Converting Free Standing Stove to Insert

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bacsibob

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Last year while shopping for a house, I ran a cross a USSC 6041 with a clearance price I could not pass up. I hauled it around in my van for 6 weeks until the house was purchased. The day of closing I installed it in a sidewall in the family room. Good to go.

It now occurs to me that an insert would have served us better because the fireplace is at the end of the room and the heat would be blowing down the length instead of the width. I contacted USSC; they do not have a conversion kit.

Are there any reasons to not convert it myself? As luck would have it, the hearth is wide enough and the damper in the pre-fab FP is large enough to allow the exhaust and OAK piping. Fabricating a cover is not a problem.

Thanks
 
Converting to use in a MASONRY fireplace shouldn't be a big deal, provided you have enough room to open the top to load pellets. The manufacturers or stoves spend big $ to test stoves for certain applications; masonry fireplace, zero clearance, freestanding etc...

I would look in the installation manual and see what the clearances are for an alcove installation.

This said, many inspectors will NOT pass an installation that isn't mechanically drawn out in the installation manual, using original equipment.

Many of USSC stoves, especially the insert models, are simply the freestanding unit with no legs, pedestal and some shroud attachments. Your stove falls into this catogory. Just remove the pedistal and you're there. You should be able to buy a shroud kit for the insert model and adapt it. see Pics.

Your Stove: 6041
175087_lg.jpg


With shroud and no pedestal: 6041I
yhst-85157807491896_2142_3083985248
 
Thanks Scott. What I meant about the hearth is it is deep enough to allow the stove to stand proud of the fireplace. The FP has a masonry surround. By leaving the base on and standing proud of the FP, I will not have ash drawer or fill door issues.
 
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