DIY Heat shield for my setup..can it be done?

[celticpiping]

ok lads, my 1979 Garrison I is just purring along nicely...

a little too nicely, as my mantel paint is bubbling up, it's so frikin hot.

The hearth was not designed to necessarily accommodate a stove of this ...magnitude.

What I'm envisioning is a steel shield between the back of the stove, & the wood mantel.

Seems simple in theory...but I'm not a metal worker, nor a engineer, so what I'm asking is if
you fellas know what grade steel/material I'd want to consider?
Something I can pick up at a hardware sore? Specialty store?

Heres my stove



I'm thinking something that simply sits on the rear of the hearth pad, and has curves to direct the airstream away from
both the top & sides of the mantle.

Thoughts ?
Rich

 

[Jags]

First, it is obvious that your clearance to combustibles was not met during the install, creating this dangerous situation. Some stoves do allow for heat shields to reduce the clearances, but it really should be done in accordance with the manual. The reason for this is that saying "for your stove, if you give a blah, blah, blah" don't mean squat unless it has been tested.

If you have a manual for the stove (or can get one), see if there is any mention of heat shields being tested. If not, it is guess work.

I appreciate what you are doing, but safety is number 1. A heat shield will only help, but even when completed, will it be safe (safer is not the question, safe is)

 

[LLigetfa]

I would just replace the mantel with something non combustible.

 

[fossil]

The installation's unsafe the way it is right now, and if you continue to use it like that, you're going to have a house fire. If you can dredge up any sort of documentation on the stove, that's a start. I don't know anything about that stove, but I suspect it's an old unlisted, pre-EPA appliance. If that's the case, and you have no other documentation for it, then you pretty much have to default to the provisions of NFPA 211 for installation of an unlisted appliance. For starters, that means 36" from the nearest combustibles in all directions. Appropriately built and installed shielding systems can be used to reduce those clearances, but that can get tricky if you're trying to shield both sides and the top. I agree with LLgetfa...lose all the wood and any other combustibles within 36" of the stove. Rick

 

[jtp10181]

You need a pro to inspect and recommend re-installation meeting the guidelines for an unlisted stove in NFPA 211. If you continue the way you are some day the house may just start on fire.

 

[firefighterjake]

Just echoing here . . . this stove really needs to be installed per manufacturing specs . . . and if you can't get them then you need to fall back to NFPA's general 3-foot rule to combustibles which I suspect you really don't want to do. As mentioned shielding may be possible to help reduce the clearances, but by the look of this stove I suspect it may be hard to reduce the clearances as much as you may hope.

The fact that the paint on the mantel is bubbling should be a real wake-up call . . . burned bagpipers just don't smell all that good.

 

[celticpiping]

"burned bagpipers just don’t smell all that good. "
well said..and I heartily agree..

 

[firefighterjake]

"burned bagpipers just don’t smell all that good. "
well said..and I heartily agree..

And you know we firefighters are mighty partial when it comes to bagpipers . . . and myself in particular . . . gotta love the sound of pipes . . . depending on the song -- makes me want to start a fight, weep like a baby or dance a jig.

Let us know how you make out with the stove.