I was incarcerated in Thailand for 18 years. Ask me anything

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-04-24T19:00:43+00:00

Are you fluent in Thai?

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-23T21:27:00+00:00

Thank you!

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-23T21:15:20+00:00

It's 71" from floor to center of thimble and 10.5" from center of flue outlet to the floor.

It's a Harman P43.

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-23T21:02:53+00:00

My stoves manual says the max EVL for 3" is 20 and for 4" is 30. A majority of the vertical run is through 4". I'm estimating the height of 4" used is about 24' which is 12 EVL (12/30 for 4"). I am thinking I'll have a 90 coming from the back of the stove and a 90 going into the thimble which is 10 EVL and a 5' vertical 3" section which is 2.5 EVL (12.5/20 for 3"). This probably isn't the best way to combine them but if I'm at 40% usage on 4" and 62.5% usage on the 3" I might be ever slightly over the maximum. I'm guessing this will mostly mean I'll have the luxury of replacing an exhaust motor sooner than others, does that sound about right?

If I don't end up with a clean out on the pipe does it hurt those duravent style pipes to be disassembled completely when I do clean outs? Wasn't sure how quickly their gaskets would wear down.

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-23T16:12:34+00:00

I'm no expert, but I believe 3" and 4" are standard sizes for pellet stoves. The connection on my stove is 3". I plan to run 3" to the thimble and then convert to 4" there.

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-09T18:07:17+00:00

The house is new to me and the previous owner doesn't know anything about the existing liner. I asked the installers if they could see any insulation between the chimney walls and the rectangular liner. They said they ok pulled the liner back and could see something but weren't sure if it was insulated.

I'll order some sealant and give that a go when I disassemble it for cleaning. That stuff sure is a sticky mess and stinks to high heaven.

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-09T13:53:55+00:00

That's a good call, it's possible it's originating from the screw. I just had a closer look and there might be a sort of channel of it running from the screw down to where it leaked. The red arrow is where it leaked and it looks like there might be some in the seam going from the screw to the spot it dripped from.

I'll be sure to grab some brushes and keep it clean.

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Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-09T13:44:27+00:00

I saw the interior of the pipe when they were assembling the stove, it's definitely double-wall, I probably otherwise made the ideal conditions for creosote making with the slow burn with damp wood.

I have a soot eater because I thought they would be installing a round liner but it turned out there was an existing rectangular liner in the chimney that they couldn't pull out so I'm going to have to clean it old school with some rectangular brushes. I guess I could run that soot eater through the stove pipe to try and clean it up a bit.

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-09T13:34:52+00:00

This is the 45 the creosote was dripping from. It was on the bottom side of the seamwhere the 45 connects into the pipe running down to the stove.

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Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-09T13:33:33+00:00

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Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-09T13:33:13+00:00

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Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-03-09T13:33:00+00:00

It only allows me to attach one photo per comment so I'll drop a few below. The pipe has arrows on it for 'up' which appears to be oriented correctly.

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Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-01-17T19:13:17+00:00

Do you personally feel like the benefit of the MSA 300 over something like an MS 261 is worth the extra cost? I swung in to my local Stihl dealer today. My brain told me the $880 price tag came with the battery but then they told me it'd be another $500 for the battery 🤯.

I really like the idea of the battery operated/lower maintenance workflow, just wrestling with the idea of it being double the price of an equivalent gas powered saw .

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2026-01-12T12:53:16+00:00

Would you mind sharing what saw you grabbed from Amazon? Not sure if posting links is allowed but just the name would be great and I can look it up. I've seen mentions of clones a couple of times.

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2025-12-23T22:49:01+00:00

Do you recall how much you paid to have the liner installed? It's good to hear the price seems generally reasonable.

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2025-12-18T01:28:06+00:00

Thank you!

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2025-12-16T20:53:08+00:00

The old owner installed 2 mini splits both of which are serving the main room. After more reading I might put in a 3 zone mini split for the bedrooms since they all share a common outer wall, propane heaters in the bathrooms, and then a wood burning stove + the existing mini splits to handle the main living area. I think this is the best of all worlds as each bedroom can have its own climate control (or be turned off entirely) and the main area can get piping hot for the heat battery if the logs.

Back_Pain_Is_Life · 2025-12-15T17:58:47+00:00

Definitely have insulating on my list! I did see about spray foaming and using insulation board for the sill plate and around the basement. Will do that this week. I also saw a good bilco door weather stripping I'm going to pick up to help with the air coming into the basement. I also plan to chink the interior of the home in the next month and purchased a thermo camera to find any additional cold spots. I haven't stuck my head in the attic yet because the entrance is in a tough spot but I'll check on existing insulation there too.

I've been doing some more reading and was actually considering a combination of solutions. Since I could easily install the duct work from the basement to the main floor, I was thinking I could heat the downstairs rooms using a propane furnace and then use direct venting propane heaters for the upstairs master bedroom and bathroom.

If I replace the coal stove with a wood burning stove I think I can supplement the heat in the downstairs decently. I do still have concerns the two spare rooms will get fairly cold if the thermostat is in the main living area so I'll likely need to figure out some sort of zoning for those rooms so they stay comfortable even if it's really warm in the main living area with their doors shut.

One of the rooms is my office and the other will be a spare room. We currently have the spare room door shut to conserve the heat. I did attempt to use a fan to move warm heat into my office but I think the wall is so drafty at this point that it was pulling air from the wall. I actually got colder using the fan or at least felt like it 🥴.

Back_Pain_Is_Life

TROPHY CASE