RMH in a wood house. Questions about outlet/inlet and clearances.

We are building a RMH on the floor of a wood-framed house. I'm keeping it up off the floor much in the same way and E & E did in the recently-released Village Village DVD. With an air gap. In our case, we have it 4" off the floor.
We've taken care to brace the floor to support -- in our calculations -- 4.9 tons. The part of the thermal mass that is over the floor is estimated at <2 tons.

My questions are about air inlet/outlet and clearances.

-Clearances to keep the wood house from burning down-
I've heard so much different information about the the "safe" distances from the walls, that I don't know what to do anymore. I've heard 36" for wood stoves, but I just saw a wood stove yesterday that was installed much closer to the wall. People on other forums are saying less.
I'm buying a laser thermometer so when I fire this thing up, I can conscientiously check the temperature of all surrounding surfaces.

-Inlet/Outlet-
Putting a stack above the ridgeline of the house would be almost impossible. Therefore, we are working to design a reliable system that doesn't depend on this height. We think the best way to do it would be to have a cold air inlet directed through the intake.
Regarding the outlet, we are looking at a million options, but having trouble deciding on one. The final run of the bench will rise outside the cob and exit through the wall at the height of the 1st floor. There will be exposed ducting in the room at this point. What kind of stovepipe do we need to avoid CO2 leaks? (As I understand it, the sheet metal HVAC ducting is leaky?) We'll need a vertical rise and a 90 to get out the wall. How do these pieces come together in a non-leaky way?

What kind of hole should be put in the wall for this? What kind of "hat" or wind block on the outside is also a question.

Thank you much for any assistance!

Hi!

Do you have any pictures? I plan on building a RMH on our wooden floors as well. Was the 4" a good decision for height off the wooden floor? I was wondering if we can just just thick cardboard down for the bricks, then the wooden sheets to then build upon.

I would make the vertical and 90 out of single-wall stove pipe. If you spend the money, you can get seamless stainless. Match up the same brand to get a through-wall thimble to remove all doubt for wall safety.

36" is the standard for an old-fashioned basic metal stove like a Vozelgang or other cheap stove. I would hold that distance from a barrel if the hot zone (Ernie's Toroid) is anywhere on the side of the barrel. A piece of sheet metal with standoffs so it vents behind it will cut that distance in half. That is to be legal "to code" for an unlisted stove--important if you want insurance on your house.

I agree with E&E that you should always use Class A chimney pipe and fittings going through walls or ceilings. Yes, they are EXPENSIVE so do it smart. A chimney usually costs as much as the stove when you pay for the stove--it will be 90% of the cost of installing a rocket.