Hearthstone Homestead hearth mount install question

[leakypuppy]

I want to hearth mount the Homestead and run the SS liner directly into the top of the stove. I have very tight clearances, the homestead is 25 1/2" H x 27" W and my fireplace opening is 27" H x 35" W. I know I could change the flue adapter on the stove to exit the rear which would make the install easier but my wife doesn't want the stove sticking out into the living room. So, considering the tight clearances above will the installer be able to attach the SS liner to the top of the stove? I'm optimistic that they'll be able to reach around the sides and find some space as once you get past the lintel there is more room.

Thank you.

-jim

 

[DAKSY]

The problem may be with your REQUIRED oval-to-round adapter. There are two variations on that component & the one designed for the vertical flue collar is fairly long. The Horizontal adapter is way shorter, but I don't remember if the square box on the Horizontal adapter will clear the top of the stove when is used in the Vertical collar. If nobody with this stove chimes in, you might want to talk to your hearthshop & physically test the Horizontal one...

 

[Marbles]

I have the Homestead set just in front of the firplace opening, front of bricks line up with back edge of stove top and the rear metal of the stove with horizontal exit into a 90 elbow to flexliner. With it sitting out help radiate heat from all the stone, also air control lever is on the left side of the stove and needs to be easy to reach to slide from front leg to back leg. Inside a fireplace that might be a little too tight and hot to reach in to adjust. Wife was similar wanting it all the way back initially but now likes it as it will keep the room in the high 70's once up to temperature and last about 6-8 hours on a good burn.
The vertical adaptor is longer and they might be able to preattach to the liner the push it up and slide the stove in then attach it to the oval exit on the stove but it would be very tight.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

The "close clearance adapter" is what comes with a "hearth mount" Homestead.. It will mount up or back. There should be no problem hooking up the liner to the adapter as far as fit.. If they can reach in.. they can hook it up. If you look at my instal link, near the end there are a couple pics that show it in the up/top position.

Honestly I would push for rear exit and more into the room of possible, more useable heat that way in my experience..

 

[begreen]

With the stove buried in the fireplace you will need a block-off plate. A blower will help too.

 

[leakypuppy]

If I had more room I'd love to pull it forward and even go with the Heritage but I've got to work with a small living room. @Dakotas are you referring to part number 95-52710 "Compact Oval-to-Round adapter Kit"?

 

[leakypuppy]

With the stove buried in the fireplace you will need a block-off plate. A blower will help too.

I was planning on a block-off plate but was hoping to avoid the need for a power cord. I'll keep that in mind, thanks.

 

[begreen]

The Homestead seems to heat best as a hearth mount stove. Placing it back in the fireplace cavity starts to degrade the benefits. At that point I would at least be considering an insert as an alternative.

 

[Shane]

They might be able to drop the liner down, drill two holes on opposite sides of the liner run some heavy gauge wire, then slide the stove in, remove the baffle and reach up through the flue collar, grab the liner and set it down inside. Then remove the wire plug the holes with screws and gasket cement then screw the liner into the flue collar from inside using a 90 degree drill. I installed a few inserts like this.

 

[MarylandGuy]

Begreen is right. If you stuff the stove back in the fireplace, you will probably want to install the optional blower. It mounts to the back of the stove and blows the air into the room over top of the stove. The blower is relatively compact, but you need to be sure you have the clearance in the fireplace to fit the blower as well as the stove.

I have the Homestead and the blower. But I have never hooked up the blower because it really wasn't needed in my case. My stove is out on the hearth and heats the room well. Though admittedly I do place a box fan on the side of the stove on really cold days to extract a little more heat. Usually increases the room temp about 4 degrees.

It's a great stove, but like a lot of EPA approved stoves, it has to have seasoned wood. And I mean well seasoned. The firebox is so small, it has a hard time keeping the burn going with wet wood.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

If I had more room I'd love to pull it forward and even go with the Heritage but I've got to work with a small living room. @Dakotas are you referring to part number 95-52710 "Compact Oval-to-Round adapter Kit"?

Sort of..

The Homestead comes either in "freestanding", or "hearth mount" configurations. The difference was (when I bought mine, could be different now.. but I doubt it)

On a free standing stove you get taller legs and the long oval to round adapter.. on a hearth mount stove, you get shorter legs (and a big R requirement for your hearth) and the compact round to oval adapter. AS an FYI, the blower requires the heat shield, but is NOT approved for hearth mount or alcove.. Mine didn't give me, or, is not giving me any trouble mounted that way.. I believe they don't want it mounted that way because you cannot reach the control without getting awfully close to the stove with your face when adjusting the fan controller.. I intend to build a remote mounted knob this summer for mine.

As far as a block off plate goes.. will your instal allow use of the "surround", that does the job of a block off I believe.

Page 8 of the manual explains the legs/adapter differences.. (broken link removed to http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/assets/files/document_library/Homestead8570Manual.pdf)

 

[leakypuppy]

Thanks again to everyone in this community for taking the time to reply.

I understand the stove won't heat as well when tucked into the fireplace cavity but because the hearth is flush with the floor AND only 17" front to back for every inch the stove moves out I need to extend the hearth or cover with a hearth pad. The primary issue here is that my Bride doesn't want the stove to stick out into the living room and doesn't want the hearth extended as it will start encroaching on the path to a bedroom (see attached pic). I am planning on jack hammering the hearth and firebox as both are in horrible shape so extending the portion of the hearth directly in front of the glass (match dimensions of recommend hearth pad) MIGHT be a compromise. This would enable me to slide the stove out another 6" and enjoy some of the radiant heat but I'm not sure if the provided oval to round adapters will provide that much flexibility.

