Fireview install in existing fireplace

[jmccabe]

Hello All,

I'm guilty of reading the posts here for years but never writing anything myself. Thanks to everyone for providing such good information! Sorry I haven't contributed.

I have a question, though, that somebody may be able to answer. I have my heart set on replacing my 2-year old Quad 4100i with a Fireview set in front of the fireplace. But the poured concrete in front of the hearth is only 27" deep. The Fireview needs 8" of front clearance and is 20" deep -- and thus needs 28". I've talked to the Woodstock guys on the phone (they were very helpful). I'm wondering whether the stove could be pushed back into the hearth an extra inch without losing my ability to access the controls. In all other respects the fireplace opening is adequate (48" wide and 30" high). I have stainless liner that the Quad is hooked up to.

I'm going to take a trip up to Woodstock to get a good look at one myself, but wondered whether anyone has had experience with this. Thanks.

 

[no stove yet]

Guilty as well of reading all the great info myself,too new a burner to be giving out advice.... but may be able to help on the hearth

Last year I installed a Fireview in front of my fireplace,same thing hearth too shallow so we extended the hearth out and left the stove
6" out from fireplace opening.After the stove was in place and hooked up I realized we could have gone flush with the fireplace opening, plenty of room
to reach the controls.

Now going into our second winter with the stove I'm happy it's out further,
1. Easier to shimy behind stove and do a bottom up pipe cleaning
2.easier access to the controls
3.stove is not sitting in fireplace so I think throws heat into the house better

No matter which way you do it,do it safe and enjoy the heck of a great stove backed by a better company.

Scott

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum to both of the new guys.

Jmccabe, that is great that you can go to the factory. You'll find a bunch of really super nice people and they will put you at ease. Be sure to ask lots of questions and don't be afraid to take your camera.

In addition, while you are there, why not pick out the stone you want in your stove?! Yes, you can do that.

There are more people than I realized who put the Fireview in front of the fireplace and most of those look really great. When you get the stove, please post as some of us can help. Especially important are those first burn in fires and I've helped many with that. One more thing is moving the stove. That rock is heavy!

When we got our stove we did not take the crate apart until the stove was right at the hearth as this makes moving the stove much easier. Here is what we used for moving it:


Probably the lowest cost for these are at Harbor Freight and they tend to put them on sale a lot.

 

[jmccabe]

Thanks, Scott and Dennis. I appreciate the advice.

I would like to install it a bit farther out in the room -- it's a debate I'm having with my wife, who is worried about using up living room space (even though I know the whole family will cluster around it all winter long). I don't have a sense of how difficult/easy it would be to move farther out if we put it close and don't like it there. I'll find out before making a decision.

I can't wait to go pick out a stove -- the factory is just a couple hours away. I could haul it back myself. I have a pair of those 4-wheeled movers, too. Don't know what you call them. I bet I've moved most everything in the house around two or three times with those things! I'm going to try to find someone good to do this installation for me, though. If anyone in the Boston area knows a certified chimney sweep with good stove experience, I wouldn't turn down a recommendation.

Thanks again.

-J

 

[Backwoods Savage]

J, those are usually called piano dollies or furniture dollies.

Tell the good folks at Woodstock that you talked to Dennis. Be sure also to talk to Lewis if you get the chance. He is the head of the production and extremely knowledgeable.

 

[ddddddden]

. . .the poured concrete in front of the hearth is only 27" deep. The Fireview needs 8" of front clearance and is 20" deep -- and thus needs 28". I've talked to the Woodstock guys on the phone (they were very helpful). I'm wondering whether the stove could be pushed back into the hearth an extra inch without losing my ability to access the controls. In all other respects the fireplace opening is adequate (48" wide and 30" high). . .

Any chance your hearth is elevated?
Vertical height would count toward the 8". For example, if your hearth were 8" high, you could pull the stove out to the edge of the hearth. Also, ask Woodstock from which point on the stove the 8" is measured. . .if it's measured from the glass, rather than the furthest point of the stove, the iron frame that projects out an inch or so, then you may be good to go.

But yeah, if you *must* push the stove back into the fireplace a few inches, I think it will work okay. The controls are near the corner of the stove, so actually, you can operate them by reaching back while standing in front of the stove. It is helpful to be able to see the level at which the air control is set, especially when you are learning the stove, but I guess you could get a feel for setting it without visual feedback. For the bypass lever, it doesn't really matter; it's just open/close.

You might want to think about setting the stove off-center in the fireplace, so you would have more room to stick your head back there and peek at the air setting now & then. This would also leave more room on the hearth to set wood in front of the door when loading. I did this, and while it looks a lil' asymmetrical, it's more functional. (My stove sits 2-3" in front of the fireplace and off-center to the left.)

Another issue to consider is getting the top open, but that shouldn't be a problem if it's just 1-2" inside the fireplace. If it is, you can just lift the top up & out instead of swinging it open.

