfitter Model. They make Bigger one now, The Yukon. They should send me one of those for this endorsement!!! :-)
Seriously, they are the most perfect design for a large portable stove ever made.
Lash rings for packhorses, warming trays, 5 gallon water tanks, flue oven, and able to hold fire for 30 hours.
I barbecued inside on racks, just amazingly prefect design!!!
...and portable...think about that.
Less than 100 lbs with tank, tray, legs and grate...
Pine has a much high sap/creosote content than fir, especially in the outer few inches of the wood. Burning the bark with what would be mostly "sap wood" will give you VERY VERY high creosote content even when burning hot. Also I just installed my first stove/chimney with single wall. -25 C here and it drafts just fine now, no insulation. The problem was clearance over the peak of the roof, once you get past the strange vortex created by wind hitting a sloped roof. I extended it and cleared the peak all my issues stopped, just by maybe 8" or so was all the difference. Good luck, love what you guys are doing here!
Because it's 'wet' firewood you can turbo dry it by stacking it up inside against the split betwwen your temp barn and the carport tent.
The draft wil turbo dry the wood whilst the wood wil function as an extra inside insulation.
+J. Verheulst That's genius! We're trying to get things put away in storage for winter and make room for a few days wood inside. That should really help dry things out. Just picked up another cord today and it's seasoned, but been rained on a few weeks. Hope to get it dried out soon so we can start burning it. So much to do! :)
Don't work to hard guys.
Rome wasn't built in a day either... ;-)
Tip (if I may): Prioritise those task that'll save you the most work in the future and give you most comfort and relaxation.
But you guys probably already thought of that.
I realize this video is from some time back but want to make a few comments. If you have not upgraded to double wall pipe you should. It will make a lot of difference. Also every turn in the pipe effects the draft and how the flue draws. Remember that in the future for your house. You want as straight a shot for the smoke gases as possible. Consider building a woodshed to store and season your wood. I live in hardwood country and it is of course different but I season my wood in the dry a minimum of a year. Wood I cut this year will not be burned until next. I have never burned softwoods but you have to use what you have. In hardwoods the bark is not so much a problem so long as it is real dry.
Good luck!
You really need to eliminate the elbows should be straight through the roof clean out at the bottom. Debris will accumulate at each bend straight though will end up at the bottom clean out.
First sorry about the book; just some idea's that I've used on house's:
Check with your wood stove shop's around the area and get broken
fire brick and high heat mortar: Then crush the broken fire brick up
into 1/2"-3/8" minus and mix with the mortar to use in your rock
thermo mass will help to retain heat better and give it up better too:
Also you can put up oiled play wood on your wall joist and hang chicken
wire with some through joist support in 2'sections and jump pour; "(
Then do 2" more and when the bottom 2" can support it self move that
form up for the next pour: It will also cut down on drafts too)" and
pour the fire brick mortar mix with larger rock into the space's for
more thermal mass "(For safety put 6" to 1' wide ply wood braces across
the thermo mass in your wall at the joint and in between While leaving
the most exposed that you can)" and on the floor around your stove: Use
the "T's" to make your clean out easier but just put caps on the
bottom's and make a wand for your compressor to blow the level area in
so as to clean it to your next "T": "(I guess this post is more for
others to read for their Info ? But this can be used on your house and
barn: For house get ceramic tiles and make patterns behind your wood
heat stove and wood cook stove for thermo mass and good looks at the
same time while having zero clearance Go from lowest level to highest
level with your thermo mass for best result's and as close to the center
of your house that you can)".
If you let your fire go out, light a few rolls of newspaper to pre heat the chimney before lighting it.. I mostly burn Ash and don't have too many problems. Loved the improvised chimney rods lol
We used to live in WV. Out in the sticks. We had a house that didn't have any heat in the basement. So I purchased a wood heater. We used slab wood from a mill a little down the road. It was always various hard woods. It burned great. However, we used double-wall SS pipe. We move away over 30 years ago & that pipe is still working well.
Just my 2 cents...LOL
I think you are going to have trouble with the hardware cloth wire screen in the chimney cap. It will fill with soot veery quickly.