I'm aware that it might be easier to install an insert but I've already got a Jotul C550 and honestly get tired of listening to the fans.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

None of the wives I have known who were against the stove(s) in the beginning, would live without them now...

But you have to do what is best for you.. try to keep your options open so in the future, the stove can move out a bit

Make a floor level hearth extension.. oversize.. could be handy, and definitely won't hurt.. safety first and all..

 

[leakypuppy]

Here are a few pictures of the hearth work I'm doing to accommodate the Homestead. I realized that extending the hearth wasn't that big a deal since it will be flush with the floor and won't be a tripping hazzard. This will enable me to slide the stove forward a bit more into the room.

The old hearth only was beat up and only extended 16". The cardboard template in the fire box is a template of the Homestead.


The entire hearth was removed in about 1 hour.




I measured 4" and eventually removed 6" of wood floor to give me extra room.



I don't have a picture but the wonderboard went down next.


Covered it up with 12" flashing to keep the cement in place.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

What are you doing about the required R value under the hearth for the Homestead? It's over 6, and an inch of concrete is about .1

Also, I would honestly bring it out farther (the hearth) You need 16" (minimum) in front of the glass. Making it deeper now will allow it to creep out later..

 

[leakypuppy]

The hearth will be 2" bluestone set in concrete which sits on the original pour, it must be 2' of cement and stone. The portion I extended I will cover with a hearth pad as I didn't want to remove more than 2 1/2" from the floor joists.

 

[gyrfalcon]

What are you doing about the required R value under the hearth for the Homestead? It's over 6, and an inch of concrete is about .1

Also, I would honestly bring it out farther (the hearth) You need 16" (minimum) in front of the glass. Making it deeper now will allow it to creep out later..

Manual on my new Homestead says 2.5 for the R-value under the stove.

 

[Nick Mystic]

You say you took 2 1/2" off the ends of your floor joists. Did you do something down below to shore up the end plate and joists to compensate for the degradation caused by removing this much wood? Those joists are carrying the load of your entire floor. Not only are you compromising the joists by reducing their width, but you are going to be adding a lot of weight to them when you pour your concrete and lay your blue stone. I did some construction work earlier in life and I can tell you I've seen this kind of modification done before (plumbers are notorious for cutting up floor joists to run their pipes) and it can really cause serious problems down the road.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Manual on my new Homestead says 2.5 for the R-value under the stove.

It will be 2.5 if you have a freestanding stove.. I understood (possibly incorrectly) based on how tall you said the stove is, that you are doing a "hearth mount" kit... they are different.. go to page 22 of the manual....

Just trying to keep you safe, as I installed the same stove 4 years ago...

 

[leakypuppy]

It will be 2.5 if you have a freestanding stove.. I understood (possibly incorrectly) based on how tall you said the stove is, that you are doing a "hearth mount" kit... they are different.. go to page 22 of the manual....

Just trying to keep you safe, as I installed the same stove 4 years ago...

Thanks Dakota, I plan on doing the "hearth mount" so the R-value needs to be 6.6 beneath the stove extending 4" in front of the glass which my hearth meets.

 

[leakypuppy]

You say you took 2 1/2" off the ends of your floor joists. Did you do something down below to shore up the end plate and joists to compensate for the degradation caused by removing this much wood? Those joists are carrying the load of your entire floor. Not only are you compromising the joists by reducing their width, but you are going to be adding a lot of weight to them when you pour your concrete and lay your blue stone. I did some construction work earlier in life and I can tell you I've seen this kind of modification done before (plumbers are notorious for cutting up floor joists to run their pipes) and it can really cause serious problems down the road.

I used floor jacks and supported the joists along the front of the hearth which is accessible from the crawl space.

 

[rideau]

I agree with others. Keep your options open. Put something the size of the stove in front of the fireplace, back flush to the stonework (maybe a box on a chair(?) and live with it for a week or so. If it isn't too much in the way, go for an install with the stove in the room. You'll both be much happier, as long as the stove doesn't present a burn ris with its placement in the small room. Can you move that chair near the bedroom door a bit?

 

[MarylandGuy]

You obviously want to make the base of your hearth meet the needs of the stove's R value requirements. But I can tell you from experience the Homestead doesn't get hot under the stove. The stove has a metal heat shield that sits a couple of inches above the hearth. With this in place, my brick hearth is actually cool to the touch under the stove. Even when I have the stove in the 500 degree range.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

You obviously want to make the base of your hearth meet the needs of the stove's R value requirements. But I can tell you from experience the Homestead doesn't get hot under the stove. The stove has a metal heat shield that sits a couple of inches above the hearth. With this in place, my brick hearth is actually cool to the touch under the stove. Even when I have the stove in the 500 degree range.

The "hearth mount" doesn't. That is the problem. The legs are 2" shorter, and because of that there is no room for the bottom shield, and the floor definitely gets warm under a short legged Homestead. Warm enough to be dangerous? I am not sure.

but....

What I am SURE of is, if you under build or ignore the requirement, and heaven forbid you have a fire that is even remotely blameable on the stove, you REALLY don't want any questions about your instal not meeting the requirements in the manual or local code to "pop up"...

The Homestead is a fairly unique stove because of it many different mounting options, and as far as I found, in the hearth mount configuration, the highest R value requirement of any stove out there.


@ the OP.. carry that R 6.6 as far forward as you can... then no worries when you convince "she who must be obeyed" that it could be a bit farther out and do a better job of heating, your golden.

 

[leakypuppy]

First break in fire yesterday!