Walls too hot?

[fran35]

I have an Englander 30 installed in a finished basement(professionally installed) All clearances to combustibles were strictly followed, actually well in excess. Directly behind the stove is block cement--waiting for tile. However, the ceiling which is 8.5 feet high, is dry wall over floor joists with insulation in between. I am a novice burner and am worried about the dry wall directly above the stove. It seems very warm, but not hot to the touch. I have no idea what temperature it actually is because I don't have an infrared thermometer. However, I heat my whole house with the stove and at times when I really throw a load on at night, the basement room will climb to mid 90's( I actually hit 100 once). This is not over firing the stove either. While these temps are the exception, the basment does generally stay in the 80s and the upstairs stays about 72-75. With these temps and the height of the ceiling, is it possible that I am getting the walls or ceiling too warm? Please excuse these questions if they seem ridiculous, but I tend to be overly safety conscious and have two small children sleeping above the stoveroom. Thanks in advance Frank

 

[Hogwildz]

If I am picturing this in my head correctly, at 8.5 ft high walls, your sill area is drywalled over? which has got to be about 5 foot higher than the stove? You are fine.
If the wall is warm, your fine. If your that worried, pull the drywall off and put some durok on there. Overkill.
How far is the piping from the drywall? Prolly getting more heat from the pipe than the stove. And again, if you that worried, put double wall pipe on, or get a pipe heat shield.

 

[SlyFerret]

Even if it were hot to the touch, it would probably be OK. What feels hot to our skn is not necessarily that hot I terms of combustion.

-SF

 

[pen]

I'm assuming your stove pipe leaves the stove, travels up a bit and makes a 90 out the wall then up the side of the house?

If so, the manual for the 30 calls for 18 inches between the stove pipe 90 and the ceiling. So long as that is met or exceeded, you should be set.

90+ in that basement is pretty darn hot. I think I'd be experimenting w/ fans around the stairwell to help move some air if you haven't already.

pen

 

[clemsonfor]

5/8 drywall is something like a one hour fire stop. Meaning flames can be hitting it in theory for an hour before the studs behind it combust. Your probly 1/2 dryway can easily take the radiant heat from the stove.

 

[pen]

5/8 drywall is something like a one hour fire stop. Meaning flames can be hitting it in theory for an hour before the studs behind it combust. Your probly 1/2 dryway can easily take the radiant heat from the stove.

Drywall w/ paper on it is considered a combustible surface whether it is fire rated or not.

pen

 

[clemsonfor]

5/8 drywall is something like a one hour fire stop. Meaning flames can be hitting it in theory for an hour before the studs behind it combust. Your probly 1/2 dryway can easily take the radiant heat from the stove.

Drywall w/ paper on it is considered a combustible surface whether it is fire rated or not.

pen

It is, yes. Im not saying that you want to have it 10" from your stove but the stuff is used as a firestop. In the WORST case senario the paper chars off and the Gypsum insulates the far side from fire for a period of time to give responders time to get there and lessen the property damage. If your paper is burning you already have a fire of something that started it so your paper burnig is not a big deal.

But yes consider drywall as a combustible when you use your spacings, but i would not worry about my ceiling 5+ feet abouve the stove, whats papers spontanious combusting temp? I dont know but my guess it would be 600 degrees give or take 100 for at least a min or so. If he gets his ceiling that hot his floor is already on fire!

 

[fran35]

I'm assuming your stove pipe leaves the stove, travels up a bit and makes a 90 out the wall then up the side of the house?

If so, the manual for the 30 calls for 18 inches between the stove pipe 90 and the ceiling. So long as that is met or exceeded, you should be set.

90+ in that basement is pretty darn hot. I think I'd be experimenting w/ fans around the stairwell to help move some air if you haven't already.

pen

Exactly the stove pipe set up you described. However, when the pipe makes a 90 to the thimble, there is 3.5 feet to the drywalled ceiling, so I am more than good to go. It must be just the radiant heat that is pooling above the stove and making the ceiling warm.

While the basement does it 90 on occasion, it generally stays in the low 80s. Where is gets hot is when I let the house cool down and put on a big fire to play catch up. The heat builds in the basement before it has a chance to rise. I am trying to perfect my techniques for moving the heat. I have one central staircase that the heat rises through and I have a fan pointing up at the bottom of the stairs and one of those ridicuously noisy dooway fans at the top of the steps. I have tried to point fans down the steps, like some have recommended, but with little noticeable luck. I would love to cut fllor registers, but I really don't want to cut a hole in the hardwood floors or create a nice open "chimney" into my kids rooms. Do those fire dampers work well?

 

[Hogwildz]

I'm assuming your stove pipe leaves the stove, travels up a bit and makes a 90 out the wall then up the side of the house?

If so, the manual for the 30 calls for 18 inches between the stove pipe 90 and the ceiling. So long as that is met or exceeded, you should be set.

90+ in that basement is pretty darn hot. I think I'd be experimenting w/ fans around the stairwell to help move some air if you haven't already.

pen

Exactly the stove pipe set up you described. However, when the pipe makes a 90 to the thimble, there is 3.5 feet to the drywalled ceiling, so I am more than good to go. It must be just the radiant heat that is pooling above the stove and making the ceiling warm.

While the basement does it 90 on occasion, it generally stays in the low 80s. Where is gets hot is when I let the house cool down and put on a big fire to play catch up. The heat builds in the basement before it has a chance to rise. I am trying to perfect my techniques for moving the heat. I have one central staircase that the heat rises through and I have a fan pointing up at the bottom of the stairs and one of those ridicuously noisy dooway fans at the top of the steps. I have tried to point fans down the steps, like some have recommended, but with little noticeable luck. I would love to cut fllor registers, but I really don't want to cut a hole in the hardwood floors or create a nice open "chimney" into my kids rooms. Do those fire dampers work well?

I have used 2 fire dampers inline on ductwork I have run from stove room to my new bedroom. They have a fuseable link that once it hits a certain temp, the link melts and a shutter springs closed. Being me, I had to see how the shutter worked and disconnected the link and ma, it was like a guillotine. And not easy to get back open and linked again. I bought mine off ebay and got them really reasonably priced. I think I have pictured of them on here somewhere in one of my posts. Without dampers, you shorted fire spread time and escape time. Not a good thing to do.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If you can hold your hand on the drywall, it is not too hot.

 

[clemsonfor]

If you can hold your hand on the drywall, it is not too hot.

Which means somewhere around 150 degrees i think up to 200 at least for a short period. And like i said before if your that hot your house is already onfire so the drywall catching up is a moot point.

 

[fran35]

Thanks for the help guys. Feel much better now.

 

[lopiliberty]

I know the ceiling above my liberty gets hot enough to warm the floor in the bathroom directly above the stove. It actually feels like we have in- floor heat but we do not.

 

[begreen]

If you are looking for additional peace of mind it won't hurt to put up a ceiling heat shield using a non-combustible material. This could be a sheet of Durock on 1" spacers or even sheet metal on spacers.

Have you tried using a fan on low speed, in the staircase doorway, pointed down the stairs? That will improve convection from the stove to the upstairs.