Wood insert install - questions

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Sonny09

New Member
Oct 5, 2008
3
Hello ; Looking to install a wood insert into an existing masonry fireplace that is in excellent condition - 50 years old & probably only burnt a half rick of wood - Firebox I believe is standard size? 36" across the front & 24" at rear - depth is 22" & height is 29' .
Brick faced front with a very large wood mantel & large wood side trims.

Question I have is in regards to the hearth - a 20 inch hearth of red tile laid on top of wood surface & in front of the tile is a solid oak floor. Fireplace ends in the basement floor. I would of course purchase a insert that will fit nicely into the existing opening, but I have concerns of the hearth being 3/8" tile ontop of wood. Those that have inserts - does the floor areas get smoking hot? the sides ?

Also even though I have a chimney with 2 separate flue compartments, I will install a stainless liner with cap. Do most installing inserts do this? Looking at a Moroso - Harmon - Buck lines.


Appreciate any help from those in the know


Sonny
 
Oh the floor out there will get warm during operation. The great concern is if you open the door and hot stuff falls out. A few small hot coals will not burn the floor under the tile. The question is will 20 inches be enough distnce to keep them off the hardwood just beyond that distance. But that is just me thinking and may not be good advice at all.

Most all of these stoves and inserts have the manuals available on line. All those manuals will define the minimum clearances that model requires in the instal secton. They are easy to understand and have lil pictures.

That is where you will get the best advice abut your question.

If you can't find the manual online just ask where it is right here and somebody will happy to help you with that.
 
Indeed that's sound advice in reading the install information - but I was looking for some hands on experience in regards to heat output from a wood insert down at the floor area, no doubt some stoves probably give off smoking heat in front & but other stoves may only give a nice warmth - those are the ones I would like to know the makes & models of.



Thankyou for giving sound advice

Sonny
 
I have the Hampton and the floor does not get smoking hot, just ask the dog :cheese: Seroiusly, the dog spents the winter laying right in front of the insert and he has yet to catch fire. I am not sre if 3/8 tile is code for a hearth though.
 
These kinds of questions are dangerous, and if you read on you'll see why I'm paranoid. Still, my guess would be that you are going to be fine with the tile, as long as it's on a non-flammable foundation, but code may say to rip out any wood within 2ft of the insert. I've never seen tile at the edge of an insert, just natural slate/eldorado stone or brick, so don't take my word for it.

We found out that we'd low-balled heat estimates when my husband lit our (small) wood stove while I picked up the fire bricks. It was sitting 2ft out from the walls and he only lit a small fire to season the pipes...for some reason that couldn't wait another hour. When I got home he had the entire house aired out and was completely panicked. He said he saw the walls smoking (literally) and it melted the window casings on french doors in that room. I was livid...figuring this stuff out by experiencing damage is not the cheap way, or safe way, to test the waters. In other words, opinions are fine but never compromise.

When hiring someone to do the ceiling work, we learned that homeowner's insurance will cancel you if you don't adhere to 'national code'. Because Utah doesn't have one (no, I'm not kidding) I wound up calling our local fire department for advice and used Google to get a copy of 'the national fire place code'. Code made a lot of our final decisions for us. We opted to exceed it. Our (freestanding) stove base is two layers of red brick, which is sitting on tar paper and mortared with sand, on a cement floor, backed by cement board that's spaced 1" from the wall and covered in eldorado stone. LOL Had we done a masonry fireplace it would have cost us about $7k to meet national code...the stove stays.

Good Luck!
 
You'll need to go by the manufacturer's requirements. The way the current hearth is described, that would be a spark and ember protection only hearth. That will suffice for some inserts like the Harman Exception installed in the US. Canadian requirements are a bit more stringent. Also watch out for clearances to the mantle and side wood. They need to be honored as well.
 
zionadams said:
These kinds of questions are dangerous, and if you read on you'll see why I'm paranoid. Still, my guess would be that you are going to be fine with the tile, as long as it's on a non-flammable foundation, but code may say to rip out any wood within 2ft of the insert. I've never seen tile at the edge of an insert, just natural slate/eldorado stone or brick, so don't take my word for it.

We found out that we'd low-balled heat estimates when my husband lit our (small) wood stove while I picked up the fire bricks. It was sitting 2ft out from the walls and he only lit a small fire to season the pipes...for some reason that couldn't wait another hour. When I got home he had the entire house aired out and was completely panicked. He said he saw the walls smoking (literally) and it melted the window casings on french doors in that room. I was livid...figuring this stuff out by experiencing damage is not the cheap way, or safe way, to test the waters. In other words, opinions are fine but never compromise.

When hiring someone to do the ceiling work, we learned that homeowner's insurance will cancel you if you don't adhere to 'national code'. Because Utah doesn't have one (no, I'm not kidding) I wound up calling our local fire department for advice and used Google to get a copy of 'the national fire place code'. Code made a lot of our final decisions for us. We opted to exceed it. Our (freestanding) stove base is two layers of red brick, which is sitting on tar paper and mortared with sand, on a cement floor, backed by cement board that's spaced 1" from the wall and covered in eldorado stone. LOL Had we done a masonry fireplace it would have cost us about $7k to meet national code...the stove stays.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...



Wow - quite an experience having your casings melt. Fire must of been hot hot? Did you have to install heat shields? I have decided to rip out my hearth - install 2 layers of 1/2" cement board & morter in 1/4" stone tile. Also will increase hearth width to 3ft. I figure a nice 3ft x 6ft hearth should suffice for a stove. I have decided to go with a Soap Stone hearth stove - a stove that is hand made by Woodstock Stove Company. Stove won't get here for another month so I have plenty of time to prepare the chimney & hearth.


Thanks all for your response


Sonny
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Sitka
Insert recommendations and hearth clearance question
Replies
7
Views
1K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
begreen
begreen
O
tiny wood burning insert or stove advice needed for a rookie
Replies
8
Views
618
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
scaryflame
S
S
Extending a hearth for ember protection, have some questions
Replies
3
Views
426
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
drsmith01
D
M
Install advice - multiple flues (?) and clearances for freestanding wood stove in existing fireplace
Replies
1
Views
1K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
bigealta
bigealta
M
New member, looking for advice on wood insert vs. pellet insert.
Replies
10
Views
412
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
EbS-P
EbS-P
Top Bottom
Back