Wood Stove Pipes
Your wood stove, whether in an indoor type or outdoor installed, classic or contemporary, big or small, must comply all the government safety codes to ensure you are protected and assured of safe home living. One of the important things to remember in wood stoves is checking the wood stove pipes. When buying or refurbishing your wood stove try to consider this checklist to know if your wood stove does not only make you safe but also functions properly.
Most American homes resort to using wood stoves when electricity is scarce or expensive or as alternative to heating systems when electricity is out. Because of the seldom use of wood stoves there has been careless observation of safety measures. Others make use of momentary stove fixing, improper amount and forced loading of wet wood and over-accessorizing the stove.
Check to see if the all flue piping joints are tied up closely and tightly. Use more than four metal sheet screws to make certain that all are held up in place.
Always drain and deplete your pumps and pipes of water. Do not attempt to radiate heat for the whole house using the wood stove only. The stove can only do so much in a room. So close all doors and windows.
Check to see if the wood stove pipes are built on good chimney preferably made of metal or hard brick.
Do not attempt pipe venting for wood stove using only a flue pipe with single walling. This will guarantee clear, clean and smooth interior in the chimney flue.
Do not try to rescue a degraded stove pipe. Replace it at once. It is better lose money than to lose the well being of the family.
Never extend or lengthen the stove pipe through the ceiling of the house or the wall. Find other better places to penetrate the pipes. If there is no other option, make sure that there is enough insulation or some sort of protection in the ceiling and the wall.
If there is an existing chimney in the house and you would like to use it for your wood stove pipes, consider its good location and extent or length of the flue. Never allow the horizontal section of a stove pipe to be greater than three fourths especially if it is not insulated.
Check to see if the pipe allows the stove of a distance of 36 inches away from the wall, ceiling or other flammable materials near to it. This standard is stated by codes of the NFPA or National Fire Protection Association. If the stove pipe is just too close or the stove itself, it is advised to safeguard the walls and ceilings with a board or any material that does not catch fire easily.
Another to thing to check in wood stove chimney pipe, is the release of poisonous gases produced by the burning wood. This is a specially true in homes where an existing fireplace chimney is used as exhaust pipe for the wood stove. There must be a proper sealing between the pipe’s entry and the chimney.
The chimney should not be extremely huge than the size of the wood stove pipe. If the size of the chimney’s cross section is more than 3 times the size of the pipe, then consider installing a separate channel to vent off the stove.
In a masonry chimney, the stove pipe should not touch or penetrate through the wall of the chimney. To lock in the pipe tightly to the masonry, use cement that can withstand extreme highs of temperature.
To check if wood stove pipes are compliant to government safety standards look for the manual or label of the stove. This should give you adequate information on the specification of the parts. If you think you can do good installation and maintenance of your wood stoves then go for it. Just recheck all the necessary precautions to avoid accidents. If you are in doubt, you may need the help of professionals so as not to cause unexpected damage to your pipes. Increase the efficiency of your stoves, invest wisely in good wood stove pipes.