All that said, I'm going to agree with Scott and suggest that you try hard to avoid inserting into the fireplace at all. A lot of heat comes off of the back of this stove, hence the larger-than-average rear clearance requirement, and the more air circulation you can get back there, the better it will heat your home, IMO.

. . .Now going into our second winter with the stove I'm happy it's out further.

1. Easier to shimmy behind stove and do a bottom up pipe cleaning
2. easier access to the controls
3. stove is not sitting in fireplace so I think throws heat into the house better

 

[Slow1]

Thanks, Scott and Dennis. I appreciate the advice.

I would like to install it a bit farther out in the room -- it's a debate I'm having with my wife, who is worried about using up living room space (even though I know the whole family will cluster around it all winter long). I don't have a sense of how difficult/easy it would be to move farther out if we put it close and don't like it there. I'll find out before making a decision.

I can't wait to go pick out a stove -- the factory is just a couple hours away. I could haul it back myself. I have a pair of those 4-wheeled movers, too. Don't know what you call them. I bet I've moved most everything in the house around two or three times with those things! I'm going to try to find someone good to do this installation for me, though. If anyone in the Boston area knows a certified chimney sweep with good stove experience, I wouldn't turn down a recommendation.

Thanks again.

-J

I just PMed you a reference for the sweep that I have used and recommend.

If you can convince the wife of it, I would go for the more pulled out install for many of the listed reasons as well. Doing some sort of hearth extension is a bit of work, but in the long run it really is likely to be a good investment in the total enjoyment. I think you are right that the family will make the stove the center of activity in the winter, it is just a nice place to be.

 

[mfglickman]

Make sure, if you put it in the fireplace at all, that you can still open the top enough to take out the cat and do any maintenance. We opted to have ours out of the fireplace for this reason mainly. There are hinges on the top but you don't want to be trying to hold it open with one hand while fishing the cat out with the other - it's heavy!

 

[charly]

You could always just lift the top right off as well without opening it all the way up if that gets you in closer, to service the cat or adjust the by pass damper. Such a cool stove to get to anything for service. That's why I bought mine. Those good folks at Woodstock had their thinking caps on when they designed the Fireview,,, nice old school design in my eyes. The stove has spoke for itself in all the years it has been in production. Don't fix what's not broken Wait to you see how nice the stove is to run,,,, you'll be one happy wood burner!

 

[jmccabe]

Thanks, everyone, for all the replies and useful information. I drove up to Woodstock today and put a deposit on the new stove. As soon as I get the chimney sweep lined up, I'll drive up there and pick it up. Great place. I was like a kid in a candy shop. It was fun being able to look at all the different units and pick out the one I liked best.

I think what I'll do is install it pushed an inch back in the fireplace (if I have to) this winter, and then take some time to build a bigger hearth in the summer. Once the family sees how nice it is, I'm sure I won't have any trouble convincing anyone to pull it out further into the room.

Incidentally, I'm going to be selling my Quadrafire 4100i -- 2 years old, large trim kit, less than a cord burnt in it. Any recommendations on whether Ebay or Craigslist is better? I'll post it here, too, in the For Sale forum. Still trying to decide what to price it at.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Glad you got to the factory. Nice place there. Who did you talk to up at Woodstock?

 

[jmccabe]

I can't remember her name. Maybe it was Penny? Business seemed brisk. They must move a lot of stoves when the put them on sale.

 

[Jambx]

Jimccabe,

Take a look a some past threads of my install of a Fireview in a fireplace hearth - my fireview sticks out of the hearth opening ~2 inches and to be honest I would not want it back any further. I just have enough clearance to get to the draft setting and seeing where it is set not to mention if it was any farther back you would have a devil of a time getting in front of the door to load.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/fireview-firepower.80294/

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/my-fireview-install-and-of-course-with-pics.72752/

 

[David Tackett]

why are you replacing the Quadrafire that is only 2 years old?

 

[jmccabe]

Thanks, Jambx. That installation looks awesome in your place. Great thread. I'll get the new hearth extended so I can pull it out into the room more. I'm just going to have to wait until summer to do it.

The Quadrafire has been fine. It gets plenty hot, and I like staring endlessly at the secondaries as much as the next guy. Turns out, though, I'm a lot more sensitive to the humming of the blower than I thought I would be. It heats up the place, but I miss having a freestanding stove. We had an old Vermont Castings catalytic stove in a previous house that I loved. I wish I remembered the model. In any event, the insert just isn't as much fun. The first year we had it I didn't have seasoned wood stocked up yet, so I didn't use it much. This year the wood is okay (16-20 on the mm) and I've used it more (excepting the last few days). But when I leave the blower off, it doesn't warm the room as much as I'd like. I wanted to get a freestanding stove in the first place, but I was convinced by my wife (who is generally smarter than me in all ways, incidentally) when she said she didn't want a stove sticking out into the living room. Oh, well, better late than never.

