Venting a New Coal Furnace into Existing Metal Chimney

Thank you for the warning about the TSC furnaces (US Stove). I did find several posts about them not being all that great. They even publish a 65% efficiency rating on their website which is low, I think. I'll skip it and pay more, I suppose. And yes, I know they can't be power vented. I just got home, so next I will look into stainless steel venting up to the 2nd floor chimney ...which I know nothing about. I will be posting another question soon on it. Thanks a gain. -Tony

Also, thank you for the info on the SS chimney liner! It does look easy to install and it would be inexpensive compared to other solutions (and this is very important to me). I did learn a lot about it by looking into it last night.

However, I decided I'd like to keep the 1st floor fireplace. I'd like to make that the livingroom and either have a fire going or an insert burning coal.

Now, knowing that I want to keep the 1st floor fireplace/chimney, to use the SS liner, I'd have to remove the 2nd floor fireplace and would have the 15" outer diameter/10" inner diameter chimney pipe going from the roof down to the 2nd floor fireplace, what would be the cheapest solution to take me from the 2nd floor fireplace down to the basement ceiling using the stainless steel chimney liner? (if I use 15" pipe, it'll cost a fortune)

If I can't do something under $500, I'll have to get a direct vent unit for the basement.

Thanks again.

Make sure you look at the size of flue you need for the coal appliance you are looking at. I believe most stoves need a 6 or 8" flue. If you are talking about relining with 10" or more, you are going too big. Unless I am mis-understanding your ideas.

Hello Tony,, you do not want the TSC 'on sale' furnace/stove.. let me say that again, more emphaticly: you DO NOT want that US stove product..
There are a few forum members that use the US stove product with only a few minor issues, but by far 98% of the forum members have many issues with the US Stove products when burning coal.. they are a wood burner that 'can' burn coal, but not well and with lots of issues.. Save your $1200, and put that money towards a good coal burning boiler or furnace..

Next,, get up on the roof, remove the chimney caps, and inspect the inside of the chimneys.. if the existing steel chimneys are rotting away, as Berlin suspects, then you have to deal with this..
You can remove and replace the steel chimney with a Stainless Steel insulated, Class A chimney, or my preference: build a block chimney in the same footprint of your existing chimneys.. those fireplaces are just brick and stone verneer over wood framework and sheetrock. they come apart easily [makes a mess] but when done, you have a lifetime chimney,, get rid of both 'fireplaces' and make them a hearth with a flue pipe 'thimble'. that's the connection from the stovepipe through the wall into the chimney clay liner..
then you can use any type of freestanding stove you like..
and you start in the basement, with a dedicated flue for the boiler/furnace of your choice..

OK, , now, how to heat your house: first, you can use the existing ductwork, and install either a coal burning hot-air furnace, like the LL Anthraking, these can be Powervented, but most of us prefer and recommend a masonry chimney as mentioned above..
OR, you can use a boiler, [highly recommended] use the hot water with a water-to-air heat exchanger to put the heat into the ductwork, still using your ductwork.. you get the bonus of lots of DHW,, that's domestic hot water.
OR , as you mentioned, plumb in baseboard heat.

OR, if you are going to keep this place, and not just 'flip' it,, I'd install a 'staple up' pex under the flooring heated floor system.. this is the cadilac of heating systems,,you will absolutely LOVE it... however, unless you need to pull down your sheetrock [drywall] under your floors, this may be a lot of extra work. It will be well worth it.. but you may not want to tackle this..

I'm assuming, that since it is an electric heated house, that it has very good insulation and windows??

Greg L

Nope, I would put a Hitzer 50-93 in that fireplace as I love gazing endlessly at a POH device:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLk4URsCWkA

Thx for nothing ashcat, your fantastic movie just cost me a new Hitzer but then I always just follow the crowd.

An LL AnthraKing 110K at the other end of the house run off a very easy to install powervent. Superfilter the incoming LL furnace air with Aprilaire/MERV 12 filters and you will have the purest, best feeling disease free (well at least resistant) home in the neighborhood. The best heating system is not one where every inch is controlled to within 1F it's HEPA filtered air. The EPA agrees with me and despite that I think you should go that route. Sorry, I go to a different church than these guys.

Well, it's over a month later and I have some bad news.

The bank (the owner of the home) ignored a major part of the contract and simply didn't keep up its end of the sales agreement/contract. I canceled the closing and got my down money back.

My wife and I finally decided that we liked our current home better than this one finished, so I was going to flip it. Now even that's out!

But I have learned sooo much and I thank everyone for the replies. This house would have been sooo sweet for coal. Besides having a furnace/boiler in the basement, it also had those two fireplaces to work with AND the outright massive kitchen (larger than my sister's entire 1st floor) already has a Franklin stove in it! I was going to be buying an antique coal cook-stove as an extra after the remodel. That would have been one sweet place.

Now, I'm trying to buy a 100 acre farm nearby (60 acres tillable) and I've never farmed anything. It's just at a very low $350,000. It's on the market for 8 months and of course, the day I call, someone made an offer the day before and the bank is going with it. I'll be crossing my fingers that the financing falls through.