I would agree - I would not do a double elbow. Go straight through the roof and you will eliminate most build up and will also help with the draft.
From the looks of it you are in the midst of a huge forest in Northern Idaho. There is a ton of dead and down or dead and standing wood to be had with a truck and a saw thanks to the numerous logging roads. I would say hit and git it before more of the white stuff falls. Wood is a #1 priority in these parts.
Oooooo so glad you shared this with us! I grew up with wood heat but I never new the details behind burning wood. As a teen I didn't pay attention to stuff like this. So grateful you are helping me to avoid this.
If you don't have a lot of money get cheap 8 inch pipe and put around the 6 inch it's not perfect but works better than single wall it keeps the pipe hotter
I was thinking of a fiberglass wrap. If it gets wet,no good. never mind. The comment above is better.
Andrew Tiefry I used that hint and went all the way out with double and a ring cap at the end so the 6 inch pipe is centered and can go the last 6 feet to finish the stack. It was too cold to light without lots of smoke but Ill add 2 more feet of stack and a cap that should get a good draw. I feel safer doing it this way than with double wall that has a smaller footprint sure but the bigger space lets the outer pipe stay cool. Thanx again for that post it helped me save a lot on a temporary thing.
I am enjoying from afar (New England) your willingness to share what, for many of us older "back-to-nature" folks, are long ago memories, and lessons learned as we, in our youth struggled with the onset of our first winter.
My suggestion is that you both, make full use of the wealth of information available from those experienced individuals in your Idaho "neighborhood" whose knowledge will prove invaluable to your ability to not only survive the winter of 2016 ...... but thrive.
Planning to keep yourselves safe and warm through the current winter should have been you absolute priority during the ten week window of opportunity;
Spending precious time starting the frame for a hot tub made no sense.
With firewood, you get what you pay for; $50.00 a cord for wet, slab, softwood and then stacking it, uncovered, and planning to make it your primary source of fuel was foolish and very unsafe.
We all have made our share of mistakes over the years, learn from them and you will succeed.
Way after the fact, I know, but YES single wall pipe will clog far sooner, no matter what wood you burn. It cools, slows the smoke, condenses the water, freezes it and clogs the pipe.
We had about 30 feet of pipe outside a schoolhouse. Single wall clogged weekly. We covered the 5" wood stove pipe with
6" galvanized gas pipe.
That made all the difference. Cleaned it very rarely after That.
That's why I take the cap OFF my chimney for the winter, and put it back on to keep the rain out in the spring. Yer welcome from Fairbanks. Happy New Year. Oh- and get a 2nd year pile of wood going separate from what you''re going to burn this winter. It takes some time but it can be done. Good way to manage your firewood AND emissions.
pine burns awesome! but ONLY after its been "seasoned"👍 ive been using single wall "stove pipe" as a chimney on my barrel stove for awhile now and as long as ya dont burn garbage, wet wood ect it'll stay fairly clean! ive got probably 4 cords of dry seasoned pine that I will burn on the occasion! however, I dont burn it all day or on a regular basis. its good for quick hot heat but it can cause build up in ANY kind of chimneys! keep up the great work guys👊 stay warm and stay safe👍
Hmmmm my grandparents had a fire stove like forever and i loved it so much! But they always combined wood and coal for the same problems you got also changed the ratio in the night to more coal than wood .
You can use the bark in your fire-pit or outside grill or Dutch oven if you build it. Just a couple of thoughts. :)
Softwood, it clogs the chimney, it is not only the bark but also the same wood has, a number of resins, varnishes .. burning only coniferous wood, chimney cleaning is common. cleanly burn soft hardwoods like alder I don't how you call in english :) .. chimney cleans well potato peelings, just put together with firewood logs in hot stove.
Upsize the lengh of you chimney to pass the peak of your roof. You will get more air velocity, higher temperature.
I have burned pine wood for years and never had a problem, but I have find that for pine wood of any kind needs three years plus and then let it burn hot. lots of air flow. Also split your pine wood where it is no larger than 3 inches in diameter and put in three or four pieces at a time to burn hot. Bark will not cause any problems unless it is wet. Keep pine wood in doors for a few days to get dampness off wood before you burn it.
