Telescoping Stovepipe

A telescoping pipe is sometimes used in a wood stove's connector pipe, i.e. the pipe that connects the stove to the chimney.  We include a section of telescoping pipe in most of our standard flue kits.

Should I Use a Telescoping Pipe?

Incorporating a telescoping pipe into your flue design is usually a good idea.

• Telescoping pipes can make your installation easier.  With the chimney anchored to your structure and your stove anchored to the floor, the telescoping pipe can provide the "play" needed to easily make the final connection to the stove.
• Telescoping pipes allow easy attaching/detaching of the stovepipe from the stove for inspection and maintenance.
• In mobile installations, telescoping pipes can absorb bumps and vibrations that might otherwise damage your flue system.

There are a couple of drawbacks of using a telescoping pipe.

• The center of a telescoping pipe is meant to be free-floating, so the telescoping section separates your flue system into two halves.  If you have an especially tall flue system, you may need additional support.
• Telescoping pipe is usually only available in connector pipe.  If you plan to use insulated pipe for your entire flue system, you may not be able to incorporate a telescoping section.

Installing a Telescoping Pipe

The telescoping pipe should be oriented vertically, one per system.  The male end should point down (toward the stove) to contain any condensing gases or creosote inside of the flue system.  A small gap in the center joint is normal, and should not allow smoke to escape during operation.

The center joint of the telescoping pipe does not need a clamp or screws, and is meant to be free-floating.  If you want to secure the center joint with stovepipe screws, you can, but you will lose some of the advanatages of a telescoping pipe by doing so.

Using more than one telescoping section would make your flue system unstable.  If you need more adjustment than the telescoping section provides, you can either:

1. Cut a different single-wall pipe in your system shorter.  Our single-wall pipe can be cut with a chop saw or an angle grinder with a metal cutoff blade.  Remove the female end, and preserve the factory male end on the piece you plan to use.
2. Mate the top half of the telescoping pipe with a longer piece of single-wall pipe.  If you cut the female end off of one of our 20" or 40" single-wall pipes, it will be identical to the bottom half of our telescoping pipe, just longer.  Using this method, you can make a custom size telescoping pipe.