I fired up my new stove, and the wall gets very hot. Is it safe?

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RedNeck Wrangler

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Jun 6, 2008
54
"The Alton Bog" Maine
I installed me new Timber Ridge 55-TRP10 pellet stove today. And I fired it up for the first time. The minimum side clearance is 6". I have it at 7". The wall is wood paneling and it got very hot to the touch. Is this safe?
 
From the Timber Ridge 55-TRP10 manual...

FLOOR AND WALL PROTECTION
Floor Protection
If your floor is constructed of a non-combustible material such as brick or concrete, there is no need for floor protection. If the floor is constructed of a combustible material such as hardwood, linoleum, or carpet, then you will be required to use floor protection between the unit and the combustible. The protection should be U.L. approved or equal, and should be large enough to provide a minimum of one inch (1”) behind and four inches (4”) on both sides of the stove. The clearance in front of the stove should be at least six inches (6”). This freestanding pellet unit will need a minimum 31” x 32” floor protector.
Wall Protection
From the rear and the sides of this stove only six inches (6”) of clearance is required to paneling, wallpaper or drywall. The pellet vent pipe would require the standard three inches (3”) clearance, or as recommended by the manufacturer. Normally additional wall protection is not required with this type unit.
8

Should be OK... My Quad CB1200 stove is 6" from the wall and the stove's side panel got pretty hot but the wallpaper was just warm.

Is it possible you're running it too hot ?

Hey, if your forum name is CB1200 why do you have the Timber Ridge stove ?
 
I had a Quadra Fire on order but canceled it because I got a good deal on the Timber Ridge. I'm only running it on the number 5 setting it goes all the way to 9.
 
I wouldn't trust that set up. The wall, or anything else for that matter, shouldn't get hot. How hot will that paneling get when the stove is running on high for a whole day? Besides safety, efficiency must be bad if you've got a wall absorbing all that heat. I would move the stove or the wall, don't neglect safety.
 
Obvious point here, but walls, stoves and everything else get much hotter when the weather is not cold outside.......MUCH hotter. Very hot to the touch? If you can put your hand on it for more than 2 or 3 seconds, it is probably under 130F. The wall can safely get to about 160 or higher.
 
We are doing a corner install which has 13" clearance without shields and 9" with.
We opted to go without the shields so we might get some "ambient" heat from the sides.
Our walls are on the cool/cold side in the Winter.

I will add to this thread later.
 
When I tested my pellet stove, my flue was hot, too hot to hold my hand on it. I hope it won't be a problem, I have it 3" from my sheet rock wall.
 
twiddler said:
When I tested my pellet stove, my flue was hot, too hot to hold my hand on it. I hope it won't be a problem, I have it 3" from my sheet rock wall.
Might be beneficial to aim a small quiet 50-60 cfm muffin fan on that exhaust pipe and wall. Lots of heat being wasted there.
 
CB1200 said:
I had a Quadra Fire on order but canceled it because I got a good deal on the Timber Ridge. I'm only running it on the number 5 setting it goes all the way to 9.

Running that stove on a 5 setting is pretty hot. I don't think I ran my stove over a 3 setting all last year on my englander which has the same control panel, and is made by the same company.
 
Manufacturers test each new model before they begin selling them, and when they give you required clearances, it is because they KNOW its safe. One thing that we learn during certification courses is that when stoves are being tested, safe wall temperature is somewhere around 70 degrees above ambient temperature. As mentioned above, the average persons hand can touch 130 degrees for a few seconds before being too hot, that is a pretty good way to tell how hot the wall is. If your room temp is 70 degrees, 140 would probably be pretty safe still.
 
Again, an obvious point, but stove clearances are not specified to keep the wall "cool" or combustible cool - they are engineered to keep the wall from igniting. Actual combustion temps are up around 500 degrees, although there are some guesses that continuous temps of 300 or so degrees (over years) can dry out wood and make it very easy to ignite. The specs are therefore set at close to 1/2 of that - which is a VERY WIDE margin of safety.
 
Wood WILL dry out and burn at a lower temp over the years.

My company used a wood box for a 400 degree oven and it
lasted decades but suddenly decided to start charring.

Just put a 24GA metal shield on 1" spacers on the wall. And
1" off the floor to allow "up" flow.
 
IF your stove is installed according to Manufacturers Specifications, and you are burning properly, any additional steps taken would only be extra work. We can trust the manufacturer and UL to know exactly what the stoves will do, even with people who misfire and treat the stove in the worst possible way. TRUST
 
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