The rotary wood splitter (The screw type) can be used to remove the bark. Once you get a huge pile, rent a wood chipper to turn it into mulch. A Cheaper paving idea is to use old roofing shingles pulled off buildings, The hard part is getting all the nails out, if they used copper nails pass on that load, Steel nails can be retrieved using magnets when it's chipped. All asphalt is, is a durable waterproof coating, to keep water off your compacted gravel and to keep the dust down. Tar paper is no good, you need the sand on the shingles.
Wet wood will give you problems. On chimney - cheap option is to insulate the chimney yourself. Use some batt that can handle few hundred degrees, use some cheap (ventilation) tube as outer tube, build a cap and thats it.
Simple and actionable! We have a laser thermometer we borrowed and the temps really aren't that high which is reassuring so maybe we'll get around to insulating if a bit. :) Cheers!
+Pure Living for Life the purpose of the insulation isn't to keep the outside of the chimney cool, its to keep the smoke in the chimney hot. Smoke start to condense around 300 degrees F and that is what causes creosote and the clogged chimney cap. For a point of reference the gas inside the chimney is usually twice as hot as the pipe its self so keep the pipe over 150 as a minimum.
+Pure Living for Life
Laser guns rock!!!
You can know what is normal on stove front, wall, back, flue inside, outside. Excellent!!!
I love it. I can check temps on stove, walls, ceilings in four rooms in the house I am staying in and know that the stove on the gay end of the house is okay, bc the temp at ceiling is 65 degrees, same as living room, dining room, kitchen. I can ping all of them from the couch I sleep on.
The whole greenhouse amazingly is about the same temp also, other than near the stoves.
+Tyler Johnson
This is educational for everyone who will read it, shop even though I am way late, everyone who might ever beat with wood should listen, remember and learn from this saga.
Tyler is right, and I had already said the same thing before I read good comment. Listen, learn, remember. You may help save someone life with the information.
I have seen so many houses burned down here, I cannot remember them all.
Shoot, My son has helped rebuild more than I can remember.
Most were caused by utterly stupid wood stove mistakes; throwing gasoline on a Fire to "get it going" while being allowed to live in a basement apartment. It worked...Burned a two story house down...someone else's.
Nobody was killed.
A child died in one fire.
Washington said that Fire is a great servant but a terrible master...like government.
MANY people will be heating with wood I the next few years.
File this information away in your mind.
You might be one of them and the life you save may be your own.
You chimney is running to cool and create lot of sod i was live in poland we have brick build chimney and burning pine because hard wood is so expense and wen is chimney is on fire we just let burn because roof is metal or clay.Take a look on rocket mass stove heater the work pretty good and burning clean .
Already stated by a few folks on here, but getting rid of those elbows would help in a major way. If you can do the work to properly seal it going through the roof with the proper flashing, you are way better off going straight up and through the roof from the stove.
Retired sheetmetal worker here. It is not double wall pipe you want, that is for water heater and low temp furnace applications. You need all fuels pipe from 12 inches below the ceiling (check local building codes.) to the chimney cap. You need a thimble where it passes through the ceiling so no combustible material can get near it. Use black single wall from the all fuels to the wood stove. Do not penetrate the inner pipe on the all fuels with a screw.....
Hardwoods are tough to find out west. All woods are good to burn. Correctly seasoned wood is key.
Good luck you two... keep up the fight! We are with you.
Thanks for the info. It is my first wood burn and I was tossing wood in there and knowing it was wet. NO more of the that, I will monitor the smoke because I was definitely had a lot.
Great Channel. Just found you guys. Double wall chimney would make a huge difference. (stove pipe not as much) Lots of money up front but often come with a lifetime warranty. Stove pipe (black pipe / what you are using) looses heat way too quick. You want the temp to be above 250 F or higher because creosote starts to form rather quickly.
Stay safe and warm.
Enjoying your journey! I lived in Idaho for 35 years and love seeing the landscape. Great videos...keep them coming!
You can use the Bark for the garden as a Mulch to help conserve water.
Another cheap thing to use for a brush to clean your chimney is a cloth bag filled with sand or stone and pull it through the stove pipe with a rope or chain.
