Help...i'm cold and cannot figure out what's wrong w/ this wood stove

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Thanks for posting that, Rick. A pic is worth a 1000 words.
PA - if your initial measurement is accurate at 5" from the corner, you will need an additional 6" spaced away from the wall (for a total of 11"). The math works out that 2 45 deg 6" pipes should get you that 6 inches.
Like I said, quick and easy for your installer.

I really do hate to bring this up, but if you move that stove 6" further out from the wall, how much hearth (or hearth pad) will you have in front of the glass of this stove?

Yes, I've been wondering about this. Looks like she has the stove directly on the floor, which appears to be a continuation of the tile that is on the walls. Hopefully the floor is directly on a concrete slab on earth....
 
I think everyone is missing the primary concern here: yes, I like your picture. :lol:
 
OK! two 45s sound great, no new hole in ceiling. BTW, will the house get hot? Is this being too close to walls making the heat go outside? Sorry to be so ...blonde...Kitty
Kitty, I'm a brunette and I get it, my daughter is a blond and she gets it. You will get it too, just keep reading the posts.

The wood stove being close to the wall does not not stop it from heating your house. Moving the stove away from the wall so the walls do not burn down the house will not make the stove burn hotter to warm your house. You need to test your wood to make sure it contains no more than 20% moisture. Dry wood and learning how to regulate your stove with the air intake will make your house warmer. Two things you need beyond the stove when you use a wood stove is a temperature gauge for the top of your stove to make sure it does not get too hot and cause your stove's steel to weaken. (not your problem now but if you get dry wood, you do not want to overheat your stove (called overfiring)

Then you need a moisture meter to check your wood. I previously included 2 links in an earlier post to Amazon, but you could go to a hardware store and ask about these 2 items. When wood in a stove is not burning well, it is usually becasue the wood is wet. This is "cause and effect" Also, if you are burning well and the stove and room not heating up, could be your heat is going up the chimney because air intake left open causing too much of a draft similar to you just having an open fireplace with the flu wide open.

San Deigo is 54 degrees right now - perhaps overnight getting down to 40. Some of us would not call that cold, but mild but if you live in warmer climates and not used to it, then cold. For a few days, dig out some sweaters and wear them or check your local hardware store for an electric space heater and heat the room you are in. Some come on wheels so you can wheel them from den to bedroom etc.
 
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They're just now coming out the other side of a cold snap like that region never sees. Hard freezes overnight. In all the years I lived in San Diego I never saw temps that even approached those lows. I'm still waiting to hear how the 60,000 some acres of Avocados came through it, as well as the citrus fruit. Some Southern California farmers could have taken a serious hit. Even 54° F feels dang cold to anyone who's lived down there for a while. Rick
 
Hi Kitty, Sorry I was a bit harsh yesterday. Nice picture of you and the stove.That stove is much smaller than what I surmised yesterday Currently 8 degrees( F) here. I agree with others the stove looks to be placed too close to walls. Also Oak can take up to 3 years to attain less than 20% moisture internally. Your E wood I do not have here so can't comment on it. A lot depends on the environment and how it was stacked to dry. Try this, when you have a nice load of hot coals in stove rake them forward some take 1 split of your wood and set it on top of the coals with the air control full open. If it starts to light up in a couple minutes(2 or so ) with out any hissing or bubbling out the ends it should be reasonable.
 
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Well, all this is very insightful...but i'm still cold. What to do, guys? Did i mention i don't have a mr wonderful in my life. If I have the wood thing moved that's an expense, prob significant for new hole in roof, all that...question is would moving the wood stove further out (there is space to do that) solve the heating problem? I had the HVAC guys come out on Sat to give me an est on forced air unit. My guess is all told that is going to cost me in neighborhood of $1800. (know the plumber who sent them...i get a good deal and trust him). Moving the stove pipe is prob $500 is my guess. The goal is heating the house. Any advice? I do prefer wood heating and have a good source of wood.


You can get a Moisture meter for under $30 at Lowes. Check your wood. OR you can buy one of those $5 bundles of wood at your grocery, its dry if that gets you going you know the problem.

BUT you need to move that stove out!!! NO need to move the pipe through the ceiling or the roof. Go to lowes get 2(quantity) 45 degree elbows. Point one out toward the center of the room right at the ceiling connection. the other goes below it to point the pipe back down to the floor. Then Move the stove out the 6-10 inches or whatever it needs to be to relign back up with the new outlet hole. Thats all the 45 pipes will cost maybe $15 each at lowes. Or buy the stuff and tell your hvac or sweep what you want it cant cost more than $100 for them to do it.
 
