Hearthstone Phoenix Installation

[jmhpsu93]

I just had my Hearthstone Phoenix installed, and while I'm more or less happy with it, I'd like to improve the performance of the stove.

The installation has the stove inserted into the fireplace, with about 60% of the stove being inside the fireplace. I have 6" SS vent pipe (33' of it...no draft problem!!) going up the original masonry chimney where it is terminated by a chimney cap, surrounded by uninsulated but sealed sheet metal (fully caulked).

I'm trying to heat a 2,900 sq. ft., three-story, moderately insulated home, so I know darn well this stove can't do it by itself.

I'm thinking of these improvements:

1) Use better wood (a little green, wood pile is just about ready for next year). I think that one is a no-brainer.

2) Pull the stove out about 6" or so, or as far as is practical given the hearth. This should expose more of the stove to the room air as opposed to heating the fireplace brick.

3) Shove some steel wool insulation up around the vent pipe. This should prevent what is probably quite a bit of heat from going up the chimney.

4) Add a temperature-sensitive blower.

5) Add an OAK to pull air from our unfinished basement, right below the stove (I could use the old ash cover from the fireplace).

Given the absolute wealth of installation knowledge and experience here, can anyone give some ideas on how these improvements would affect the performance of the stove? Thanks in advance!!

 

[04RevX]

Your only going to be able to get so much heat out of that stove. Its just too small to put a dent in a 2900 sq ft home. Pulling it out a little and adding a block off plate will help some but not enough where it can heat your whole house. You just need a bigger stove if your looking to do that.

 

[wg_bent]

Your installer didn't put in a block off plate? I'd get his butt back in a heartbeat! If your burning green wood you're only getting a small fraction of the stoves output potential. Find some good wood even for an evening and you'll be astonished as to what the stove can really do. Finally, as long as you have insulation behind the chimney, all the heat eventually goes into the home, and moving it out more won't make a huge difference. Your trying to heat a very large area with a mid-size stove.
Perhaps a small quiet fan, even a little air cleaner may help move things around a bit and even temps out.

 

[Highbeam]

The block off plate has always been optional. Has anyone ever seen an inspector require it? That said, with your long flue you would benefit from the plate. Just don't be surprised when the installer thinks it is special or weird to want one.

The phoenix is a radiant stove and will be a better heater if it is allowed to radiate heat into the room vs. into a heat sucking chimney. Is that chimney on an outside wall? If so it is stealing tons of heat and transfering it to the outdoors. If an internal chimney then it is still hurting you. It's like putting a brick wall between yourself and the sunlight, hard for it to warm you when you're in the shadow.

On the blower, the folks that have them seem to think that they are excellent. The back of your stove is now wasting heat energy into that brickwork. Adding the sheet metal shroud and blower from Hearthstone is expensive but will allow you to reclaim the heat. I dpn't have the blower but I do have the shroud (heatshield) and would like to someday try a blower. By adding a blower you are taking a step towards turning that radiant stove into a convection stove which will allow it to heat the home better.

If that's an outside chimney I would try and find a way to completely remove the stove from the old fireplace. It is apparent that the hearth was already extended so you can extend it some more and get the thing out in the room where it can warm you.

Oh and give it a chance. The heater has only been installed for a couple of days. You might learn to get more out of the stove once you know it's "sweet spot".

 

[iceman]

instead of pulling it out just get a small fan on the floor across the room blowing at it ....you already noted the stove cant do it by itself.. dry wood is a must! as well as some kind of blockoff plate!