If your looking to save money you could also use another single wall stove pipe. Looks like you have 6" pipe so if you had 7" or 8" single wall stove pipe on the outside of that it would keep the 6 " warm. When you put the larger pipe over pack it with fiberglass insulation (unfaced). It will act like the double wall or metal bestus pipe for a fraction of the price. Nothing like the real thing but this is an inexpensive alternative. I've been using wood for years and even sold for a few!Any questions let me know!! Love all the video's!! Nice to see that the wife is by your side and is a (Huge help) with the project!!
we had that happen, we had to switch to very dry wood. we had other wood, but when it was cut you could see water coming out. ok but it was seasoned for a year. unfortunately it was sitting wet for 4 weeks. no matter. well it doesn't burn. you can only use it when the fire is roaring and then only one piece in relation to all the other pine pieces. pine burns great and extremely hot. so far so good but the spark arrestor looks black. so we are getting new wood
You guys are doing an awesome job, and like others, I would hate to see it all end in disaster. Take the advice given... I would use double wall inside and Selkirk double wall outside. The spark arrester screen is your biggest problem - get rid of it! Your investment in good appropriate materials will pay off. You will be replacing that stove pipe a lot due to failure. Buy the good stuff once and you can reuse-reconfigure for your needs down the road when required. If you can make a wood stand inside and load up a lot of wood along one wall, it will help insulate a bit plus dry out over time. Also, take advantage of your bricks. Build a corner fire back stop with brick(heatsink) - just dry stack - they will heat up and release warmth when the stove is not fully loaded - at 3 in the morning!. Will also ad some protection... Nice stove - is it an airtight version? What is the efficiency rating? Carry on...
insulated pipe does help keep the pipe hot. but the single wall will work but you will be cleaning more often.
The problem is that pine has alot of sap that creates tar or creosote in your chimney. Hardwood has much less of this tar / pitch in it. If you have green sappy wood it is even worse. I use green hardwood here in Chile and it has alot of sap which actually drips from my chimney pipe. I collect this and make creosote for my board fences. You boil it down and add burnt motor oil and it makes great fence paint.
If you burn a really hot fire and have a lot of build up in your chimney it will cause a fire in your chimney, so you will need to clean it often.
Once you have seasoned wood or wood that has been put up one season ago and had time for the sap to dry out you will have a better fire without all that hissing too.
It's been so long since I've burned wood for heat I'm having to relearn so many things. Thanks for the tip on catching the dripping creosote. I saw some a few drops bit since setting the pine aside there isn't much at all. I do need to find a way to treat posts. Going to keep our used oil and figure that out someday. Learning so much! Hopefully when we are able to properly gather firewood it'll help too. It's all lessons learned. This why we are sharing! I remember chimney fired as a kid. We had some powder stuff we used to burn up the soot. We are trying stuff and learning though. I thought this setup wouldn't work. Seems it does but like anything has personality.
I can't wait until the fire is hot enough to burn fresh green cuts- fresh is very hard to light, but when it gets going it throws off three times the heat, and doesn't give off any smoke.
you need a t with a clean out on the out side as it goes to towards the cap. in that elbow will be a bad clog from creosote droping into it. replace the elbow with a T for a clean out cap.
You could do with more of a gap at your cap to make better airflow we have about a six inch gap under the cap and we burn all sorts of green wood etc and it never seams to soot up that bad , it might be a cheap fix and worth a try
+Sthilboy56 You nailed it! We put on a gas vent stove cap which has a much larger breathing hole. Took out the spark arrestor (it's rained non stop the past month, so if something catches fire....you get the idea) and boom, she's happy breathing chimney again. Thanks for the tip. We're' burning everything again and learning this stove loves a few pieces at a time and smaller pieces.
Thanks for the advice!!! We have tons of ponderosa pine die in California and need to eliminate the bark as much as possible. We are using the oldest/dry as possible.
With our place and the living room stove, we use 2 stoves but the living room is the most often used, daily in fall and winter, we went single wall to the roofline then dual wall from the ceiling through the attic area and out for fire safety.
