Roof jacks and stack covers

[DaveB]

I'm a little late in realizing this, but I'm trying to finish up everything and figure out what's left to be done. I just realized a couple of aspects of my new evaporator and sugarhouse: I need some kind of roof jack and stack cover! Not sure how I missed this, but I did.

Roof jacks seem to be kind of pricey - about $220 and I'm on a tight budget. What are my other options before I cut a hole in my roof? Any one have any cheap solutions to get me through this season? If I do need to get one, how are they sized? I have 10" stack. Do I need a 10" roof jack or do I get a 12" one so there is an air gap? Does the 12" one have a collar that fits over the 10" stack to keep the weather out? Can I buy just the collar?

What about a stack cover? What are my options here? I've seen ones for $120 and I'm wondering if there is something simpler that I can use for just one season. If I do need this type, how do they attach to the stack?

I know it's a lot of questions, but I know if anyone will know a solution, it would be the folks here.

Thanks,

Dave

[Jeff E]

I have a roof jack, and it is integrated into the chimney, meaning you add chimney sections to the top, and insert chimney section into the bottom.

If you had an oversized jack, you could slip the chimney right through. I have this for my steam stacks, so I can remove them easily.

With this in mind, if you got an oversized roof jack from a Lowes or Menards or whatever that is made for a chimney to so slip through, you could save some $$ and just slip you chimney up through. Putting a collar on would keep most of the weather out.

I roof jack for a 8" class A type chimney would probably be big enough to slip a 10" chimney through.

Where you have any combustibles close, you need to insulate. I used arch board, most guys use arch blanket.

Because my chimney is 12 higher than my roof, I put a chimney cover on, so I can cover it and open it easily, and keep the weather out.

When I had a chimney I could reach to the top of, I just put a bucket over it. Works fine all the time. Only down side is I had to get the ladder out to open it up to fire up the evaporator after a slow time of rain, or snow.

[Russell Lampron]

If you are planning to put your stack up just before the season and take it down right after the season you could get by without a stack cover. When you are boiling any water or snow that got into the arch would dry up pretty fast.

You will need a roof jack of some type though. A 13" or 14" jack and collar would be the way to go there. I have an 8" pipe going into an 11" jack with a collar to cover the open space.

Insulate the exposed timbers near the opening in the roof for the stack too. I put scraps of metal roofing on mine so that there is an air space between the metal and timbers.

[NH Maplemaker]

DaveB,check out my pictures! Click on the one with stacks up Thur the roof!!What I did was take a Galv trash can turn it upside down,Cut hole in the bottom of trash can just a little bit bigger than my stack pipe!! Put your stack on the evaporator as close to the celling as you can an still leave some room to work!! Now take a strait edge and place it next to the stack and have it touch the celling,Mark the spot were it touches the celling, Now do that all the way around the stack pipe! Now you have the shape of the hole Thur the roof. Now I went around it again with tape measure and made hole 1/2" larger.
Then I took a sawzall cut hole thur roof . Nine had metal roof so we cut metal and all !Than I pushed the upside down trash can Thur hole in roof, (It will only go so far) make sure trash can is level with roof. Mark the extra still inside and cut off with tin snips. Than I took sheet rock screws and screwed Thur the lower edge of trash can all the way around into roof boards.(edge of hole that was cut) Than finish putting stack up Thur the trash can which put it Thur the roof. Now I took the trash can lid and cut a hole Thur the center a hair bigger than the stack pipe, slid it all the way down the stack until it set on top of the trash can. Now because the lid is on the opposite end than normal, it is over sized all the way around the can.Water will run off and not in the can!! Lastly I took High temp silicon and went around base were it meets roof and lid were it meets pipe!! I hope this can help you and you understand it!! I don't always explain thing the best! Now I did this for all three pipes as you can see in the pictures. My stack came with a cap so I can't help you there!! Any questions just PM me.


JimL.

[DaveB]

Great idea Jim!! I really like that one...I think I can make that work. I knew someone here could come up with something economical for me. The description was good but the pictures were worth a thousand words. Thanks for that!

Dave

[NH Maplemaker]

Dave, the other nice thing is that you take the stacks down very easy! I found some whit plastic barrels that fit over the trash cans. In the off season I just put them over the hole ! Weather tight as can be!!

Jim L.

