Last weekend (7/30/2006) I picked up a pellet stove, a Breckwell Big E. If you’re wondering why I bought a pellet stove in the middle of summer, during a heat wave of 97 to 99 degrees, last year the local Fleet Farm sold out of pellet stoves by the end of August. Hopefully I’ll get it installed by winter. This model also accepts a hopper extension, which I may get some time in the future.
The Big E:
The Big E with Hopper Extension:
09/09/06
I’ve finally decided it’s time to get to installing this thing. Over the last month I’ve been thinking about the installation. Woo, such hard work, you say. Well, deciding where it’s going, whether to build or buy the base, and how I’m getting the vent out the wall did take some thinking and figuring. The location wasn’t a big issue, the living room, but general layout and placement was important. Here’s the basic layout, which will accommodate all the stove’s requirements:
I’ve decided to build the base, rather than buy one. This way I won’t have to settle for anything I don’t like. It’s going to be 12 inch natural slate tiles with a wood border which will eventually be stained with the floor when it’s redone so the floor and the wood border match. I will be cutting out and removing the hardwood floor under the base so it can be installed on the subfloor, insetting the base and keeping it as low as possible.
Here’s the layout in the room:
I then cut the hardwood out:
When tile is used under a pellet stove the building code requires a non-interrupted non-combustible base for the tile, ie. cement backerboard. That way, if embers fall between cracks in the grout, or if you don’t grout like in my installation, they won’t fall on a combustible material. I cut the backerboard to fit in my hardwood cutout.
The cement backer board being installed:
I mortared the subfloor in the area exposed by the removal of the hardwood with thinset and a 1/4″x1/4″ trowel, layed the backer board down, and screwed it down:
Then it was time to let the mortar cure over night. In the mean time, my girlfriend and I layed the tile out and arranged it in the desired pattern:
I also cut the tile and layed it back in the desired pattern:
The next day I set the tile using a thinset designed for natural stone and the same 1/4″ x 1/4″ trowel. I decided not to grout because I wanted it to look like it was just layed down on the floor.
I then washed the tile.
After 48 hours, I sealed the tile:
As you can see, it looks like I set the tile directly on the hardwood, which is the look I was going for. I still have to cut and install the wood trim around the tile, but that won’t be done until later in the project, maybe not until I refinish the floor.
I measured the approximate location of the vent exit point on the outside of the house, and hung a plumb bob to visualize the path of the vent.
Then I marked the proper clearances from the windows and marked the location of the horizontal cap.
I decided to rewire the baseboard, moving the phone outlet around the corner to the left and move the outlet to the right so it’ll be behind the stove. It’s a good thing I did.
That required me to tackle the infamous ‘tapeball’ in the basement, evidence of the previous owner’s electrician skills. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the tapeball before I started hacking away at it. This picture is after I removed about one full roll of electrical tape, and I’ve hacked out 2 unused romex cables from the mess. One of these was buried live inside the baseboard pictured above, the other was strung along some pipes terminating in a metal electrical box dangling next to a faucet – which was long enough to swing in front of the faucet (you can imagine why I removed it). Nice. Oh, and the phone outlet that can be seen on the right near the corner in previous pictures? Yeah, apparently that used to be an electrical outlet. The previous owner evidently decided he wanted a phone outlet there instead. Rather than pull out the electrical wire, and pull in a proper phone cable, he left the romex in place, cut it from the electrical service (probably at the ‘tapeball’) and attached the phone wires and outlet wires to the romex. Double Nice.
No more tapeball! That looks a little safer, eh?
The next 6 pictures are from making a hole in the wall for the pellet vent. My house used to be brick, the previous owner had the vinyl installed. I wanted to disclose that, so you don’t think I’m the moron. Yes, that’s 2 layers of brick, and yes, this was fun (yeah, right). I get to do the same thing on the other side of the house sometime so I can properly vent the bathroom fan the previous owner installed (venting into the 1st floor ceiling, because that’s where I want to store my mold) to the outside of the house. Are you getting the feeling the previous owner was an idiot? His nickname is Rube.
Air chisel = mini jackhammer.
Measuring the hole depth. Damn, 13 inches! You don’t hear me say that too often!
So, I had to extend the thimble.
Outer thimble installed.
At this point I decided to pause the project to do something that would be infinitely harder with the stove in place, and I’m all about doing things when it’s easiest. It was time to paint. First it’s primed:
Now it’s painted, and the inner thimble is installed:
Max, one of our Basenjis, becomes enamored with the cool breeze coming in through the thimble.
Jax, our other Basenji, decides to check it out too.
Positioning the stove. I managed to do this myself without giving myself a hernia, and without scratching the slate. Yay, me.
Applying sealant to the vent components.
Assembling the vent components.
More sealant. No comments from the peanut gallery.
Assembly.
Assembled and sealed, with the stove fully in place. A little metalized tape and the inside assembly will be done:
Max, showing off the pelletstove and taking all the credit. He likes to get his nose in there to help. Kinda looks like he’s posing for mug shots. What a mug.
Now it’s time to install the vertical vent. Here I’m fitting the sections to see if I can hit my mark with the 3′ and 1′ sections I’ve got.
I figured out where to put the top bracket. Leaving the plumb bob up was convenient and helpful for this. I drilled through the siding, then into the brick. Then I assembled the lead anchors, a small chunk of 1/2″ tubing (as spacers), a fender washer and a nut on lengths of threaded rod. Here I’m sliding one of the assemblies into the hole.
All 3 in, and tight.
Bracket installed and silly-coned.
Now it’s time to install the other 2 brackets. The instructions call for 1 bracket every 4 feet. I have 3 brackets, so I decided to use them all even though I’m only going up 9-ish feet. Oh, and yes, my ladder is bent, it dresses right.
After finishing the brackets I caulked the wall thimble inside and out. With that done, the vent is finished. Looks like I’ll have to tweak it a little to straighten it out, though. Not quite sure why it’s bent, all the brackets were lined up with the thimble and tee using a plumb bob. I’ll just have to mess around with it.
Here’s the final product on the sexy side. Not bad, I’d say.
I started this install on 9/9/06 and finished on 10/7/06. I guess that’s not very impressive, but considering how little time I have when I’m home and not sleeping, and all the time I spend on everything else that comes up day after day, I’m not disappointed. I got it in before winter, and that was the goal. Now it’s time to get it inspected and get some fuel.