With our install we were told for a wood stove you can not have bends like you guys have due to heat and soot buildup and the probable fire hazard with buildups in the areas of the angles.
Gas and pellet stoves are OK with bends for the exhaust but not wood stoves, unless that's changed in the last few years but I doubt it.
Since your current setup is not permanent I get it, but when your actual house is being built don't chance it, build the stove piping the way that lessens the fire danger for you guys. You also already need to get the stove pipe cleaning tool, stiff bristles with long heavy wire sections. Locally at any of the building supply places, Home Depot in Sandpoint or as with everything else, Amazon!
Screw the brush top on a section, and it takes 2 sections to clean out the pipe at our house, I think they are in 10 foot sections, and we do that every year in the fall and sometimes we have to clean ours out at some point during winter, since we're in the same general area as you guys we also have various types of wood we use for the stove. Continued good luck!
FYI, fir is a type of pine tree and these are not good to burn in a fireplace or stove since they all create lots of creosote. Hard woods like oak, maple, etc are much better since you will have a safer hotter fire that lasts longer.
Even pine mill ends are not dry for at least a year after they were cut and stacked for drying. Typically wood for stove should be dried for at least 2 years before it is used and 3 years is better. Bark is not an issue with properly dried wood splits.
There is an entire thriving community (club?) of ->Firewood Hoarders
that soot is extremely combustible, youre lucky you still have a homestead
Option 3.
Unlimbed trees on your property are a fire hazard so limb up your standing trees and windfalls for firewood.
Your pipe sections are upside down. The crimped end (make) should be inserted downward so creosote flows down the inside of the pipe instead of coming out and creating a fire in your house. The draw will keep smoke from coming out of the connections.
I'm really enjoying this series of yours. Please, keep 'em coming!
One minor tip. The wood that you have inside to dry out? Wood dries faster at the ends than the sides. Might be better to stack it horizontally, against the wall, rather than vertically. And maybe splitting into slightly smaller pieces, maybe wrist size. Just my opinion, though.
Great tips Ron. I've been splitting some and noticed exactly that! It dries quicker and burns easier and faster. Excellent suggestion. Soon we hope to build a proper firewood box. Till then this tote keeps our cabin from being a filth pile. Haha. Thanks for joining us!
+Pure Living for Life I don't know if you are familiar with the Wranglerstar channel, but Cody over there did a multi-part series of videos recently on building a really sweet kindling box. He also has about a bazillion homesteading videos of all sorts.
One more thing, I am proud of you two.
put a t in where that 90 is then cap the bottom... then you can clean it from the ground with a sweep, from the bottom of the T.. I removed the screen from our cap because it would plug up quickly. adding A T is the way to go for easy cleanouts.
A 't' is on the project evolution list. We want to try this for a bit and see its weak points. We removed the spark arrestor already. Waste of time. If this setup is working we'll put in a t and totally like you said life will be easier with cleaning. If it fails on us we'll have to look at the options others have mentioned like schedule 20 pipe or double wall stainless. All great lessons!
Hi guys. Love the content. Looking to do the same thing very soon. On the chimney issue: There is something weird about your cap. Do you have a part number for it ? The cap that I have is completely different and it looks like the air flow is very restricted on your cap. The tubular section seems to come within a very short distance of the cap that keeps the rain out. Go to ventingpipe.com and look at the caps that they have. Of course the "proper" cap is made to go on the end of a piece of a class A pipe, but look at the type B caps (used for lower temperature flues on NG and propane chimneys). Even if you got a cap meant for class A pipe, you should be able to adapt it to fit over your stovepipe. For a wood stove, you should remove the woven wire spark arrestor since otherwise that will certainly plug up in a very short time. You would also benefit from a cheap plate steel stove for $400-500 that are sold by the big box stores, which has a secondary air system and thus burns clean and hot. Century is one of the names. The cast iron stoves (so called EPA exempt) are wood wasters.
From someone who has had a chimney fire, be really careful about creosote build up. A chimney fire sounds like a jet engine up close. Having a stove that is air tight and can be completely shut down by closing the draft works, IF, the chimney is also air tight. The wood wall near the stove seems too close??
