bummer news- need to reconsider stove options

when we bought our house a few months ago, it had an oil furnace and a woodstove vented into the masonry chimney from the basement, both devices hooked up to forced hot air ducts. Additionally, there were 3 other thimble covers- one in the dining room, one in the kitchen, and one in the basement, all with thin press-in metal covers on them. This all seemed fishy, so I got a very reputable local chimney company to come over for an inspection.

They came today and said that the masonry itself is in good shape, and that the oil furnace is hooked up ok, but the woodstove should not be connected as-is. They said if I want to use the wood stove, I need alternate venting for the oil burner, and then some rework in the chimney to properly vent the wood stove, OR build a new chimney for the wood stove.

So I'm back at zero. I was already not pumped about having an oil furnace, and was hoping to make do with the wood stove NEXT year, by which time I could hopefully get some wood cut and dried. I was hoping there'd be enough space in the masonry chimney to put in a second liner for the wood stove, but no dice there. I'm guessing this is going to be a cold and expensive winter. give me some ideas about what to do!

Will Howard : It sounds like you are describing a set-up in your basement where the initial exhaust Gases discharge from both Fuel hogs into their own smoke
pipe, and then are combined right at the base of your chimney !

Your actual problem is Two fold, 1) Your chimney inspector does not want you to even attempt to run both appliances at the same time while using the same
chimney! Here there are just to many ways for strong down drafts or blocked chimneys to feed the exhaust fumes rich with unburned hydrocarbons (Smoke)
back through the other appliance, filling your basement, and then your house with smoke !

2) Even the best wood stove is capable of producing and discharging unburned hydrocarbons. This is why its required exhaust gas temperature is 500 degrees
measured at the base of the final vertical chimney, This is to make sure that you will successfully discharge all of the unburnt Hydrocarbons out of the
chimney without allowing them to cool and collect as highly flammable creosote on the walls of your chimney!* stinky neighbors

No one makes a true dual fuel chimney that would flow the exhaust products of both furnaces in succession. If possible to meet both needs- that dual fuel
chimney would be much more expensive than two separate dedicated chimneys !

While still not recommended, you would have much better luck running two space heater type wood stoves. One in the kitchen, and one (on the other side of
the Common Wall) in the dining room !

The first thing is to properly tighten and seal your older model home, sealing the air leaks that let your house breath > Warm moist air out at the ceilings below
the attic space,and cold air where the wooden house sits on your foundation your mud sill !

There are several ways to get a low cost to you home energy audit, often the local utility will pay for yours. (look at the flyers that come with your monthly bill)
the utility gets to write of the cost of the audit, they can run older equipment that is already paid for, and don't have to plan on any new power plants or gas
pipelines !

Your home energy report will show you here the low hanging fruit is, and the costs of each upgrade and payback times on your investment !

Remember, regardless of anything else your utility is a for profit Monopoly,and will not go bankrupt !If your neighbor takes part in this program and you don't,
you are in effect subsidizing his bill with your higher payments !

You might want to L@@K at the Rocket Mass Heater RMH, For heating the core of your home !

The RMH has is own Forum thread space here at Permies.com. While it still requires an outside chimney, it is a D.I.Y. built unit that rivals the efficiencies of all
types of wood and/or fossil fueled furnaces! For the good of the Crafts ! Big AL

Late note : You may want to look at the Thread and thread extensions '' Mold remediation in a really old house'' in the Toxin-ectomy Forum here at Permies.,
there is much good discussion related to home energy Audits ! A. L.

If it were me, I would set up the wood furnace and buy wood this year. I would also scan CL for lumber scraps and pallets (no chemically treated of either) to burn. But someone is always home here to tend to the stove, and firewood is way cheaper than oil.

Are you home all the time? The problem with wood heat is you can never leave overnight, like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

And most importantly, what is safe and what is code are not the same thing.

I'd like to have a backup conventional heating system for when we're not around and heat with wood most of the time. I can't quite put my finger on why, but RMH don't really appeal to me for some reason. I probably don't know enough about them to be totally enamored. I'd much rather have a more traditional - looking masonry heater. Is anybody doing RMHs with other mass materials rather than the cob stuff? I think they tend to look too hippy dippy or something.

Will Howard : I suggested the Rocket Mass Heater RMH, in all its many forms as something that many of your Fellow Members felt qualified to tackle
in a D.I.Y. capacity ! A certain sub-set of them ( 10% ?) quickly pick-up the brick laying skills for something like Dan Alan's Thread :::-->

Homemade Mass Heater posted in the wood burning forum here at Permies !

I will bump it up to the top Now ! For the Good of the Craft ! Big AL

cool thread! Dan Alan's russian stove seems more interesting/ aesthetic to me than a RMH. If I can get my hands on and brain around building something like that, I might go for it. Gotta find out if my house could handle the added weight, and if it'll fly with code/ insurance.

Will ; This build falls under the Masonry stove category for the approval process, as all such units are hand built units each is based on its own merits.

This often comes down to the way the 'proper' word phrases are strung together ! as long as the proper clearances are follow you should be able to get
permitted and that is what your insurance people will want to see ! Good Luck ! For the good of the Craft ! Big AL