Mooseburger Intro & RFI

[mooseburger2nite]

Hey to all from Mayberry. I relocated to NC after 30 years in AK. Been lurking here for a month...what a great source of information you've all created. I decided 5 years ago that the natural gas company was taking too much of my money, so I bought a $400 Craft Stove off of Craigslist. My HGTV addicted bride decided we needed to spruce-up the place this fall...that's when I discovered Hearth.com. After many hours reading all your posts, I bought a Hearthstone Clydesdale, 30ft of Flex King Pro, Owens-Corning Country Ledgestone, and a pile of Flagstone. I have a 25 year old 6ft wide red brick fireplace that I'm told is "out of date". I'm pretty good at figuring things out, but looking for any tricks of the trade on a few items...
1) Setting the Flagstone directly on the red brick hearth...I bought type S mortar, and spent a day breaking my flagsone to size and now have it layed-out. Some of it is 1-1/4" thick, some is 1-1/2" thick...any trick to setting it so the finished hearth is level on top? How thick should I put the mortar down?
2) 120VAC outlet for the blower...thinking of flush mounting a compact single receptical on the bottom of the vertical near the opening so I don't have to stare at a cord. I don't know about an outlet too close to the firebox...everything I've seen will melt. Does someone mfg a recepticle for high temp locations? Another thought I had was to run a conduit under the flagstone hearth at the intersection of the vertical Ledgestone...run it out to the side of the rock where it's not so noticeable. Ideas to avoid looking at the power cord?
3) Liner hook-up...I assume you have the stove pulled out enough to attach the 6" connector to the stove, and push the unit back...then on the chimney end pull up any slack and screw-on the cap. Worries include bending the $700 liner. Is there a trick to attaching the liner to the fully pushed-back Clydesdale? Remove the smoke tubes & attach from inside? I will have a 4" gap between the top of the stove and the top of opening (before installing the surround). I also bought the 2300 deg F insulation blanket...would like to create a block and/or insulate where the damper used to be. As I have 2ea terracotta pipes each with only 7" x 11" inside dimension, I'm not using insulated liner...running the 6" dia through one, abandoning the 2nd and capping it. I may need to pour the insulation down from the top.
4) Cutting the excess liner. I bought the dbl wall liner...I hate to take a pair of sheetmetal shears to it. How do you guys & gals cut it and stay round?
Thanks in advance...Mike

 

[Frostbit]

Welcome, Mike

I figured with a name like "mooseburger" you HAD to have an affiliation with Alaska! I can't help you with your questions; my stove is a simple install. But there will be someone here who can.

Where is Alaska did you come from? I'm in Nome, and have been here almost 53 years now.

Again, Welcome. There is a huge wealth of information here.

 

[Fsappo]

Your spending $3000 or so on a great insert and a liner system. With the tax credit and all, you may want to have that sucker installed. Those Clydesdales are heavy. Remember, a $700 labor charge ends up being $490 after the tax credit, it may be something to look into.

As far as damaging the liner from attaching it and pushing the insert in, if its a decent liner, I wouldnt worry about it. You can remove all the guts and install a threaded rod thru the flex connecter and use that to grab the liner and pull it thru. The issue with that is you dont have a solid connection. You want that liner secured to the top of the insert with screws.

Just send it down the chimney, attach it to the insert, chop off the left over, shove the insert back in and your good to go.

 

[Stump_Branch]

Sounds as if you are quite busy. Im renovating as well, have been for quite some time.

you can build the stone up with mortar. that way you have a level hearth. its nice for texture if you plan on going up the walls. speaking of going up the walls. make sure you use metal lathe and attach with screw anchors. just think of how much weight your adding. I simply did mine in slate and that was heavy enough.

its tricky to get the connection just right, got to wrap your whole body around to get the thrid screw in place. you can use a adjustable elbow coming out of the insert to the liner for ease.

I used a saw zall with a metal blade to cut off the liner excess. in hindsight i do not recommend, i accidentally crossed my hand over the pipe as i was reaching for a tool and sliced the palm open pretty good. and the cut looked sloppy to boot. hacksaw is best here.

if you try to do the elec. which im not sure about burying one in the hearth is code but, anywhere near the hearth, use shielded cable and boxes ment to go around heat. this is not an area to skimp.

Welcome, and take some pictures.