Ok, so heres the info, I bought a house, the gas furnace is vented through a large lined chimney along with a wood burner. The chimney has 3 thimbles, the previous owner said it used to have a gas furnace water heater and a wood stove, I haven't used the stove yet and have switched the water heater over to electric when it failed and closed off the thimble for this, my question is can I use the stove? If not what can I do to use the stove? I looked into getting a sep chimney for the stove and its rather pricey. Could I vent the furnace out the side of the house? do I need to get a stack for the Furnace? Any ideas?
2006-09-14 08:00:32 · 3 answers · asked by andrew241 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
Ok, in reading all the information you have here you may have several options. Regardless, you should get the advice of a local HVAC professional. Most of whom would be willing to come out and look over your current configuration and give you options with estimates at no charge.
It may be possible based on what you describe here to run two separate chimney liners up the existing chimney. You refer to it as a “large lined chimney” If it is in fact large enough, it may be able to handle both the furnace and the woodstove within separate liners. It may also be possible to run a separate vent parallel to the current chimney to accommodate the furnace. The current configuration may actually be oversized for the furnace. Yes, it is possible for venting to be oversized for an appliance. My advice is to get in the yellow pages, find at least 3 HVAC contractors, give them a call and explain your current situation. Request an estimate for all the options that they see as possibilities. You may not decide to go with any of them, but you will at least have some idea of what options you have.
As for venting your furnace out the side of the house, I would doubt considering how it is currently installed that it would work unless it is a power vent model.
Again, I think you can get some free info on your options locally.
2006-09-14 12:50:25 · answer #1 · answered by lpgnh3 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You might want to check for your local codes regarding this. This should have been done prior to installation, but some people do not adhere to code and this may create problems later down the road. Also, does your homeowners' insurance have a rider for the wood stove? We had to get a separate rider for the one in our house and the insurance company had to come out and inspect it to approve the installation and venting to approve the rider. The additional insurance is only $25 a year for us, but we felt it was well worth it in the event of an accidental fire from the stove, which would not be covered otherwise!
2006-09-14 09:33:44 · answer #2 · answered by Yahzmin ♥♥ 4ever 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'm not sure what you mean by "thimbles". if the wood stove has a pipe that goes up the lined chimney to the top there shouldn't be any complications from using it. call a chimney sweep to make sure everything is clean (chimney fires are BAD). he/she can give you more info.
2006-09-14 08:23:41 · answer #3 · answered by doug c 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