Chimney size for wood fire insert

12 years ago

I am hoping someone can give me some guidance on this. I would like to get a wood burning fireplace insert for the house. We have a brick chimney but given that we live in a ranch type house with a low pitch roof the chimney is only 11 feet high. That is from the bottom of the firebox to the top on the chimney, so when the insert would be in place it would only have about 9 feet to the top of the chimney. The chimney does work reasonably well as an open fireplace but we do get some smoke blowing back into the basement as was mentioned in another post.

One shop we visited said the chimney is just too short and it will not work becasue we need to have at least 15 feet. The other shop said this will not be an issue at all. I do not want to spend 3K or so just to find out it is all in vain. If anyone has any experience with this please reply. Thank you for all comments.

Comments (2)

berlin
12 years ago
Your chimney is too short overall, and, too short in relation to your house. The shop that told you the stack was too short was telling you the truth and the other shop was not. Get a mason over there to extend the height - a good mason can make a stack much taller than a house AND make it look good. Even extending the stack another 5 feet will make a HUGE difference in any future stove's performance and eliminate the smoke in the basement issue you have now. Ditch the top-mount dampers - as count rumford said, the best thing you can do is leave the flue open, and unencumbered at the top.
Humbooster
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the follow up, I think that is the way to go, I am searching for the brick now.
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