TV next to soapstone surrounded stove?

[Jimboz]

Hi!

This is my first post here, it's a question that you've probably heard before...

What do you guys think about placing a TV (LED) next to a freestanding stove (soapstone sides and top) with a distance of about 20 inches (500mm)? Too close or will the TV be fine?

The stove is called Scan Andersen 4-5, here's a link:
http://scan.dk/uk/home/stoves/scan-andersen

The manufacturers recommended safety distance to a combustible wall is 12 inches for the steel model and only 4 inches for the soapstone version. I guess that means that the soapstone does not radiate really much heat to the sides (and top) of the stove? The fireplace looks like this with soapstones on the top and sides:

 

[kennyp2339]

I wouldn't, electronic like staying cool, they produce heat when running, you could be leading your tv to a shorter lifetime.

 

[begreen]

It's ok... in the summer. I'd watch it in the winter when the stove is burning and measure the temperature on the TV. If the tv is warm and it can't be relocated maybe attach a heat shield on stand offs to the stove side of the tv?

 

[Diabel]

I would not put a TV 50cm from a wood stove.
If you are anything like my wife "a TV addict" you just might damage/overheat the stove......

 

[Smoked]

I would not put a TV 50cm from a wood stove.
If you are anything like my wife "a TV addict" you just might damage/overheat the stove......

LOL, too funny, yea, I would do a little shield between the two for sure.

 

[Jimboz]

Thanks guys! I will measure the heat coming from the sides with a IR thermometer as soon as possible. I'm about a hundred miles away from the house right now unfortunately.

How much will the soapstone reduce the direct radiant heat on the sides/top? I guess the stove will be much hotter from the glass window/front.

 

[jetsam]

How much will the soapstone reduce the direct radiant heat on the sides/top? I guess the stove will be much hotter from the glass window/front.

Rather a lot- soapstone is a fairly poor conductor of heat.

Tulikivi claims 6.4 W/mK for their soapstone; I've seen other places claiming up to 12 W/mK for theirs.

Here are some other common materials.

As a back of the napkin number, call it roughly 8x less heat transfer than a similar carbon steel surface.

 

[Jimboz]

Rather a lot- soapstone is a fairly poor conductor of heat.

Tulikivi claims 6.4 W/mK for their soapstone; I've seen other places claiming up to 12 W/mK for theirs.

Here are some other common materials.

As a back of the napkin number, call it roughly 8x less heat transfer than a similar carbon steel surface.

Wow! That's a lot!

 

[HisTreeNut]

Why would you want to ruin a pretty nice stove by putting a tv by it anyway?

 

[Jimboz]

Why would you want to ruin a pretty nice stove by putting a tv by it anyway?

I get your point, it's hard to be a movie buff sometimes!

 

[Jimboz]

I've read somewhere that soapstone won't heat up above 500ºF. Fact or fiction?

I'm getting a IR thermometer this weekend btw, time for some measurements!

 

[jetsam]

I've read somewhere that soapstone won't heat up above 500ºF. Fact or fiction?

I'm getting a IR thermometer this weekend btw, time for some measurements!

Fiction, but it might be true in the context of a wood stove.

Soapstone has a low thermal conductivity (it doesn't transmit heat well) but a high thermal capacity (it stores lots of heat).

If you put a solid box of soapstone around a heat source that generated heat in excess of the stone's thermal conductivity, it would get warmer until it melted.

A stove, on the other hand, is not a solid box of soapstone; it has steel and ceramic conducting heat also, not to mention a big flue going straight outside- so I could definitely see that claim being true for a typical wood stove.

 

[begreen]

Myth. Woodstock owners have reported their stoves running at 700F.

 

[Texas123]

I get your point, it's hard to be a movie buff sometimes!

If I have to choose between Entertainment Tonight or seeing the fire in my insert, the insert wins hands down.

 

[Rearscreen]

If you watch National Geographic about the polar ice caps and the tv is too close you will contribute to the melting problem.

 

[Jimboz]

If I have to choose between Entertainment Tonight or seeing the fire in my insert, the insert wins hands down.

+1

If you watch National Geographic about the polar ice caps and the tv is too close you will contribute to the melting problem.

Haha! Or the classic Kurt Russell film "Backdraft", it will be like one of those 4D cinemas. Epic.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I've read somewhere that soapstone won't heat up above 500ºF. Fact or fiction?

I'm getting a IR thermometer this weekend btw, time for some measurements!

Fiction. I aim to run mine at or close to 500 in the coldest part of winter, and it sometimes goes as high as 550 for short periods without my pushing it.

 

[Jimboz]

Fiction. I aim to run mine at or close to 500 in the coldest part of winter, and it sometimes goes as high as 550 for short periods without my pushing it.

Thanks!

Do you have a freestanding stove or a larger one?
When you run your stove at 500, how close can you stand next to it (soapstone parts) without getting that uncomfortable heat?

 

[begreen]

There's going to be a large difference in heat radiated by the stone in a stove in which has the soapstone in direct contact with the fire versus when the soapstone is just a cladding and there is steel and firebrick (or refractory insulation) between the stone and the fire.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Thanks!

Do you have a freestanding stove or a larger one?
When you run your stove at 500, how close can you stand next to it (soapstone parts) without getting that uncomfortable heat?

Hearthstone Heritage is freestanding, a mid-size stove, 2.3 cf firebox. You wouldn't want to sit on it, but otherwise no problem. https://www.hearthstonestoves.com/store/wood-products/wood-stoves/heritage

 

[Jimboz]

There's going to be a large difference in heat radiated by the stone in a stove in which has the soapstone in direct contact with the fire versus when the soapstone is just a cladding and there is steel and firebrick (or refractory insulation) between the stone and the fire.

Alright!
This is my stove, it's a small one:

Hearthstone Heritage is freestanding, a mid-size stove, 2.3 cf firebox. You wouldn't want to sit on it, but otherwise no problem. https://www.hearthstonestoves.com/store/wood-products/wood-stoves/heritage

Very nice one!

 

[gyrfalcon]

Alright!

I've got this stove, it's a small one: View attachment 178256

Very nice one!

Very pretty. If I didn't live in a 170-some-yo farmhouse in the country, I'd love a stove that looked like that. I like mine a lot, but I've had to reconcile myself to needing a little backup from the oil boiler overnight in the coldest winter months because it's beyond me to get up in the middle of the night and reload competently.

 

[beardley]

I have a Woodstock Keystone, and much like gyrfalcon, I regularly see 550 STT. That being said, my IR gun normally shows the side are ~350-400. Our TV will be about 6' from the stove, and I don't think I'd want it much closer, just due to the already mentioned heat build up. . . We run our stove 24/7 though. If we were more casual burners, I may have a different opinion.

 

[gyrfalcon]

I have a Woodstock Keystone, and much like gyrfalcon, I regularly see 550 STT. That being said, my IR gun normally shows the side are ~350-400. Our TV will be about 6' from the stove, and I don't think I'd want it much closer, just due to the already mentioned heat build up. . . We run our stove 24/7 though. If we were more casual burners, I may have a different opinion.

Which reminds me to say there's the soapstone and then there's the glass. The soapstone is pretty mild, the glass is hellishly hot. But you're not going to put the TV 6 inches from the front of the stove and the glass.

 

[begreen]

The soapstone on the Scan Anderson is an external jacket. There is no contact with the firebox.