Single wall inside is ok but outside you need insulated pipe to keep the chimney from getting to cold.
Have you looked into Rocket Mass heaters in any way? It'll actually burn up junky wood and it burns FAR cleaner and far more efficiently than a normal fireplace or wood stove. Check out Paul Wheaton and Permies. I've been wanting to go in this direction for several years now, but have to deal with old east coast city building codes.
Soft woods are a waste of time, people get rid of it for free cause it's nothing good other than for a camp fire. You need to find hard wood(s) and you won't have a problem. The higher your chimney, the better the draft... I don't use double wall for any of my stoves and I have never had a problem, but I also have a good high chimney. I also don't have a cap, again waste of time... If you hear something that sounds like a "jet engine" when you have a fire going, you've ignited creosote and a fire like that can and will burn a house down... Capture your exhaust gases with something like a "Magic Heat" the amount of heat waste is staggering... I've been heating my home with wood for over 10 years. It's a labor of love and it warms you more than once for sure... Later on down the road if you guys make it with this life style... Ditch the maul and get a good gas powered wood splitter... Nice seeing people take on stuff like this. It's not an easy life style, but a rewarding one... Good luck.
Other options:
1. split the pinebark from the wood and run it trough your chippers and then put it in a heap outside in the full rain and the snow so it can start to rot.
This will be perfect acidic garden mulch around your acidic loving trees and shrubs like walnut trees and blueberry bushes.
2. Use those stones and rocks around your place to cement around your stove and stove pipe to make a thermal battery.
+J. Verheulst You're a beast! We're stacking all the bark that we can get off the pieces in a pile. Hoped to find a use for it around the property. How much do people pay for bark mulch right? $$$ On the rocks we're still trying to figure out a way to wash them. We have lots of rocks, but limited water. Might not get that done this year, but if we can find a way to collect more rain water we can use that to clean the rocks up. I call this job security. LOL :)
You can dump the bark chips around your future walnut trees and blackberry bushes.
They love the acidification that the bark chips provide.
They really thrive on it.
Same wth rododendrons that you can plant as wind breaks on the northern sides of your property.
We use slabs of bark in layers to make walkways in between our deep mulch garden beds. No chipping necessary and it looks charming imo. Thank you for your great videos!
First sorry about the book; just some idea's that I've used on house's:
Check with your wood stove shop's around the area and get broken fire brick and high heat mortar: Then crush the broken fire brick up into 1/2"-3/8" minus and mix with the mortar to use in your rock thermo mass will help to retain heat better and give it up better too: Also you can put up oiled play wood on your wall joist and hang chicken wire with some through joist support in 2'sections and jump pour; "( Then do 2" more and when the bottom 2" can support it self move that form up for the next pour: It will also cut down on drafts too)" and pour the fire brick mortar mix with larger rock into the space's for more thermal mass "(For safety put 6" to 1' wide ply wood braces across the thermo mass in your wall at the joint and in between While leaving the most exposed that you can)" and on the floor around your stove: Use the "T's" to make your clean out easier but just put caps on the bottom's and make a wand for your compressor to blow the level area in so as to clean it to your next "T": "(I guess this post is more for others to read for their Info ? But this can be used on your house and barn: For house get ceramic tiles and make patterns behind your wood heat stove and wood cook stove for thermo mass and good looks at the same time while having zero clearance Go from lowest level to highest level with your thermo mass for best result's and as close to the center of your house that you can)".
In Nova Scotia "they" say it should also be 3' past the roof peak for proper draw. I also have 5 acres and I get all my wood from the standing dead fall. The "t" will save a lot of time in cleaning if staying with that pipe. P.S. You guys rock... Time to go light a fire lol
OUR ONLY HEAT IS A WOOD BURNING STOVE AND THE FIRST THING WE WERE TAUGHT WAS TO NEVER BURN PINE. NEVER! YOU DO HAVE TO CLEAN THE STOVE PIPE NO MATTER WHAT WOOD YOU USE. LOVE OUR STOVE AND THE HEAT IS AWESOME.
