Newbie wondering if mantle is too close to wood stove

[MaineacMom]

We recently moved into a home in the country with a lovely wood stove that is inset into a fireplace. The stove top sticks out 4" from the fireplace so most of it is actually recessed inside. The mantle bracket is 7 and 1/2 inches above the stove's top and the shelf itself is 16 and 1/2 inches above it. The mantle's depth is 7 and 1/2 inches. I am wondering if I need a shield. We have a hearthstone Craftsbury Model 8390 and the manual suggests top clearance of 16" - to 6"-8" mantle length however that is if the entire stove is underneath the mantle and where mine is recessed into the chimney I was wondering if it would be a bit different.

Thanks for the help! Picture is below.

 

[Nick Mystic]

There is no question that mantle bracket is not meeting the clearance you stated the manual calls for.The mantle itself seems to just meet the clearance requirement. I had an insert that stuck out about the same distance as your stove is protruding from your fireplace and I can testify that a great deal of heat will go straight up to the bottom of your mantle. It looks to me like it is going to be tricky fabricating a heat shield for the wooden bracket in question. You can't simply put a small shield on the bottom of the bracket since the sides of the bracket will also be hit with radiant heat off your stove and will need shielding, as well. Perhaps you can figure out how the bracket is attached to the wall and mantle and remove it and replace it with something made of a non-combustible material. Good luck.

 

[aaron1]

Feel the mantle bracket when the stove is cranking and see if it gets hot. Seems like it will be getting hot. I'd get rid of the bracket if possible, or replace it with something non-combustible, then see if the mantle itself is getting hot and is within clearance in the manual.

 

[MaineacMom]

There is no question that mantle bracket is not meeting the clearance you stated the manual calls for.The mantle itself seems to just meet the clearance requirement. I had an insert that stuck out about the same distance as your stove is protruding from your fireplace and I can testify that a great deal of heat will go straight up to the bottom of your mantle. It looks to me like it is going to be tricky fabricating a heat shield for the wooden bracket in question. You can't simply put a small shield on the bottom of the bracket since the sides of the bracket will also be hit with radiant heat off your stove and will need shielding, as well. Perhaps you can figure out how the bracket is attached to the wall and mantle and remove it and replace it with something made of a non-combustible material. Good luck.

Thank you for your reply Nick. Will look into a different kind of bracket and possibly having a copper heat shield made.

 

[Big Dan]

a blue stone mantel would solve your problem nice.

 

[begreen]

One option might be to move the bracket outward, away from the fireplace opening.

 

[Dave A.]

Another option would be to redo the whole mantle. It doesn't look original and the brackets (assuming there is another one somewhere) are obviously not centered over the opening.

But putting the brackets to the sides of the opening would get rid of the clearance issue since the concern is the clearance directly over the stove. (The photos are not very clear as to what's going on there).

 

[rwhite]

Another option would be to redo the whole mantle. It doesn't look original and the brackets (assuming there is another one somewhere) are obviously not centered over the opening.

Sorry but I have to agree that it looks like an after thought. Some copper or iron brackets and a piece of stone would be awesome.