New wood stove owner need help with install

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cleuci

Member
Oct 14, 2014
17
concord, nh
Hi All, just picked up a used Jotul F500 oslo and I'm begining the process of figuring out what I want to do as far as a hearth. I have a couple of challenges and hoping you guys can help. I'm installing the stove in the corner of the room. From corner of stove to wall it's currently sitting 14" away from the non protected wall. I would like to not protect the wall and simply install a hearth pad. I've been looking at woodlanddirect and found some nice corner pads there. I also have an issue with my baseboard heater. I'm not sure if I should have a plumber shorten this or not. What I'm thinking is simply cut out the carpet and place the hearth pad on the subfloor, then tie the carpet back up against the pad. Would this be adequate for floor protection? After reading my manual I think I'm covered as far as wall protection goes as I'm far enough away from the corner wall. I'm including a pic of what I have now. I've simply placed the stove in the corner on the carpet. Thoughts on baseboard heater? Floor protection? Thank you all, looking forward to getting this done and having my first burn. Chris
stove.JPG
 
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Clearance to combustibles. Whether wall or floor. If your pad meets the R value required by the stove (without looking, I believe yours is simply ember protection) and as long as you follow the numbers in your manual for wall spacing, you are golden. As for cutting the carpet and dropping the pad on the sub floor, that is exactly the way mine was installed.
Your manual will SPECIFICALLY state the C to C numbers required. Its okay to exceed those, but they are considered the "minimum" required.
 
Thanks Jags appreciate the response. Was thinking of maybe I needed to put a cement board in between subfloor and hearth pad but may not be necessary. Manual says must be UL 1618 ember protection so I must be good just to put hearth pad on subfloor as you mentioned. Just need to decide on the baseboard heater. I'll loose about 5' out of 22' on the baseboard heater if I shorten it. Since my stove will be used more as a supplement heat source I don't want to have to crank up my boiler just to heat the room when not using the stove. Will talk to plumber about that tomorrow.
 
I would consult the pro on the baseboard unit. Being that it is most likely a pressurized system I really don't know what the stove can/can't do to the system. My concern (if there is one) would be what effect will the stove heat have on the baseboard and system pressure.
 
When I looked at your photo you show a tiny portion of ceiling that appears to be at a fairly steep angle. Since you are installing your stove on an outside wall you are likely going to have to install a fair amount of chimney above your roof line to get proper clearance from the roof for correct drafting. Have you measured and considered this in your planning? If this is near the front of your home some people find a tall chimney unsightly and it can be difficult to clean from the top down. You can clean from the bottom up, but you still have to be able to reach the chimney rain cap for cleaning from time to time in most instances.
 
I've had a stove installer out to give me a quote and we've talked about just that. The room where the stove is has cathedral ceilings that measure 15' up at it's highest point. In that corner there IS a slant and it's about 10' in height from floor. Outside he told me the chimney will have to stick up approx 8' to meet code. It is in the back of the house fortunately.
 
Note that the Oslo side door is supposed to be locked in an corner install, making it a front-load-only stove. This is why I passed on that beauty.
 
This is pretty similar to what I had to do . . . with my Oslo even.

We were working on renovating the living room though around the same time and we were putting in engineering wood flooring so we didn't have the carpet issue . . . but I would do pretty much what you said for floor protection . . . plunk the pre-built hearth right on top . . . adding some cement board to give it a little more rigidity can only help things at a very small cost (my own opinion.)

Of course you have to pay attention to clearances with the stove and flue.

As for the baseboard question . . . my wife and I debated this very same question. In the end I was cheap and opted to not hire a plumber (I am absolutely lousy at plumbing) to shorten the baseboard. Instead we built around it. It's not the best looking, but I can live with it.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/re-hearth-finished.131153/#post-1765974

Above link takes you to a thread with some pics that show the baseboard and what I did for the hearth.
 
Do you have the required clearance to use the side door if so you are ok but if it is 14" you dont have enough and cant use it
 
Jotul manual specifically states that in a corner install the side door needs to be locked closed. Also states that when in use 36" clearance to combustibles is needed.

Might get messy when that ember jumps out and drops between that new hearth pad and the wall out of sight....

The companies want to sell stoves, they keep these clearances to a minimum in hopes of accommodating more potential customers, they're minimums...

It would suck to have a fire, it'd suck even more to have the insurance company not pay out due to non compliant install.
 
cleuci said:
I understand it's technically not supposed to be used, but I will have plenty of clearance and I plan on using it. Thank you
Click to expand...
I think if you look around begreens advice and comments on previous threads, although perhaps not what you want to hear, there is good advice to be taken...that is why you are here.
 
One of the mods on here said something along the lines of "You are inviting fire into your home, be safe about it" it stuck with me and makes a lot of sense.

Also I am in process of redoing the hearth on our Oslo right now so those clearances are fresh in my head. I can attest that embers will leap from that side door and can create a stressful night if there's places for them to hide, as there was before I got my now wife to start her hearth modifications.

The new one in process...
20141013_164737.jpg

You'll love the oslo, you'll like it even more when you can sleep like a baby cause you know you covered all the bases on your install.
 
First thing to do (if you haven't done so already) is to contact your homeowners insurance agent. Different insurance companies have different requirements when it comes to wood burning, and you surely don't want to find yourself with a void insurance policy.

In our case, it was an absolute requirement that the install be done by a licensed and insured contractor, and that the install met their criteria. It was also required that it was inspected and approved by the local building inspector, which also meant pulling a permit.
 
If the goal is to flex the stove requirements I strongly suggest putting up an NFPA 211 wall shield on the left side wall in that corner to protect the wall. We considered this but had windows to contend with and dropped the idea of installing the Oslo in our situation. No regrets, the T6 has worked out well.
 
Yep. Make sure you follow both the directions in your manual and the advice here. Like already mentioned, Having your insurance company contacted and town inspect is crucial to keeping your family and property protected.
 
Warm_in_NH said:
One of the mods on here said something along the lines of "You are inviting fire into your home, be safe about it" it stuck with me and makes a lot of sense.
Click to expand...

Not a mod, but Mike Holton from Englander. I just un-shamefully use it on occasion.;)
 
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