wood stove pipe problem

[Ufatz]

Is there a trick in assembling 6" black stove pipe for wood stove? I have stove in place etc. and need four pieces now to the ceiling fixture. Having a heck of a time getting the pieces to go together. Am I missing some little technique? Maybe I've forgotten a little secret of some sort. I mean fitting one piece into the next.

Worst of it is....I've done this before!!!

[Bobby Bass]

You do have black pipe that is crimped at one end right?

[Ufatz]

Oh yeah, all crimped facing down etc. Biggest problem I'm having now is getting pipe into stove and then up into fitting that goes through ceiling. I can get it UP into there, but then how in the devil do I drop the pipe into the collar on the stove.Hard to describe my situation but I keep thinking there is some little trick I am missing. Duh!!

[cheesehead]

Did you say you have the crimps facing down? the top pipe needs to slide over the bottom pipe otherwise smoke will come out of the joint. There should be a collar on the stove that the pipe slides over the top of for that joint.

also be sure to screw the joints together after the pipe is assembled as the last thing you want is the pipes to come apart just after you've stoked a good raoring fire.

[scaup]

I had the same problem last year at this time when I installed our wood stove. This was the second stove I had installed so I thought I would have a handle on the process. However, it took me forever to get the job done. With out getting to specific what you probably need are a couple sectionts that are adjustable. I have a straight section of black pipe that I can adjust and also an elbow that I can adjust. Becuase of clearance issues I could not move the stove so the adjustable pieces were a life saver.

To add insult to injury If you watch a chimney cleaner take it apart and put it together they look like they could do it blind folded.

[kunk]

I always thought that the crimp should face up. But I bought a stove from a buddy for the cabin, and the ONLY way the pipe would hook up was crimp into the stove. I ran it all the way throught the roof and the chimney cap fit fine that way. The only time I ever have smoke coming out the joints is if there is a serious wind while I'm lighting it, and then I use plenty of newspaper which gets the draft going up. I'm confused by this also. The old cook stove that was in there had a fitting that went into the non crimped end. Anyway, as far as fitting the pipe together, I had some from 2 sources and one of them definatly worked better that the other.

[Ufatz]

Hey fellas, I finally got mine figured out, but let me tell ya it was NO fun. I am SURE the crimps are supposed to go DOWN....all the factory installation specs say that. But there are various fittings that take the pipe into the stove collar etc. I ended up cutting and tossing and cutting and tossing until I got pieces that would (a) fit property and ( cover the length I needed and provide enough slack so I could fit it into the stove top. Seems odd to me in this day that there would not be some source of instruction on assembling a simple chimney for a wood stove. And FORGET about hiring a wood stove sales or service company to help:unless they sell it they won't give you the time of day. Oh....I take that back. One guy would, but he wanted $350 to hook up and install 15' of pipe. I figured I'd save the money for two bottles of Dom Perignon for my New Years prime rib and figure it out myself. As usual, superior intellect prevailed.Again.

[Bigsmitty]

The telescoping lengths are the secret. They make installing so much nicer. The crimped end always goes down. This is to ensure that if you ever have a flue fire and the creosote liquifies it always runs back down into the appliance. The problem sometimes though is that the older stoves dont accept the crimped end into the stove collar. If this is the case you would need to have both ends crimped on the lowest section of pipe. You cant buy them that way so you would need to buy a stovepipe crimper. By the way.... you should always put at least three self tapping screws at each joint.

[Phred52]

Another possibility would be to take your length of stove pipe to a local heating/ Air conditioning shop and ask them to crimp the end for you. I do have to agree with BigSmitty, The crimps should go downward though, to flow creosote back into the appliance. Put your joints together tightly and run in 3 or 4 screws at each joint, after you have everything positioned correctly, just use short enough screws so if you run a cleaning brush through, they don't interfere. You should be good to go, Enjoy the heat! Phred52