 

[Todd]

Congrats on the new stove, sounds like it should work out. My Keystone sits back a few inches in my old fireplace but I can still get at the controls rather easily but one other thing to watch out for is the side loading door. You may have enough clearance with your wide fireplace opening but be aware it swings out about 10" so you need enough clearance to get that door open.

 

[jmccabe]

Thanks, Todd. I like that Keystone a lot, too. I couldn't decide between the two units, and erred on the large side. I'll have close to 12" on either side of the stove to the edge of the fireplace opening -- and I have enough spare clearance on the side to cheat the placement substantially to the left, just in case. Two years ago I couldn't do a very good job of measuring before I put the Quad in, since I bought the insert to arrive the day we moved in to the house. I regretted that: even the extra large trim kit on the Quad wasn't quite wide enough to cover the fireplace opening. This time I've measured probably a dozen times! Frankly, I'm getting a bit obsessive-compulsive about it. And as long as the installation is to code and permitted, I'll use it this winter. (We don't need it for primary heat, since we have new gas furnaces in the house.) I think it may work out all right tucked in close, but maybe not. I'll have to report back and post pictures once I get it installed.

 

[David Tackett]

I'm with ya. I prefer freestanding to insert any day. Nice choice. Love that stove.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I can't remember her name. Maybe it was Penny? Business seemed brisk. They must move a lot of stoves when the put them on sale.

Very well may have been Penny. She is a good girl for sure. And yes, it can get pretty busy around there.

 

[Woody Stover]

Thanks, Todd. I like that Keystone a lot, too. I couldn't decide between the two units, and erred on the large side.

Yeah, I started thinking the Keystone might have a hard time keeping up in our drafty, uninsulated (except ceiling) place, so I picked up the FV. I've been tightening up some air leaks and I've got drier wood now, so I think the 'stone could handle it. But now I can't bring myself to sell either of them. The Dutchwest has been delegated to the position of 'backup to the backup stove.' Heh heh.

My FV sits with the back edge of the lid pretty much even with the face of the fireplace. I prop the lid open with a stick when I take out the combustor, etc. The load door will open a little more than 90*. That works, but it would be nice to be able to get my body directly in front of the door when loading large or awkwardly-shaped splits.
The hearth is 25" and I have the 8" when measuring from the bottom of the frame down to the front edge of the hearth.
I have a combustor probe, and can't see the dial unless I use a mirror. But looking straight down, I can see the needle so I can tell what is going on, if not the exact temp. I also bent a paper clip around the bolt head on the dial face that's aligned with 1000*. I need that in case the probe moves and 1000 is no longer straight up. The combustor probe gives you more a fire box temp, than a straight combustor temp. The end of the probe isn't over the combustor and even if it was, I think the temp would be diluted by the time it got back to the dial spring, since it's about 7" long. The probe is still useful, nonetheless...

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[charly]

Yeah, I started thinking the Keystone might have a hard time keeping up in our drafty, uninsulated (except ceiling) place, so I picked up the FV. I've been tightening up some air leaks and I've got drier wood now, so I think the 'stone could handle it. But now I can't bring myself to sell either of them. The Dutchwest has been delegated to the position of 'backup to the backup stove.' Heh heh.

My FV sits with the back edge of the lid pretty much even with the face of the fireplace. I prop the lid open with a stick when I take out the combustor, etc. The load door will open a little more than 90*. That works, but it would be nice to be able to get my body directly in front of the door when loading large or awkwardly-shaped splits.
The hearth is 25" and I have the 8" when measuring from the bottom of the frame down to the front edge of the hearth.
I have a combustor probe, and can't see the dial unless I use a mirror. But looking straight down, I can see the needle so I can tell what is going on, if not the exact temp. I also bent a paper clip around the bolt head on the dial face that's aligned with 1000*. I need that in case the probe moves and 1000 is no longer straight up. The combustor probe gives you more a fire box temp, than a straight combustor temp. The end of the probe isn't over the combustor and even if it was, I think the temp would be diluted by the time it got back to the dial spring, since it's about 7" long. The probe is still useful, nonetheless...

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Nice ghost flame picture,,, I've seen that in my FV as well,, first year with the my FV... I love watching those flames, just rolling away like a waterfall.

 

[jmccabe]

Great pics, Woody! I love the paperclip, too. People on these forums have a lot of ingenious solutions. (Well, I've also read about some pretty crazy solutions .... but mostly ingenious.)

This thread has been very useful for me. Thanks, everyone. It's also driving me nuts. Tired of talking about my new stove. Want to be using it. But it's such a busy season for the chimney sweeps. I probably won't get the stove installed until after Christmas. Maybe I'll put a bow on it and put it next to the tree.