Hearthstone Homestead as insert in masonry fireplace

[John Stucklen]

Hi guys,

My wife and I took the plunge and got a Hearthstone Homestead last fall to save on oil heat costs (pic below). We LOVE this stove. It puts out plenty of heat for our split level home. If I let it run all day it actually puts out too much heat (80F is a bit warm for me in January ). But, I can deal with that.

Had a question about the mounting for it though. It's currently on the hearth as you can see in the picture. I noticed the manual has a section about "Installing in a Fireplace" which seems to indicate you could actually put it IN the fireplace instead of just on the hearth in front of it. Our fireplace is a masonry fireplace as you can see and has about 3" of clearance on the sides and top around the stove. I'm wondering if it would be possible to push this guy back into the fireplace a bit (changing the flue pipe to go straight up instead of horizontal with a turn). I'm guessing it would still poke out a bit, that that would give me a little more clearance in the front.

As it is now, I have have a temporary hearth extension in front of the stove which I'm thinking I could either get rid of or make a much shorter permanent extension since the stove would be back further (to meet the R value requirements in front of the stove).

Thoughts? This would mean I'd lose my happy dragon on top which is a bummer... :-( But, wanted to see if it was even possible before we'd decide on that.

P.S. - I'm having trouble uploading a file, but here's a link to the pict on my server: http://e.stucklen.com/stove.jpg

-Johnny

 

[John Stucklen]

Ha. Apparently, the file uploaded fine...all six times.

 

[DAKSY]

Should be doable. You may have to use some sort of flat pan for your steamer option, tho. IIRC, the adapter to the flue collar is a little different for the vertical install. That may create an install challenge...

 

[begreen]

I see no serious problem with that plan, understanding that you will get a bit less heat radiated from the stove. This can be mitigated by installing a damper sealing block-off plate as low as possible. This will stop heat from pocketing above the stove.

 

[John Stucklen]

Yeah, I'm not too worried about getting less heat given the heat it already cranks out hearth mounted. We do have the blower attachment and shield on the back. Got it with the stove since we weren't sure if it would put out enough heat. We don't use it now. But, that could help mitigate spreading the heat a bit too.

One other concern I had was the clean out. I imagine I'd end up having to pull the whole thing out to get access to it for the yearly liner scrub.