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Ideas to help cover chimney area against rain?

R

rumbaba

New member
Hi,

I have recently started living in a yurt in Bulgaria and it's my only home.

I am not bothered about having a window in bad weather so expected just to pull the felt/canvas/cotton package over the whole circular centre piece and be able to have the stove on (Mongolian trad drum). But the canvas around the stove fixings/pipe and metal sheet) burned even though I fixed a pad wrapped in foil around the stove pipe. Not good.

Ideas would be much appreciated. Not a very handy person so some kind of

material to pull over would be best. (Not perspex)
 
Hi, curious if Metalbestos or other double walled type stove pipe is available to you in Bulgaria? It is more expensive, but you only need it a few feet before, and a few feet after, the roof.

I would be VERY concerned if your material is burning, that is definitely not right.
 
Hi Jafo

Thanks for replying.

It is hard to get any but the most basic materials where I am, but your idea seems sound, if only I could get the pipe.

However, as rain is expected soonish, I have today played around with big Bulgarian rooftile, which fits nicely, with a bit of overlap, over the dangerous area which heats up - and will not itself heat up much, if at all.

It seems crazy not to be able to pull the lid over just when I need it against bad weather. When I will also need the stove on..
 
What are the materials of your yurt, Rumbaba? Is it a traditional, Mongolian yurt, or a North American variety? There is a place in Canada called 'Groovy Yurts' who might have a suggestion for you. They specialize in the Mongolian variety and are located in a cold climate.

It seems that to have to pull the cloth back and forth would be a hassle and not ideal... Perhaps you could try to rig some kind of 'fixed', stationary cover? Stovepipes through the walls reinforced with metal flashing are what we typically do, but I don't know the materials you're using or how much safer that may or may not be. It also helps to have two or even three pipes within pipes for the stove pipe - does that make sense? Then the air between the pipes is a great insulator, preventing the exterior pipe from getting burning hot.

Nomad Shelters in Alaska vent their chimneys through the dome. Their set up would be worth checking out as well... Keep us posted!
 
Hi Bill

Really appreciating the ideas coming in.

Yurt is typical Mongolian ger, made in Mongolia. I am Ok with pulling the lid on an off but not OK with the idea of canvas and felt catching fire over wooden spokes! I am living in a yurt because my house burned down..

Realy I just need some sort of material that can not burn to cover the two apertures in the central 'wheel' window - but not metal which could heat up.

Very much like the idea of pipes within pipes, though I think I need to address the rain prob first as we are coming onto what you call fall here..

To see the yurt and the road trip from the UK to bring it to the Balkans, see Castaway Lucy on fb
 
Froit is a yurt maker in Mongolia, bet he would have some good tips as well, his email address is/was: info::email::froit.nl

He can take some getting used to... if he's gruff, don't take it personally ;)

But I'd try to contact Yves at grooovy yurts in Canada, his email is: info::email::yurt.ca
 
Great idea Melissa! I changed the email links and used the graphic @ symbol you can find in the smilies when making a post. Those SPAM bots come along and harvest email addresses from sites like this one and then deluge the email address. The @ smilie confuses them. :)
 
I am loving your connections, Melissa! It's pretty impressive, actually.

In discussing rocket stoves folks talk about insulating between the two chimney cans with ash. Is that something you think would work? The idea, I guess, is that 1) by trapping the air you limit its circulation and 2) by using ash it's free.
 
I'm happy to always happy to share what knowledge I've gained with good yurt people! Yurts became a passion and life calling to me, and there are so many others who have had the same experience of finding them, loving them and quickly coming to 'live' them. It's a wonderful community of people, though still not yet 'tightly knit' community. We're getting there! Becky's work did a lot toward that end. So has Bill Coperthwaite's work. The Yurt Maker Gatherings are powerful for that as well, so the scene is evolving!
 
Making Your own 'metalbestos pipe' with free stuff

One thing you could do without spending any money and utilizing/recycling materials readily available in almost any country is to make your own multi-layered stove pipe to dissipate the heat. This way your outer layer of stove pipe can be touching the felt with warmth but not enough heat to burn it.

Gather up a couple of dozen tin coffee cans or pork and beans etc...

Cut out the bottom of the can with a can opener.

Make one cut down the length of the can and bend it open.

Do this with all of your coffee cans...
___
Now, cut & bend out tabs at the ends of the the coffee cans to link them together as to make a sheath for the existing stove pipe.

Make several layers of sheaths for the stove pipe where it passes through the roofing felt.

How many layers of sheathing will be needed?... That depends upon how much 'dead air' spacing you can create.

Once you are comfortable that your multiple layered sheathings are secure and safely dampening enough heat, seal up any of the cracks that could let in moisture with a locally available roofing/chimney sealant. This sealant can come in many forms natural or synthetic and is best procured only after asking a local carpenter/roofer.

This will take you a days labor and cost you little or perhaps nothing if you turn it into a 'scavenger hunt'. Best of all you may make some neighborly friends along the way :)

-G'day

Steve
 
What a wonderful post! Thanks Melissa for the connections!
Rumbaba, if you want to keep it simple, one of the easiest thing is to:
- run your pipe through one of your toono (dome) openings and seal it as well as you can - it is a good good idea to use an insulated pipe going through the toono if your ger is 5-walls or less (6m diameter or less = a certain size of toono). I love Surely Yurts design. You can insulate only the part that goes though the toono. Or at least fix a thin metal flashing on the closest wood parts
- seal each of the openings adjacent to the one that has the pipe going trough. Use clear vinyl or even a few pieces of cut glas and silicone, or clear tape in the worst case
- turn your urgh (top flap) so that when it is unfolded, one of the sides ends a couple inches from the pipe, but covers over the sealed openings

I hope this small drawing can help. There are more elegant ways to seal your toono safely, but this one is the easiest if you're not too handy :-)


hope this helps
 
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