We installed the flue pipe for our Dwarf 4K from Tiny Woodstove today. Our installation is unique in that the first section of stove pipe is actually a custom-built stainless steel heat exchanger for heating hot water, which I will share the details of in future posts.
This was a challenging installation because I had to plan it without the physical stove parts in front of me which is something I HATE doing. Having a custom part built in Australia to line up with another part that the manufacturer was out of and I couldn’t get exact dimensions on definitely added some gray hairs to my head.
A good wood stove installation in a tiny space starts when you are drawing up the house because you want the stove to sit centered on a roof panel, which is also centered on a rafter bay that works structurally for your building, and puts the stove where you want it and maintains safe clearances. In a tiny house you also need to plan blocking in the wall so you have somewhere to anchor pipe support brackets and your heat shield. If you don’t think about all of these things you can back yourself into having to install a stove pipe with unsightly bends that will be hard to clean and will draw poorly. A well-planned stove install will have a straight pipe coming right out of the top of the stove or you if like to cook on top of the stove like I do rear exit is a possibility, but other than that bends in the pipe should be avoided. The stack should be at least 10 feet tall and you’re going to be a lot happier if you can go higher.
Because our roof paneling runs longitudinally there was no possibility to center the boot perfectly on a panel. What I did is too complicated to explain here (it’s not as simple as it looks) but I plan to make a video about it because there’s a lot of details in wood stove roof penetrations have to be right to be safe and avoid leaks.
I haven’t installed the heat shielding yet because I’m rethinking my strategy there (wallet groans audibly). There was definitely some cursing today but overall things came together well.
– Brian
