After a recent renovation, I recently reinstalled my Drolet Legend II in the basement. Heats the room and house just fine (Ottawa, ON, 1500 sqft, 2 story), but it heats up the floor in front of it like crazy, and is buckling the floating vinyl floor.
The reno involved putting about R6 insulation beneath the floor, but over the concrete, so I don't have the diffusive effect of concrete (or the cold feet mind you). The ceramic tile pad extends forward 26 in from the front face of the stove, and significant effort was made to get it flush with the rest of the floor.
The hot surface is a rectangle that starts in front of the stove, when the floor "sees" the window in a radiation sense, and ends 3 ft away. The first 2 ft are on the pad, so apart from the burning sensation when refueling, it's fine, but the remaining foot is a problem. To confirm it was IR radiation, I put down some foil about 2 in from the ground (held by 2x4s), and the floor was at room temp.
My options:
- Leave as is, keep the foil contraption for when it's very cold outside and I'm cranking the heat.
- Make a metal plate that will sit 1/2" above the current floor covering. Definitely a toe hazard!
- Do some more renos to add 1 extra ft to the tile pad. Will be a hassle due to the floor recessing and existing tile edges. Wife doesn't like it, but she doesn't like buckled floors either.
- Place a fireplace screen with small mesh, which should reduce ground radiation by ~30%, but looks a bit odd for a wood stove and hides the nice big flames. Probably won't reduce heat output.
I am sure I am not the only one, so any advice is appreciated!
Edit: I never had a problem before because we didn't really use the stove before finishing the basement.
The reno involved putting about R6 insulation beneath the floor, but over the concrete, so I don't have the diffusive effect of concrete (or the cold feet mind you). The ceramic tile pad extends forward 26 in from the front face of the stove, and significant effort was made to get it flush with the rest of the floor.
The hot surface is a rectangle that starts in front of the stove, when the floor "sees" the window in a radiation sense, and ends 3 ft away. The first 2 ft are on the pad, so apart from the burning sensation when refueling, it's fine, but the remaining foot is a problem. To confirm it was IR radiation, I put down some foil about 2 in from the ground (held by 2x4s), and the floor was at room temp.
My options:
- Leave as is, keep the foil contraption for when it's very cold outside and I'm cranking the heat.
- Make a metal plate that will sit 1/2" above the current floor covering. Definitely a toe hazard!
- Do some more renos to add 1 extra ft to the tile pad. Will be a hassle due to the floor recessing and existing tile edges. Wife doesn't like it, but she doesn't like buckled floors either.
- Place a fireplace screen with small mesh, which should reduce ground radiation by ~30%, but looks a bit odd for a wood stove and hides the nice big flames. Probably won't reduce heat output.
I am sure I am not the only one, so any advice is appreciated!
Edit: I never had a problem before because we didn't really use the stove before finishing the basement.
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