I'm sure you guys have seen the bazillion videos on here where people are making or testing "rocket stoves." While the name might be real catchy and people love playing with fire, most of these videos don't display a stove that has the type of burn characteristics to call it a true rocket stove. That has a lot more to do with a self-insulating double pass burn chamber that creates a clean burn and strong draft (hence the roaring sound that I suppose gives it its name).
Even a very basic horizontal wood stove like yours could be very simply modified to create much of the same effect as a true rocket stove, which would have multiple benefits. It would go a long ways toward ensuring a clean burn almost all of the time. It would also trap more of the heat inside the house, rather than exhausting it out the chimney. Lastly, since the much higher percentage of the wood is actually burning inside the stove, the amount of heat your get for your home, per pound of wood burnt, will be much higher.
Check into the actual theory behind the rockets, and look into getting a liner for your stove and a draft tube that pulls from outside air. These 2 modifications alone would give you a huge benefit, and likely cost almost nothing.
As others are saying, soft woods especially pine leave a LOT of pitch, tar, soot and creosote. BARK is not your problem as much as all the sap in the wood that sticks to your pipe walls. they either have to be BURNED out (very hot) or better yet, don't use pine. Hardwoods don't have as much sap.
+Kevin Ashby It's all a less than ideal situation really, but guess what, we're making the best of it! :) Agreed on the softwoods. Hopefully in an ideal world this year we'll rescue some birch from becoming toilet paper!
You have to season firewood. Green wood = problems. Bark is not a real issue, as long as you burn it hot. Double wall chimney would definitely have helped or removed the issue. Learning curves.
The problem is not the ratio of the wood to bark density, its actually the tree's sap which is found between the bark and the wood which causes the buildup of soot. Pine is one of the trees which has the most sap of any USA tree and is the most dangerous to use as firewood because of that factor. The sap's soot builds up in the flue and begins to burn within the exhaust pipe and can set nearby wood walls to catch on fire. Many houses have been burnt to the ground because of burning pine in a fireplace.
Get a good 2 stage burn going, that will take care of the soot.
I don't know if you have "Hedge Wood" in your area, but it will burn EXTREMELY HOT! Be very careful. Only use a small piece mixed with you other woods. It can cause flu fires!
hi there I'm a new subscriber, I like you're channel. best of luck on the new homestead. speaking of luck you got really lucky with the woodstove. lucky you didn't have a flue fire those are bad news a flue fire could have burnt down everything, trailer included. stay safe burning wood has some danger involved . p.s. if you have a choice in the wood you burn pine is the worst too much resin
+midmo prepper Welcome to the channel! :) No joke on the flue fire. We haven't had one yet and don't intend to, but the risk is always there. Thanks for the tip on Pine. We kinda knew that, but this year what can we do? Make the best of what we have. There's just too much to do and we'll do our best. As a kid our house burnt down, not because of a flue fire. Just a very dry year and a small spark from the chimney caused a small ground fire which ended up taking the whole house with it. Very traumatizing. I've been slowing learning to trust this stove, but it'll never trust any stove 100%. Thanks again for subscribing and coming along with us!
I must have hit the wrong button, looks like my comment vanished.
Will try again, I can see day light thru to walls, the cracks so there is going to be cold, rain and snow.
you probably corrected this situation BUT old time ship builders and sailors, wood ships, would jam tarred rope in the cracks to make them more water tight, the hulls decks etc.
This tarred rope/rags would help keep the weather out and make it somewhat more comfortable.
I am really waiting to see the floor of the garage poured and see if they are putting in the floor pipes or tubing to run hot water thru to heat the building.
I have heard mention of radiant heating---don't know if that goes in the cement floor like I mentioned or if it is suspended from the basement ceiling----guess I will find out pretty soon, think the next video is pouring the floor.
Thank you for showing your work/ experiences in your project..
So glad I came across your channel love your videos :)
another idea is to make sure you burn it really hot once or twice a week to keep it burnt out
Hi Guys! Thanks for your channel (subscribed :)!
Quick tip on this problem: try to find some Alder wood around - and use it once a week instead of pine and other wood high in resin.
(Very old Russian way to get rid of that stuff; Alder has been called a 'Tzar's Firewood' not only because of its ability to burn without any stuff left in chimneys - 'Tzar's Safety comes first' :) - but to clean a chimney from whatever stuff it has collected).
