Baby Bear Installation Questions

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playoutside

New Member
Oct 27, 2013
3
west virginia
we are trying to install a fisher baby bear.

We are wondering if there's a manufacturer of prefabricated stove board that we can simply buy and lay on the plywood floor instead of building a hearth. It would also be nice to simply hang stove board on the wall too. It seems if the stove board is made of a 1" piece of micore, sandwhiched between a sturdier material then that would have the r value of 2.2 and be enough to protect the plywood floor from the heat of the stove. My husband would like to do a quick hearth thats removeable as we have to move into this place in 2 weeks and will probably only have the stove in there for one winter before moving it else where. It would be nice to take the hearth with us. HyC makes a stove board that amazon says micore mineral board core wrapped with 30 guage steel. I can't however find the r value for the stove board. Are there stove boards with an r value of 2?

Right now we have a bare plywood floor. our original plan was to screw a micore base directly under the stove about 16"x32". R value 1.1 for a 1/2" piece. Then two 1/2" layers hardie backer board 18" to the left and right sides and in front of stove. Behind the stove 12" of two layers of hardie backer board 1" total thickness. With one 1/2" hardie board under stove ontop of micore. Then some .50 cent tile cemented ontop of the hardie board.

Behind the stove we are going through the wall and were told we could use tripple wall piping coming directly out of the back of the stove, through the wall (we bought a duravent through the wall kit to use) and all the way up to the chimney to reduce clearance between back of stove and wall. The clearance between the back of the stove and the 2x4 stud is 12inches. Currently there's nothing on the wall yet, just bare studs and no insulation. Our plan was to hang gold bond fire resistant drywall. then 1 inch copper spacers attached to a piece of Micore that's about 18" wide and extends the height of the stove. We were told by installing a heat shield on the wall with 1 inch spacers it would reduce clearance requirements to 12 inches from back of stove as long as all piping is tripple wall. My husband also wants to cut a piece of micore to fit the back and wrap a couple of inches around sides of stove to act as an additional heat shield but we're not sure how to attach that to the stove. We've seen a piece of steel attached to the back of a friends stove with an air gap between the stove and steel and it has provided extra heat protection for his wall which is fireresistant drywall. Hubbie was going to try and construct a similar type hanging heat shield from the micore.
 
Welcome to the Forum;
You're on the right track. ACE Hardware has the stove boards you're looking for. Many stores stock them, some sizes and colors need to be ordered, but doesn't take long.
R value here; (broken link removed to http://www.hyccompany.com/pdfs/STOVEBOA.PDF)

You can use double wall connector pipe for reduced clearance down to 6 inches. Home Depot stocks Dura-Vent that still makes the double wall connector with damper inside for the first piece that puts the damper closest to the stove.

The spacers behind the wall shield should also not be centered with the center of stove. Be sure to raise the bottom of shield off floor to give an air intake at bottom to allow air circulation behind it.

A simple steel shield makes a huge difference. That was what was added to the newer stoves below;
[Hearth.com] Baby Bear Installation Questions 1980 Baby VI (wrap around corner box)

[Hearth.com] Baby Bear Installation Questions Goldilocks had a double steel plate that reduced clearance down to 12 inches on their UL listed mobile home stove.

Another hearth that you can dissasemble is laying 24 ga. sheet metal on the floor first, then cement board, then hollow bricks from lowes with the holes towards the sides. Threaded rod through a few holes pulls it together tight. You can always put the stove board on top if you like the looks. Then you're way over the required R value.
I always add a sheet metal shield to the bottom as well. It keeps the floor protector cool compared to quite hot to the touch in the center.

[Hearth.com] Baby Bear Installation Questions I glued felt on the bottom of bricks, raised stove the brick thickness, and with shield the tile floor with cement board below stays cold under the stove. The tile to the sides is comfortably warm. I bent the edges of shield material for strength like a shelf from prefabricated shelving. The airspace does the trick. Without the heat shield, the center under stove was uncomfortably hot to the touch. Masonry, cement board, tile all has the heat absorbing quality that doesn't cool the surface.
 
Thanks so much Coaly!! We got the damper piece at home depo you recommended! and here's what we've done:
lowes only carried 26 gauge metal not 24 so my husband put a single shield on the back and under side of the stove using self drilling screws. we have two pieces of micore lying side by side 48" X 24" X 1/2inch thick (r value 1) with a 1/2 inch thick pieces of hardie board on top (r value .2 i believe) of the micore on our plywood floor. So we have under and the surround floor covered with an r value of 1.2 48" from the wall out into the living space and 48" left to right so that's 17 inches of coverage to the left and right sides of stove before the floor becomes plywood again.

Lowes doesn't carry bricks and we've tried to get some used ones unsuccessfully. We finally gave up and bought 2" thickness X 8" x 16" concrete solid cap blocks and made a little hearth directly under the hearth with a stove board we already had from lowes on top. The stove board from lowes has no r value it just says it a piece of 30 gauge steel. We were told concrete blocks also have a low r value like .01. So now we don't have airspace which you said does the trick, except for the space between the bottom of the stove and the floor, and our rvalue has decreased to about 1.21 correct? Our through the wall kit is already installed so we can't elevate the stove much higher or the piping won't line up. Is this a safe set up or should we:

A: buy a HyC 40X48" stove board (rvalue 1.6) to put on top of the concrete blocks we already have to up the rvalue (would we really need one this big?)

B: try and find some type of hollow block that's only 2 inches thick to replace the solid concrete blocks we already have to give us the airspace. (any suggestions if you choose this option?)

also we're slightly confused by the clearance specs. We were told 3 feet of non combustible materials to the right, left, and front of stove because those parts of the stove don't have a heat shield. But that having the stove 12 inches from the wall is fine because the back of the stove now has a heat shield and the double wall pipe with damper you mentioned. So does that mean our plywood floor has to be covered with micore, hardie board, and stove boards 3 feet to the right, left, and in front of it? Does this 3 feet of non combustible space have to have an r value of 2 or could we simply cover the space with noncombustible material like a 100% wool rug (another lady had pure wool rugs around her stove because she said they weren't considered combustible like other types of carpeting), more concrete cap blocks, or some of those giant 13x13 inch tiles they sell at lowes. If we can just line the floor with some tiles do they have to be mortared in place or can we just lay them around to generally protect the plywood. I would prefer to just throw down some wool rugs as that would give pleasant seating space around the warmth of the stove but I also don't want to cause the plywood floor to catch on fire.

thanks for all your advice! The pictures were especially helpful!

 
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