What is a safe distance from the wall?

[dbernal]

I have a Schrader Fireplace that I had a contractor friend of mine move about a foot over. It was previously about 3 feet off one wall and 5 feet off the other. He put Durock on the wall flat against the sheet rock. Now the stove sits about 14 inches from the wall on the side, but the back is only 8-3/4 inches from the Durock at the closest point. Is this safe? I say no, but when I talked to him his words were, "Don't worry about the 10" as long as it's at least 8" it's good if anything you can put another layer of durock just to be safe"
My plan is to put a stone veneer over the Durock. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[MDFisherman]

No, that is not safe... You need an airgap behind that durock with a gap at the bottom to allow aiflow. cut 3" strips of the durock, double them up, and screw them vertically to the wall on the studs. Then fasten the durock to the strips.

I would still keep it at LEAST a foot away from the wall even with a proper heat shield installed.. Check with the stove mfg for recommended clearances.

 

[DAKSY]

Unless there's a rating plate on your unit stating otherwise, you need to maintain 36" from combustibles. With a noncombustible surface mounted 1" off the combustible wall, you can decrease that to about 12", but not less than that. Your friend is misleading you & he's wrong.

 

[dbernal]

Thanks for the reply and confirming my thoughts. Going to have a talk with this guy and he is going to have to re do it! I traded him my shotgun for the work, should have just done it myself

 

[Nick Mystic]

When I was researching ignition temperatures of wood I ran across the term: pyrolysis. It is a conditon where repeated heating of wood at relatively low temperatures (below the temperature of boiling water) can cause the wood to ignite spontaneously. Here is a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrolysis
You definitely don't want to be picking up IR temperatures in the range you posted.

 

[fossil]

Slapping a sheet of Durock flat up against a wall does absolutely nothing for clearances/safety. That's still considered a combustible wall. This installation is not safe the way it is.

 

[Sprinter]

Here's an article on minimizing clearances on non certified stoves:

http://woodheat.org/clearances.html

 

[begreen]

Whoever installed this has just enough knowledge to be dangerous. As noted, the installed cement board is doing little good. As you are noting with that temp measurement this stove needs generous clearances, 36" to be exact. Fortunately the good news is that you can get the clearances down to 12" from the studs in the wall if you put up a proper NFPA 211 wall shield. It needs to be made of a non-combustible material like more cement board, or sheet metal, copper, etc. It needs to be 1" off the wall on non-combustible spacers and 1-3" off the floor and open at the top to allow good airflow behind it. The spacers can be made out 1" piece of 3/8" copper pipe or you can just snap off 3" x 36" long strips of 1/2" cement board and double them up like firring strips. Here's another article on the topic:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/stove_wall_clear

I'm sorry to say this, but you really need to have trained eyeballs look at the rest of this installation. If corners were cut and code was ignored here, then where else did this also occur? In the least post a lot more pictures of every major location starting with the connection at the ceiling and continuing on to the other side and up through the roof. If this is single wall pipe we will also need to know the clearances from the wall. Single wall pipe needs to be 18" or more away from the wall and ceiling.

 

[dbernal]

I got on the CSIA website and got in contact with a certified inspector, well his secretary anyway, he is booked for at least a couple weeks but I got on the list. The guy that did the work, a licensed contractor, is coming back out to re do it but not until next weekend. He used the original set up that was on the house when I moved in, just moved it. I have a pic of where it goes through the roof, and can explain the rest. The single wall pipe is about 14-1/2" away from the Durock. It connects to a 3' triple wall section with a collar around it (see pic) that goes through the roof. It sticks out about 18" up top, then has another 3' section on that. I am going to get spacers today and at least space the Durock from the wall.

 

[fossil]

I'm really glad to hear you're taking this seriously and taking steps to make it right. Your life depends on it. Rick

 

[dbernal]

Fire is no joke...it can destroy in seconds. With two little ones running around i cant take any chances!

 

[DAKSY]

Fire is no joke...it can destroy in seconds. With two little ones running around i cant take any chances!

Daksyism: Fire will do one of two things. It will HEAT your house or it will EAT your house...It really doesn't care which....

 

[dbernal]

Little bit of an update...ran out of materials so its not done, but a good start. He still has to come out and move the stove 6" but got this done today. Its spaced about one and a half inches from the drywall.