5 inch to 6 inch increaser? Yeah but WHICH end is male or female? yin-yang wood stove chimney pipe secrets and online Confusion Exposed!!

So I just ordered this part.

Selkirk's Increaser is used when an installation calls for the need to increase the size of the pipe to make a connection between a 5" and a 6" piece of pipe.

• Fabricated from 22-gauge cold roll steel. Up to 60% thicker than most hardware store brands
• Laser and Advanced Resistance-welded seams makes snap together pipe obsolete. Guarantees a completely sealed seam: no smoke or flue leakage
• Saf-T Pipe offers a Full range of parts and sizes
• Beaded for furnace cement
• Black high-temperature, low-luster finish painted with the highest quality silicone based stove paint
• Individually wrapped and packaged.
• Readily available at Hearth Products specialty shops and from professional installers

When I had already ordered this different part!

Now what is fascinating about this is that BOTH parts are called a 5 inch to 6 inch INCREASER!

First part:

HeatFab 5'' Male to 6'' Female Increaser - 2526B

Second part:

5-in x 6-in Black Steel Stove Pipe Increaser

Item #: 256402 | Model #: BM0059


 But notice how ONLY the first part designates which end is female and which is male!! The 2nd part just says "increaser" and so you have to figure out if it is the correct male to female or female to male increasing end.

Check out this review from Home Depot on an "increaser"!!:

From all the Install info I've read the crimped end points down. This would make this part go from a 8" pipe to a 6" pipe making it a reducer. (crimped end down) I have not seen this on a wood stove install.

Cons: reverce crimped end.

And what I want is this:

Is it true that your supposed to install single wall stove pipe with the joints opposite of what is common in normal duct installation?

So in other words - we have three "opposites" going on - we have chimney pipe compared to "normal duct" pipe.... we have male to female and we have increasing to decreasing....

 With a proper chimney draft there's (slight) negative pressure in the pipe, so you're not worried about smoke "leaking out" up through the seams. You DO worry about creosote, and this makes sure that as it drips down the chimney, it stays inside the pipe. Creosote outside the stove pipe is very bad news.

Narrow end down.

 So that's the "secret" to Chimney pipes that I had not taken into consideration! We can say the same about the Universe as a whole - there's a slight negative pressure to the Universe as well.

Over the years there has been a reversal of which way is correct. Gas aplliances are still installed the direction you did and the old pot bellys and such were always installed with the joints same way. Then when the fabricated air tight stoves came to be and with them the liquid creosote problems stove outlets were changed so as the male end of the pipe went down so the liquids would leak all the way back into the stoves. When you think about it which way they are installed makes almost zero differance as to the leaking of gasses or smoke since the differantial pressure is what keeps the joint from leaking in the first place not any kind of sealing in the joints.

 Yeah I thought I was told the opposite way! oops.

Now let's have some REAL fun!! I just discovered the SAME product but it has the OPPOSITE description!!

Ace Hardware store calls the part a REDUCER!

Imperial 6 in. Dia. x 5 in. Dia. Steel Stove Pipe Reducer

Imperial 5 Inch x 6 Inch Crimped Stove Pipe Increaser

THE SAME part at the "fireplace" store calls it an Increaser!!

 So I don't feel bad getting this screwed up! Even the stores are messing it up. It is indeed an "increaser" - the fireplace store has it correct. ACE has it wrong. Makes sense since the "fireplace" store is specialized and ACE is not.

By same part I mean literally the SAME part!!

So either BOTH Lowes and Ace used the wrong descriptions for their parts or the Chimney specialty stores are wrong. Obviously the Big Box general stores got it wrong. 

But just to double check - now we need to go to the "imperial" company directly to see how they describe their parts!

Oh so their "increaser" is solely for pipe to pipe connection! I got it. Not for the connecting to the stove directly.

OK hence the confusion.

 So the Fireplace specialists are using the OPPOSITE meaning since the typical use for this would be into the stove directly - instead of just connecting two pipes together!