Hi folks, I'm a newbie to this forum, but not a newbie to heating with a wood stove. My question concerns; what is the best material to use to wrap an enclosure around a wood stove such as to duct the heat to various parts of the upstairs.
Here's the background. My wife and I have lived in central Vermont for more than 34 years. We built a small kit log home and have heated it entirely by wood stove for the first 10 years or so, then installed an LP furnace with radiant floor heating. We kept the wood stove because the power in our area is subject to periodic outages, some of which can last for days.
Initially, we owned a Riteway stove which was a sheet steel rectangular design incorporating a magnet and spring to automatically adjust the air flow. It was a beast and a bit scary to operate. We'd pack it with seasoned wood last thing in the evening, get the fire going and then turn the dial down for the night and hit the sack. The fire would eventually die down during the night, cooling the bi-metalic spring attached by chain to the hinged air door. This wound up and eventually overcame the magnet holding it closed and it would pop open, noisily jangling on the chain. This allowed lots of air into the stove and the fire would cook up. All this could be heard from our upstairs bedroom. The fire would roar, the stove would clank and bang as the slab sides heated up and bulged outwards and then the sides of the stove would begin to ominously glow orange. Followed by the air door clanking shut as the bi-metalic spring heated up and unwound after which the stove would hiss furiously as the now thoroughly burning wood sought to draw in air from every oriface.
But it did heat the house for 5 years or so. We were young, split our own log length wood each summer/fall and carried it inside when needed. That got old quickly. When we built the foundation, we put in a smallish door in it which we'd intended to use to chuck wood into the basement for storage.
We moved the stove downstairs, cut a largish hole in the floor above it and covered it with a crate, then tried to heat the house that way. It worked, sort of, but needed improvement to get the heat into the back rooms.
So I built a shroud over the stove to capture the heat and fed it into large ducts that I constructed of used large diameter heating ducting. I figured that the heat would rise up and just flow to the back rooms and up through grates in the floor there. It did.
By this time we were using a locally built stove called the "Freeflow", designed and built by Eric Darnell. It was a very large stove and could take up to 24 inch wood. It was controlled by a single butterfly air valve and we managed with that for many years.
But the stove is a series of tubes welded together and they have cracked at the interior bends which is smokey, not to say dangerous. We have bought a replacement stove from Vermont Castings called the Duthwest model CDW300007. This is a plate steel version and incorporates modern reburn technology. We have no need of a pretty stove, as it sits in the basement and we don't watch the fire burn.
I would like to enclose this stove, like I did the other one, for which I used sheet steel and lots and lots of pop rivets. But 30 years have gone by since I built that and in order to allow for the new stove's installation, I have removed the old shroud.
So back to the question: Is there a material available today that would make a good stove enclosure to capture it's heat so that it flows into the heat ducting? I wrapped fiberglass insulation around the original shroud to keep the heat within the ducting and this worked, but I'd rather not wrap the new shroud the same way. It got covered with dust and probably wasn't a very good idea in terms of safety, although it never burned or smoldered because I kept the shroud away from the stove.
I'm thinking of metal framing at the moment, either metal studs or predrilled thin steel angle and ordinary sheet metal, or fireproof slab insulation for the sides, if such a thing exists. I would frame doors for loading wood into the stove and leave cuttouts along the base to allow air to flow in to be heated by the stove. New to me, I am also planning to duct outside air to the stove so that it does not draw it's air for combustion from the interior of the house. Naturally, this duct will have to have an anti rodent screen over it's outside nozzle, those critters can enter the house from the tiniest openings.
Any ideas?
Many thanks, Corky Scott
Here's the background. My wife and I have lived in central Vermont for more than 34 years. We built a small kit log home and have heated it entirely by wood stove for the first 10 years or so, then installed an LP furnace with radiant floor heating. We kept the wood stove because the power in our area is subject to periodic outages, some of which can last for days.
Initially, we owned a Riteway stove which was a sheet steel rectangular design incorporating a magnet and spring to automatically adjust the air flow. It was a beast and a bit scary to operate. We'd pack it with seasoned wood last thing in the evening, get the fire going and then turn the dial down for the night and hit the sack. The fire would eventually die down during the night, cooling the bi-metalic spring attached by chain to the hinged air door. This wound up and eventually overcame the magnet holding it closed and it would pop open, noisily jangling on the chain. This allowed lots of air into the stove and the fire would cook up. All this could be heard from our upstairs bedroom. The fire would roar, the stove would clank and bang as the slab sides heated up and bulged outwards and then the sides of the stove would begin to ominously glow orange. Followed by the air door clanking shut as the bi-metalic spring heated up and unwound after which the stove would hiss furiously as the now thoroughly burning wood sought to draw in air from every oriface.
But it did heat the house for 5 years or so. We were young, split our own log length wood each summer/fall and carried it inside when needed. That got old quickly. When we built the foundation, we put in a smallish door in it which we'd intended to use to chuck wood into the basement for storage.
We moved the stove downstairs, cut a largish hole in the floor above it and covered it with a crate, then tried to heat the house that way. It worked, sort of, but needed improvement to get the heat into the back rooms.
So I built a shroud over the stove to capture the heat and fed it into large ducts that I constructed of used large diameter heating ducting. I figured that the heat would rise up and just flow to the back rooms and up through grates in the floor there. It did.
By this time we were using a locally built stove called the "Freeflow", designed and built by Eric Darnell. It was a very large stove and could take up to 24 inch wood. It was controlled by a single butterfly air valve and we managed with that for many years.
But the stove is a series of tubes welded together and they have cracked at the interior bends which is smokey, not to say dangerous. We have bought a replacement stove from Vermont Castings called the Duthwest model CDW300007. This is a plate steel version and incorporates modern reburn technology. We have no need of a pretty stove, as it sits in the basement and we don't watch the fire burn.
I would like to enclose this stove, like I did the other one, for which I used sheet steel and lots and lots of pop rivets. But 30 years have gone by since I built that and in order to allow for the new stove's installation, I have removed the old shroud.
So back to the question: Is there a material available today that would make a good stove enclosure to capture it's heat so that it flows into the heat ducting? I wrapped fiberglass insulation around the original shroud to keep the heat within the ducting and this worked, but I'd rather not wrap the new shroud the same way. It got covered with dust and probably wasn't a very good idea in terms of safety, although it never burned or smoldered because I kept the shroud away from the stove.
I'm thinking of metal framing at the moment, either metal studs or predrilled thin steel angle and ordinary sheet metal, or fireproof slab insulation for the sides, if such a thing exists. I would frame doors for loading wood into the stove and leave cuttouts along the base to allow air to flow in to be heated by the stove. New to me, I am also planning to duct outside air to the stove so that it does not draw it's air for combustion from the interior of the house. Naturally, this duct will have to have an anti rodent screen over it's outside nozzle, those critters can enter the house from the tiniest openings.
Any ideas?
Many thanks, Corky Scott
