Would I benefit from a "heat shield" of sorts??

[herdbull]

Do you guys think it would be beneficial to add a heat shield/deflector to my insert? At the time of the install I did not put a block off plate in. Maybe in the off season I will pull the stove and add one but for now, call me lazy, I really don't want to.

The chimney is roughly 20' tall with 16' being inside the house, directly in the center of the house. It's a huge, massive stone and brick column. So I did not go with an insulated liner. The stove is as far out of the firebox on the hearth as I can get it due to the liner connection.

On days when temps stay above the upper 20's I don't have a need to run the blower. But I feel there might be an opportunity to get even more radiant heat from this thing. I'm envisioning a 2 piece deflector above the stove with a half moon cut out of it to install around the liner. It would sit about 3 inches above the insert and extend over the back and sides to catch as much radiant heat as I could. It would extend outward into the room to meet the steel fire box. Sort of encapsulating the top 1/3 of the stove directing the heat out into the room.

Anyone ever do this? Pics, ideas, comments, other? I know these little blowers don't use much electricity but the less it runs the better.

 

[Slow1]

Two thoughts off the top here - First, if you include some pictures of your install it may help folks to understand what it is you are doing. Second - from everything I've read, that block-off plate can make a very significant difference in reducing the amount of air (generally the nice warm type) flowing up your chimney chase and out of the house. I would say even the self described lazy type would likely benefit more from that than taking the effort to design/build/install a custom heat shield.

 

[Excavator]

If you don't have a block off plate, you lose alot of heat up the chimney.
As an experiment, hold a bright flashlight behind insert and you will see the dust particles being sucked up the chimney along with the warm heat.
I did not have a liner or block off plate when first used stove and what a mistake! The performance and savings on gas bill was great as well as warmth
I have a Vermont Castings wood stove setting on hearth and installed insulated liner all the way to top. I custom made a block off plate with fire board from ACE Hardware and made 2 ten inch brackets that catch the top of damper frame. I tighten down to hold the fire board in place after stuffing fire insulation around round area's. In pics, you can see I had to cut out portion of damper frame for space and chip out some fire brick for space to get 8 inch liner in.

 

[herdbull]

I don't believe the amount of heat escaping up the chimney is as much as one thinks. It's capped at the top and is a relatively small area volume wise to heat up. I would think a matter of minutes to heat up the air in the chimney. Yes some air is going up there but... maybe I just answered my own question.... once the chimney air is heated up warm air from the stove will seek the easiest route or cooler channels, which would be out into the room. Natural convection and air movement (warm air filling the void of the coolest air) should force the air into the room. Hot air will seek the easiest route to fill. It will push cold air out of the way before it forces itself into already warm air. If that makes any sense.

The same principal applies to where my cold air is coming from to feed the stove. It's coming from across the floor, not the ceiling. My basement has an open staircase that I can't shut off so my stoves draws all the cold air up from the basement. It's natural convection, you can't control that. Hence the reason you can't really blow warm up from upstairs into your basement.

A heat shield would be simple enough to construct out of sheet metal. A drill, some screws and a tin snips is all that is required. And some black stove paint. Now to remove a 300# stove by myself is not fun. It would have to come all the way out on to the floor. Not to mention probably trashing the connection at the stove because of the rutland cement. And then trying to make some sort of plate to install in this flue. It's weird to say the least. Maybe at the end of the season I'll try and get someone over here to help me out but for now it ain'[t happening.