Understanding Floor Protection Needs for Dauntless 1240

[Owasso]

My wife and I recently bought a house with a rarely used VT Castings Dauntless 1240 wood stove installed. The Dauntless 1240 is modeled on the old Franklin stoves. This stove has top exhaust and was installed new in 1992. Its more of a fireplace than a stove, but it is nice looking (red ceramic), it fits in the space well and it provides good ancillary heating to the great room it is located in when needed. Its not intended for, nor would I use it for long burns, but I'd still like to use it 6 to 8 hours at a time without worry.

My problem is that I'm certain the stove is not safely installed. I have the Owner's Manual and according to the manual the stove has safe clearances all around with the exception of the floor protection. The Stove has 3" legs and no heat shield for the bottom. It sits directly on standard 3/8" grouted ceramic floor tile. The floor tile is laid on 1/2" wood plywood sheets (that's right, no cement backer board) and the plywood is laid on wood floor joists.

In the Floor Protection section of the Dauntless owners manual it states " Without the optional Bottom Shield, the only acceptable installations are those on completely non-combustable floors, such as unpainted concrete over earth". That is pretty clear, but its not helpful. The stove and manual is old enough that there is no reference to R value insulation requirements.

If my only solution is a 6" fire brick and cement hearth pad I'll probably replace the stove. That would not be appropriate for the room. Also, the stove is on the first floor of a house with a full basement. I would be concerned about the weight that would be concentrated in one spot.

Is there any way I can calculate R value needs if I want to see about a hearth pad?
Any hearth pad R value suggestions?

I am open to all help and any suggestions you can provide. If I'm wrong and its safely installed that would be great, but I don't think that's the case.

Thanks In advance for your help

* edited for clarity.

 

[chimneychick]

Hi Owasso
You sa y you have a manual for the Dauntless?? If you could scan it and send it to me that would be GREAT.
[email protected]

I seriously am in need of the clearances page for an installation that I have to look at.
There are ways to reduce your floor clearances by use of several methods.
http://www.housing.yk.ca/pdf/wood_guide_nrc.pdf
should help you a bit but am looking for a specific picture for you depicting how to stack hollow bricks to enable proper air flow beneath the stove but basically two rows. one with hole east to west and the next with holes north to south.
on top of a piece of sheet metl

My wife and I recently bought a house with a rarely used VT Castings Dauntless 1240 wood stove installed. The Dauntless 1240 is modeled on the old Franklin stoves. This stove has top exhaust and was installed new in 1992. Its more of a fireplace than a stove, but it is nice looking (red ceramic), it fits in the space well and it provides good ancillary heating to the great room it is located in when needed. Its not intended for, nor would I use it for long burns, but I'd still like to use it 6 to 8 hours at a time without worry.

My problem is that I'm certain the stove is not safely installed. I have the Owner's Manual and according to the manual the stove has safe clearances all around with the exception of the floor protection. The Stove has 3" legs and no heat shield for the bottom. It sits directly on standard 3/8" grouted ceramic floor tile. The floor tile is laid on 1/2" wood plywood sheets (that's right, no cement backer board) and the plywood is laid on wood floor joists.

In the Floor Protection section of the Dauntless owners manual it states " Without the optional Bottom Shield, the only acceptable installations are those on completely non-combustable floors, such as unpainted concrete over earth". That is pretty clear, but its not helpful. The stove and manual is old enough that there is no reference to R value insulation requirements.

If my only solution is a 6" fire brick and cement hearth pad I'll probably replace the stove. That would not be appropriate for the room. Also, the stove is on the first floor of a house with a full basement. I would be concerned about the weight that would be concentrated in one spot.

Is there any way I can calculate R value needs if I want to see about a hearth pad?
Any hearth pad R value suggestions?

I am open to all help and any suggestions you can provide. If I'm wrong and its safely installed that would be great, but I don't think that's the case.

Thanks In advance for your help

* edited for clarity.

Hi Owasso

 

[chimneychick]

Hi Owasso
You sa y you have a manual for the Dauntless?? If you could scan it and send it to me that would be GREAT.
[email protected]

I seriously am in need of the clearances page for an installation that I have to look at.
There are ways to reduce your floor clearances by use of several methods.
http://www.housing.yk.ca/pdf/wood_guide_nrc.pdf
should help you a bit but am looking for a specific picture for you depicting how to stack hollow bricks to enable proper air flow beneath the stove but basically two rows. one with hole east to west and the next with holes north to south.
on top of a piece of sheet metl







Hi Owasso

 

[Owasso]

Hi Owasso
You sa y you have a manual for the Dauntless?? If you could scan it and send it to me that would be GREAT.
[email protected]

I seriously am in need of the clearances page for an installation that I have to look at.
There are ways to reduce your floor clearances by use of several methods.
http://www.housing.yk.ca/pdf/wood_guide_nrc.pdf
should help you a bit but am looking for a specific picture for you depicting how to stack hollow bricks to enable proper air flow beneath the stove but basically two rows. one with hole east to west and the next with holes north to south.
on top of a piece of sheet metl







Hi Owasso

Sure, no problem.

I sent the scanned manual by email to the address you supplied. If you haven't received it let me know. It is a pretty large file, just under 10mb. If it is too big I can split it into two files and resend.

 

[begreen]

Your concern for safety is warranted. The current hearth sounds quite inadequate. Can you copy out the hearth and the clearance requirements from the manual and post them here?

 

[Owasso]

Your concern for safety is warranted. The current hearth sounds quite inadequate. Can you copy out the hearth and the clearance requirements from the manual and post them here?

I have a scanned picture of the floor protection requirements page from the manual I can provide.

Thanks for taking a look.

 

[begreen]

Thanks very much. It looks like the VC bottom heat shield makes a very big difference and is required for anything but an installation on a totally non-combustible floor like a basement slab. With the heat shield in place ember protection only is sufficient.

Owasso, you will need to get the heat shield designed for this stove to run it safely on the current hearth.

 

[Owasso]

Thanks very much. It looks like the VC bottom heat shield makes a very big difference and is required for anything but an installation on a totally non-combustible floor like a basement slab. With the heat shield in place ember protection only is sufficient.

Owasso, you will need to get the heat shield designed for this stove to run it safely on the current hearth.

Thanks begreen. I appreciate you taking the time to look this over. I am probably going to have a hearth pad installed underneath this summer. I'll need to do something if I am going to use it.

 

[begreen]

The problem with that is one has no idea about the amount of protection needed. See if you can find someone that has this stove/fireplace and get some pictures of the bottom heat shield. It may simply be a metal plate with a 1" air gap from the bottom of the stove. If so, perhaps one can be fabricated?