Help! My stove moves around on slick hearth and I am not crazy

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atomichawg

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Feb 28, 2009
59
central virginia
I know this sounds crazy, but our new Jotul Oslo which weighs in at 450 or so pounds moves around on our hearth. The hearth is extremely smooth. Not sure what kind of stone but am attaching picture. In photo you can see leg sticking over edge of hearth slightly. Dealer sent 2 guys to cut pipe and move it back. Since then, I have noticed the right front leg creeping gradually towards the front of hearth. Now I do have 2 girls who like to run and jump alot in the living room. I think it may be that vibration which is causing it to move? It was a simple matter for me to push it back into place, but I don't want to have to do this all the time, and I can only really do that when the stove is cool, and I plan on running this baby alot. Any suggestions on how to make it stay in place? I was thinking maybe epoxy 2 smallish metal plates to the hearth in front of the legs, using some kind of non combustible glue or whatever. Thanks for any ideas.
 

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What kind of chimney do you have? My 8" straight shot up triple wall chimney moved my similar sized VC around on field stone in the wind.
 
It was a dealer install? Call them back. They should set you up with a hearth your stove doesn't slip around on. It shouldn't be a "simple matter" for you to push it back into place (you're moving over 400lbs of iron)...so the hearth is too slick. If that is a pic of a front leg, you should have space in front of the stove (16"? 18"?) for ember protection anyway. With the side load door, you want it on the sides of the stove too - check your manual to see what you need.
 
meathead said:
It was a dealer install? Call them back. They should set you up with a hearth your stove doesn't slip around on. It shouldn't be a "simple matter" for you to push it back into place (you're moving over 400lbs of iron)...so the hearth is too slick. If that is a pic of a front leg, you should have space in front of the stove (16"? 18"?) for ember protection anyway. With the side load door, you want it on the sides of the stove too - check your manual to see what you need.
That picture was taken before the dealer cut the pipe and moved the stove back. They installed the stove on the existing hearth which was in front of an old heatilator fireplace. Maybe I could slide some tiles under the legs to provide more friction?We do have an 18 by 48 inch mat for ember protection that lies in front of the stove. We may replace that with something more substantial, but according to the manual that is all we need. I dont plan on using the front door much if at all so I am not really concerned about embers and logs rolling out the front.
 
Yay, finally a question I never heard in 24 years of doing this. Aside from the obvious paranormal suggestions, it seems like an uneven floor and jumping kids may be the culprit
 
Hmmm...I think I would be tempted to find a piece of tile that will match the hearth and have the tile place or wherever cut 4 "L" shapes and drill two holes in each. Drill and mount the tile "L" to the hearth around the outside corner of each leg.

Or call ghost busters.
 
Is the Hearth level? Can you rock the stove a little bit. you just might need to shim a leg with a thin peice of steel to prevent the vibration from shifting the stove.
 
I thought there was post here a while back about stoves 'walking' as they expand and contract on burn cycles. ??
 
I wonder if, like mentioned above, high temp silicon either under the legs or just in the nook behind each leg, might provide just enough resistance to stop this.
 
My old Vigilant would do this on regular tile. I had to slide it back midway through the winter. It is from the stove expansion at the legs. Not really sure of what would cure it though.

Our mansfield has not budged since it is in place of where the vigilant was.
 
Danno77 said:
I wonder if, like mentioned above, high temp silicon either under the legs or just in the nook behind each leg, might provide just enough resistance to stop this.

Seconded. I was just going to type that. A bead of silicon will fix that and it's a 5 minute job. I would do all the way around all four legs just like caulking a tub.
 
maybe if its the legs with expansion and contraction, try just securing one of the legs and let the others expand and contract, that would make it unable to move around.
 
I also believe Jotul has anchor brackets for the legs which are used in mobil homes.
Hank
 
Patapsco Mike said:
Danno77 said:
I wonder if, like mentioned above, high temp silicon either under the legs or just in the nook behind each leg, might provide just enough resistance to stop this.

Seconded. I was just going to type that. A bead of silicon will fix that and it's a 5 minute job. I would do all the way around all four legs just like caulking a tub.

If the backs of the legs are hollow, I would just put a big fat blob of caulking behind them. It will be out of sight and flexible so it should provide some shock/vibration to the "gymnasts" you have running around the house. From there I would go to anchor brackets on the back 2 legs.
 
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