[markct]

well what i did was take some stainless from the outside skin of a restraunt freezer and bent it to match the peak of my roof, i then took and cut both ends off of an old stainless soda keg and it slid over my 8 inch stack with a decent air gap, then i held it above it and traced the shape with a sharpie and cut it out and ground it to a good fit so the soda keg could pass thru and welded the seam, mig welded the first one, and then tig welded the second one for my steam stack cause by then i had aquired a tig welder. as for the collar it pretty easy ya just cut a half round band outa a sheet of sheetmetal and then bend the ends to be able to screw them together. the radious should be about 1.5 times the stack diameter seems to work well, the hardest part of the whole thing with mine was getting the keg verticle and centered because my sugarhouse roof has a different pitch on each side in the addition that the stack goes up thru

[maple flats]

I still don't have a roof jack after 5 seasons down and the 6th to start. I just have a hole thru the steel roofing that almost fits and then I have 1 collar around the stack just above the roof steel. This keeps out 99+% of the elements. I hope to add a roof jack before the 2010 season. My set up is just temp but it works well enough that I do other things rather than build or buy a roof jack. I will likely build one when the time comes since I was exposed to quite a bit of sheet metal work when I had my business before retiring. I also have access to an idle tinshop owned by a friend who is a retired tinsmith. He is about 80 and still tinkers at the tinshop an hour or 2 most days because he likes it. If I go to do something it takes forever because he loves to talk and is truly interesting to talk with.

[Sugarmaker]

JimL.
That is a very novel way to solve the roof jack issue and cost effective too.
Will the rust at some point in there life? I guess if they do you could just replace them for not a lot of money. How well did you insulate the roof boards from the stack heat?
My neighbor is looking for a roof jack this might work.
Chris

[markct]

and here is a pic of my stack cover, its all stainless the round cover is a stainless stove burner cover from k mart, a set of 4 was 9 bucks. and the rest is tig welded outa some scrap stainless strips i got outa a dumpster and a half inch rod to piviot on. i didnt wanna spend 140 bucks on a stack cover that was stainless top and steel frame like bascoms carries. my stack is galvanized still but atleast my stack cover will last thru a few galv stacks

[NH Maplemaker]

Chris,On my heat stack pipe I used the biggest Trash can I could find,So there is a lot of room all the way around it!! It has been five years and I have not had any problem with heat. But I also use oil and stack doesn't seem to get as hot as my old wood arch!! Oh yes not a sign of rust yet!!

Jim L.

[danno]

You could begin selling those stack covers to producers ... Nice work!

Dave - where are you pricing your jacks and covers? They seem to be real expensive from Maple and wood stove dealers. Do you have a heating or hvac distributor near you? Prices for this stuff are much better. I think I bought my 16" 6/12 pitch roof jack for $35ish. I know you can also buy the inexpensive stack covers for $10-$15. These are not the covers that flip open, they simply let the smoke out but have a peaked cover above.

[Sugarmaker]

JimL,
Did you leave the trash can stick down inside the roof or cut it off? These look like stainless trash cans?:)
Yes our wood fired stacks get toasty! I called Keith and told him how he could save a lot of money
I really like this concept. Very neat idea.

With hot wood fired stacks the silicone might not hold up. My stack is discolored out through the roof.

Seems you could pack the inside of the trash can with blanket insulation also as a protective heat barrier? I like the idea that the bottom of the can sticks down inside the building and could act as a heat shield too.
Since this does not have a flange on the outside like a "normal" roof jack. Seems that you might get leaks at the joint of the can to the roof??
Any ideas how it might work through a shingle roof??

Chris

[NH Maplemaker]

Chris, I used a furnace high temp silicon around the heat stack!! I think it was 1200 degrees, got it from a friend who is heat /vac guy! I really put it right to it heave duty. So far no problem with water!! I'm going to be putting new roof on shotley so I will do it right then.If I was going to go though a singled roof !I think I would pull singles back, put bitchathane around the trash can, then replace singles .
Yes blanket is a great idea!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Bucket works great for a stack cover at the end of the season. Run a few strips of electrical tape over the bottom of the bucket and down both sides and down onto the stack a foot or so.

I had an Amish to make me a nice stainless steam center mount roofjack for $ 36 aprox 3 years ago.

[NH Maplemaker]

Chris, oh ya I cut the extra material off of the under side of trash can so it matched the angle of the roof!!

Jim L.

[SeanD]

Hey markct, I like that stack cover. Is there an advantage to the hinged stack covers versus the fixed ones with a tent or louvers?

Where do you run the cable back into the shack? Do you go through the space between the roof jack and the stack?

