Re: Suspension losses

On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 07:40:45 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 16:04:11 +0700, John B. <slocombjb@gmail.com>
wrote:
>

I don't know whether you know this but when using a stove to heat a
room put the stove in  the opposite side of the room from the chimney.
Then run the stovepipe from the stove straight up from the stove to
the ceiling and then along the ceiling, using mounts to separate the
stove pipe and ceiling, of course, across the room to the chimney.
>
That way you get more heat from the same amount of wood.

>
Bad idea.  When I bought the house in 1974(?), that's roughly what the
previous owner had done.  I couldn't find a photo, but it was a rather
large "pot belly" stove that leaked air from every seam.  It was
located at one end of the living room with about a 10 ft horizontal
flue pipe to where it connected to the a 5 ft vertical insulated
external pipe (Metalbestos) that acted as a chimney pipe.  It didn't
work for a variety of reasons.  The big one was that for the "draw" or
suction to be able to move sufficient hot air up the chimney pipe, the
inside of the chimney pipe had to be hot.  In order to heat the pipe,
the hot air from the stove has to rise, which is rather awkward with a
10 ft horizontal uninsulated pipe with nowhere for the hot air to
rise.  Getting a fire started was possible, but difficult and VERY
smoky.  Cleaning the ash out of the horizontal section was difficult
because the previous owner had neglected to install a "T" where the
pipe changed from horizontal to vertical.  Even if there was a "T", it
wouldn't have worked because rising hot air does not like making sharp
turns.
>
In other words, it didn't work and horizontal flue pipe are a really
bad idea.  I had to remodel the living room, move the stairs going
through the floor, replace the pot belly with an airtight stove, and
extend the external chimney pipe to 12 ft, in order to fix the
problems.  Although I don't completely understand how it works, I've
found that the "efficiency" of the system is controlled by how much
time the hot gasses remain in the stove and whether the wood is
sufficiently dry (under 10% moisture).

Your description doesn't sound like the systems built in and used in
about every building in my home town. Often built from red brick these
chimney reached from the cellar to above the roof top. Then had a
small opening in the bottom often with a loose fitting metal door to
allow cleaning anything they might fall down the chimney and to allow
the free flow of air up through the chimney. Thus the hotter, lighter,
"smoke" flowed up the stack.

As for an air tight stove that is a bit puzzling. How do you  have a
fire in an air tight enclose?
--
Cheers,

John B.