If your installer truly is a professional, he should be more than willing to add those elbows for minimal cost. Unless you have concrete walls, that installation is negligent, and in many places, unlawful. Take a look at your homeowners insurance policy (don't call them, yet), see what that says about wood stove installations.
As mentioned above, when the stove is moved out, you also need to make sure you still have the required clearances on the floor in front.

After that, if you have dry wood and close that air supply, you'll be amazed. Look at how many posts on this site, are from places far colder than SoCal, complaining about being too hot.

TE
 
I think our lows the last few nites have been low 60s maybe some high 50s. We have not had a fire since last thur. The last few nights we have slept with the windows open!! It possible be that cold there!
 
I think we lost Kitty two pages ago. Maybe she got it working? Hope she took the advice to move the stove out a few inches, first.
 
maybe she froze to death? Maybe she found another stove forum that was not hammering on her about her install?
 
maybe she froze to death? Maybe she found another stove forum that was not hammering on her about her install?
Her wood was fine and her install was to code...her installer told her so!
 
Scared her off.:rolleyes:
Thats what im thinking.

Hey angel, dont take these guys hammering you the wrong way. There genuinly concerned as well as there are some safty police type guys here. But seriously the solution to your problem is a simple of that can be solved with a few pieces of cheap black stove pipe. Honestly you and a few freinds can do it with the help of the forum.

But if your stove really get to hot or overfired there is potential to combust the "combustibles" behind that tile and cement board. Drywall has paper on it after all!
 
y'all are getting worried that she got scared away. Not all people are nerds that click refresh on this website every two minutes all day long. ;)
 
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y'all are getting worried that she got scared away. Not all people are nerds that click refresh on this website every two minutes all day long. ;)
Yea that could be it to, maybe she works! And dont have a job like many of us where we have the site running in the background or we load our phones up every hour!
 
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Not all people are nerds that click refresh on this website every two minutes all day long. ;)

I can stop anytime I want to. Really, I can.
 
I can stop anytime I want to. Really, I can.

Yeah me too - I've proven I can quit hearth.com MANY times in the last year or so...
 
First, you must admit you have a problem.
 
maybe she cant find it, now that its on the second page. I fugured i would bump this one now that i am interested to see what she has figuerd out? That or its back up to 70 degrees out there.
 
If that is a 12 inch cermic tile, that can't be a 5 inch clearance. It might be 5 inches into where the 2 walls meet, but the corners of the stove are set kitty corner. you have a floor tile that is about a 1/3rd of a full tile and the leg is sitting on the grout line at the corner of the stove

I'm not following this line of thought. How does a thin 12" tile achieve a clearance reduction? Not!
 
Well, all this is very insightful...but i'm still cold. What to do, guys? Did i mention i don't have a mr wonderful in my life. If I have the wood thing moved that's an expense, prob significant for new hole in roof, all that...question is would moving the wood stove further out (there is space to do that) solve the heating problem? I had the HVAC guys come out on Sat to give me an est on forced air unit. My guess is all told that is going to cost me in neighborhood of $1800. (know the plumber who sent them...i get a good deal and trust him). Moving the stove pipe is prob $500 is my guess. The goal is heating the house. Any advice? I do prefer wood heating and have a good source of wood.

Once the fire is burning strongly, can you turn down the air almost all the way? If so, do that. If not, turn it down at least until the flames get lazy and just waft over the wood. That should increase the heat coming off of the stove and decrease the heat going up the flue.
 
I'm not following this line of thought. How does a thin 12" tile achieve a clearance reduction? Not!
She referring to the placement of the leg on the floor tile, which leads her to believe that the OP does not have enough clearance from the wall. The 12 inch tile is a floor tile.
 
I'm not following this line of thought. How does a thin 12" tile achieve a clearance reduction? Not!
I think the tile size is being used as a gauge in dimension. If the tile is 12", then the corner clearance looks less than 5". To me it looks like 2.5"-3" corner clearance.
Hope she took all these posts seriously.
 
Got it, thanks. I was reading too quickly. Hope she got the message without being intimidated. When the stove does get running hot, there will be little protection offered by the tiled wall with the stove that close.
 
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