[MapLewis]

Used the small galv. trash can roof jack trick yesterday. Went through the center of the coupula & through the metal roof. Did the cover trick too..I have a 7" pipe & had plenty of room...even notched the cover to recess on top of my metal roof ridge. It worked like a dream (the way i figure it, I'm now up $200 this season already) thanks for the great money saving idea. I even threw a sap bucket on top until I can tackle the cover project....it really pays to be a packrat..I've come sooo close to throwing that silly little can out over the last 10 years!
Thanks again guys! keep the crazy ideas flowin'

[maple flats]

My stack is 12" and to protect the trusses (which are 30" oc this one only, rest are 24") I made a double wall shield. I used a 16" 30 ga pipe and over that a 20". The 20" is really 2x10" because I did not have time to make a 20. I made sheet metal spacers that are riveted to the stack that look like a V and I bent the legs to revet to the pipe. These space the pipes 2" apart, I have 4 or 5 around the top and bottom to maintain spacing. I then cut the top of both pipes to fit the underside of the steel roof and I have them suspended from the trusses on light wt chain with turn buckles to adjust it tight to underside of roof. I have this so it protects the trusses from about 18" below the cieling height up to the roof. I did this because for a heat generating surface there is a required clearance. The single wall stack needs 3'. Everytime you add a sheet of sheetmetal with at least a 1" air space you cut the distance in half, so 36/2=18 and 18/2=9. Now I only needed a 9" clearance. I then covered the wood trusses with another layer of tin spaced 1". 9/2=4.5". I have more than 5.5" so i am safe. You can also use the ceramic blanket insulation but I did not have any nor do i know how to calculate a proper thickness. Most blanket i have seen is rated 1900 degrees but You would need to know how much temperature gets thru. If it is 300F or more you slowly drive gasses from the wood which leaves charcoal in the end. Charcoal ingites at lower than 300F. Long story shortened, i used what I had and knew how to calculate it's effectiveness.

[DaveB]

I too had success with the trash can roof jack. I used a 20 gallon galvanized can for my 10" stack and then used tin snips to cut the opening. The tricky part was lining up the hole with the stack and getting the bucket level. Then we nailed it in place so it would stay up and fed the stack through. Works great!

Hey MapLewis...I noticed you're in Monson. I live in Stafford and have my sugarhouse over in Somers, just over the line from you. Good luck with your season!! BTW, if you ever want to make some extra $$, I'll buy sap that you can't use.

Dave

[mapleman3]

Bought my "trash can" today I have 14" stack, it would cost me a fortune for a roof jack, this may only cost me 22 bucks!! will try it soon and take pictures

[NH Maplemaker]

Hey Guys, I'm glad you all liked the Trash can idea !! Remember as some posted "there isn't a lip on top side of roof" So you really have got to put the silicon to it in good shape!!
When I first started talking about doing this, My left hand man (Older guy who has help me for years)Thought I was crazy ! But it has worked very well and this will be six years this season!! The only thing that would have made it easier is if a person had access to a plasma cutter as the trash can is a BEAR to cut with tin snips.Mostly the whole for the pipe to pass though!
Now I guess the only thing to ask is when do the royalty checks start showing up?? LOL The only good idea I have ever had and it's a free bee !! Just my luck!! Glad it work and also saved you Guys some money.

Jim L.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Why not cut it out with a 4 or 4.5 inch grinder and get on of the metal grind wheels and go back and smooth it up all nice and even. I would think this would only take a few minutes total.

[danno]

I've tried the reciprocating saw, but prefer the electric sabre saw with metal cutting blade for cutting the circles out. Loud, but a quick, clean cut.

[adk1]

ok, I need some help on this topic regarding clearances. I need to send my 7" stack up through the roof. IT is offset from under the cupola so the pipe will be going through the metal roof with a 6/12 pitch.

Also, my sugarhouse has rafters. they are spaced 16" OC. So my 7" pipe will only have 4.5" on either side before it hits the wood rafters...What can I do to make sure I dont have any issues?

[Jeff E]

Obviously more space is better. Can you access you rafters and box out an opening for your chimney, eliminating one of you rafters in the boxed out area? I am thinking you would have 32" boxed out area.
I did this and run a 14" stack up mine. I dry-walled the interior of the box, and then put arch board over that.
Basically anything exposed to the radiant heat is covered with archboard.

[adk1]

I was goingto tack on some of the fireboard where the pipe comes anywhere near wood. but that is it

[bobsklarz]

Go to comfortgurus.com for some cheap stack covers. An eight inch, galvanized goes for $14.95. Of course you'll have to pay shipping.

[adk1]

I just ordered some 2" thick ceramic blanket material to line the inside of the arch under the flue pan with. I will ahve plenty leftover to tack on the adjacent rafters to protect them from the stack heat. should be slick