Cheers!
They sell sweaper kits flexable, not expensive. some home depot sell.
Came to see how that Makita was working out
It's working out AWESOME!!
A rocket mass heater would be a great heat source for you. Burns less wood saving you time,
Your chimney is at least 3 feet too short. It should be above t he ridge line plus you are below he wind line so it is very important for higher chimney.
Needs to be 2 feet higher than any part of roof within 10 foot radius around pipe. If it is too short, smoke will chooch out of the stove and into the house when the wind blows.
you might have to make your chimney higher?
love your videos...im a new sub
no stainless iotbside? no doublrvwall in side?
Please tell me what kind of camcorder are you using.
Stephen get rid of your stove pipe cap you dont need one the stove will work just fine
sealing the cracks in the siding would help looks like you live in a wind tunnel
oh the deaded pine tar!!!!! ps... ;) lessons learned. Pine tar will gunk up things quickly ... for out doors, pine works ok... but man I hate pine
Hi. The straighter the stove pipe the better. If you can run the stove pipe through the roof straight up it will draw better. You have 3 90 degree bends in your stove pipe and these are drastically slowing down the gases as they try to escape up the pipe. It is recommended to use 45 degree bends wherever possible and to use as few as possible to keep the speed of the gases up. Sorry, but ignoring hundreds of years of experience by millions of people and industry testing costing millions is a bit stupid. If you had fitted the twin wall in the first place you would not have had as many problems and would not have wasted your money on the single wall which you will HAVE to replace if you want everything to work properly. I hope everything goes well for you in the future and the 2 of you have a wonderful life together.
Is a rocketstove an option for you?
Just clean your chimney on a more regular basis. But yes the bark is bad
Throw some potato peels in your stove it helps keep your chimney clean.
true
Soft wood is bad! Sappy wood is worse!
Did you get the wood for free as you inferred (3:05) or did you buy the wood as you stated at (6:28)?
We paid $50/cord for the mill ends.
+Pure Living for Life . Thanks for the reply. I have been keeping up with your vlogs, good luck to both of you. Can't wait to see the hot tub finished.
+Pure Living for Life - Have you guys entertained the idea of a Rocket Stove Mass Heater?
my wife and I love watching you guys.you truly are a inspiration...We are deffently going to go down this road.we are young 31 yrs of age with couple months difference between us.we live in Canada wish we could meet you guys!you look like nice people to be around.keep it up cheers
Id rather see video's of projects than unwrapping something you bought
Awesome! Unboxing and product reviews is one way we support our channel. It's not for everyone but for those who are interested. Without them there'd by no videos at all. Kinda like life. Can't have your cake and eat it too. :)
+HappyHigh I can understand Happy's comments as wel, but I like a lot of the products as wel.
Plus they gave me a lot of new ideas like the GoSun and Makita's.
Plus I like the fact that I can help you guys by watching them and giving thumbs up and later on even buying them via your Amazon affilliate store.
Miss/Mrs Happy you can also look at it from the other way around.
The more we watch and like their unboxing videos.
The more we help them raise an income and finance their homestead.
So the more options they have to produce those other video's that we both like.
I don't understand the building of a "hot tub deck" when you are trying to start a homestead. I don't get it. I thought you'd be putting the energy into building a barn first.
+MotherOfManyHorses This was a great baby step for us and a way to test our our lumber milling technique. And it will give us a place to soak away the sore muscles when we're building the barn :-) Hope to elaborate on this later as many have asked a similar question.
+Pure Living for Life Practicing lumber milling, I understand. Soaking away sore muscles, a hot shower works great. Too much time in a hot tub isn't healthy any way. Just seems like a lot of work (at this time) for something that isn't a necessity. But, it's your project, your time, and your homestead. I see you have already had to alter some of your initial timelines. At least you are flexible.
i have gas fireplaces
pine has far to much pitch. drying will not help
It's the sap in pine... Never cook with it either cause you can be poisoned... Stick to hard woods like oak.
It's ok for camp fires
bark is not your problem , pine wood is .
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