Here It Is!

[woodburn]

After much great advice from people on this forum, I finally have a beautiful new stove up and running. It has been installed for about three weeks. This last week and a half I have had more fun with it because the horrible paint curing smell was awful at first. I went with the Avalon Arbor. I posted pictures in The Perfect Picture forum. It's titled, "Avalon Arbor, Custom Hearth, Cultured Stone." Here is the link.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/14900/

Let me know what you think there.

 

[begreen]

You did check the Arbor's manual for back clearances to combustibles, correct?

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/10627/P15/

 

[woodburn]

Indeed I did. I worked with both the Lopi dealer for the Leyden, and the Avalon dealer for the Arbor, before deciding on the Avalon. Both of those dealers said that by putting durarock/stone you can reduce the clearance by 1/3. If you use the 1" spacer method, you can reduce it by 2/3. The Avalon dealer installed the stove by moving it 1/3 closer to the wall. Both dealers are certified dealers/installers, and are NFI certified. I trusted their advice on this. Are they wrong about that?

 

[jtp10181]

On the stove, sometimes, on the pipe, sometimes. Can you tell me the measurements from the rear of the stove to wall and from the pipe to wall? Is this double or single wall?

Its not as straightforward as reducing it by 33%. I think the minimum it can be reduced to is 12" clearance for the stove (unless its tested to less, then thats the min). I f you give me the numbers I will look it up in the NFPA211 code book.

 

[begreen]

In this circumstance, I thought the stove mfg. specs were the final call. But perhaps I am in error, this is a good question. If reducing the clearances, does one base the reduction off of the maximum clearance for the stove or off of the already reduced clearances in the mfg. chart?

What is that actual distance from the back of the stove to the cultured stone that the dealer specified?

 

[jtp10181]

I was under the impression you could reduce still using the guidelines in NFPA 211 but you could not reduce further than the listed minimum in the NFPA document.

 

[woodburn]

The back of the stovetop is placed 14" from the studs. The stovpipe, which is double wall, is 8" from studs. This makes the stove 11" off the cultured stone, and the pipe 5" off the stone. jtp- You are right about that minimum thing. The dealer did say you can reduce the clearance by 33%, but you could not come any closer than 12" to a combustible with the stove, and 8" with the pipe. For example, if you had a stove with a clearance of say 15", you couldn't take off the full 5" for the 33%, you could only move it in 3".

The clearance for the back of my stove is 20.75". So by putting durarock and cultured stone, the 33% reduction would take to 13.85" to a combustible. BUT, if it was any closer than 14", then the pipe would be closer than that 8" minimum, so that's why he put it where it is and no closer, assuring me it was all to code.

BeGreen, I think the already reduced clearance due to using double wall pipe can still be further reduced the 33% by putting the noncumbustible surface in front of the combustibles the stove is measured off of. That's what I was told by both dealers.

I hope I explained everything clearly. Thanks so much for your help guys.

 

[begreen]

Thanks for the update woodburn. As noted, it's hard to tell from the angle of the photo what the actual clearances are or the thickness of the stone. From your measurements it sounds like you are at minimum clearances.

FWIW, I believe 6" is the minimum clearance for 6" double wall pipe to a side wall. 8" is for ceiling clearance with a through-wall installation.

 

[Corie]

Just to stick my nose in this. Manufacturer test data always, 100% of time trumps NFPA 211 or any other code when it comes to clearances and clearance reduction.



If the stove manual says rear heat shield, NFPA 211 protected wall surface and lists a clearance, that is the one you MUST adhere to, whether or not it is 33% of the unshielded clearance.

Quite frankly, the testing procedure for clearances is very thorough and I would put a lot more faith in that than a ballpark 33% number from NFPA.

 

[woodburn]

Thanks BeGreen. Corie- the stove manual doesn't list any data about clearances if using a protected wall surface. It just gives clearances to combustibles using single and double wall pipes. I guess in this case you have to use NFPA's guidlines?