would i gain more heat by insulating

[iceman]

would i gain more heat if i "wrap" a wood stove insert with the hi temp insulation
i am thnking it would keep my insert hotter longer which would make for longer burns and keep the brick around it/ in back from taking in so much heat
it is on an interior wall but i am try to get as much heat as possible

 

[Rhone]

Don't want to wrap your insert in insulation it'll cause your insert to overheat and damage and most likely cause heat to go out your flue.

What you'd do is cover the inside of the fireplace with insulation, make sure none is against the insert which will let air circulate around and prevent it from overheating. My chimney is on the inside and my mason lined my fireplace with rock wool... stuff is a bit like fiberglass but more rigid and good to like 2300F, then my insert was installed. So, I burned for a year with the inside of my fireplace lined with insulation. After reinstalling my liner I removed it on the sides, I had to keep the back with it (as the mason felt the back wall was a little "too thin" not to have it) and haven't put it back in yet and been burning so far with only my back lined with insulation. Haven't noticed a difference honestly so can't say it's a good idea or not... with inside chimneys anyway with outside chimneys I highly recommend that technique for inserts.

 

[Harley]

would i gain more heat if i "wrap" a wood stove insert with the hi temp insulation
i am thnking it would keep my insert hotter longer which would make for longer burns and keep the brick around it/ in back from taking in so much heat
it is on an interior wall but i am try to get as much heat as possible

Rhone probably explained it better for the reasons why, but no - not a good thing to do. If you were to do it - I think you would be changing some of actual design of the stove and how it was tested, and built to be run. I don't think you would get any more heat (maybe in theory you would), but you would run the risk of damaging the stove, or worse.

 

[begreen]

Heck no. Let the stove work as designed. The heat is still in the house envelope and will slowly dissipate inside the house.

 

[iceman]

thanks for the replies trying to avoid big oil bill on the other side of the wall (the back side) is another room so i suppose the heat will makes its way into ther but it is heated by a gas insert so i was trying to be greedy

 

[PAJerry]

I have done this to my insert. I have 3 inches on ceramic fiber insulation on the top and 2 sides of it and it has made a difference. I have a thermometer on the front of the insert and have not seen any great increase in temps of the stove, but a lot more heat out into the room and a lot less into the masonry surrounding the insert. I don't quite understand the possibility of overfiring being any greater than any other set up. You are not insulating the stove in any way, but you are insulating the air path around the stove so that more heat is distributed by the blower. I would say to try it. If you monitor your stove temp, watch it closely and see what happens. Maybe with a larger insert it would be a problem, but it certainly isn't with my little one.

The whole idea is to get the heat you want where you want it, and it is doing the job for us.

 

[begreen]

paj, is this an interior or exterior chimney? if iceman had an exterior chimney, I might agree to try it out, but I don't see the gain with an interior one.

If this was tested as ok for the stove and beneficial, wouldn't you expect to see a manufacturer's suggestion in the stove manual?

 

[theheatelement]

Then why do we insulate liners unless of course the liner was approved with insulation by the testing labratory (mostly with 304 grades liner)

Heck no. Let the stove work as designed. The heat is still in the house envelope and will slowly dissipate inside the house.

 

[begreen]

If I had an interior chimney, I probably wouldn't insulate it unless it was short and I was concerned about draft.

 

[PAJerry]

It is an interior chimney. There is a stairwell to the upstairs directly behind the chimney and the heat was going to the second story from the masonry. I have a Cape Cod style house and they are kind of difficult to insulate in the 'attic' area so with the heat going upstairs, I had ice dams like never before. We also never use the second floor, so why heat it. When I tried to alleviate the ice dam problem, I was told to insulate the chimney, which is readily accessable, through the second story area. I used rigid foam insulation and it did help, but it was not possible to add that in the stairwell area, and that was where most of the heat was coming from. So I figured the next best step is to try to eliminate the heat getting absorbed by the masonry. I did not put kaowool on the back of the insert, since the combustion air comes in through a vent in the lower back area and I did not want to run the risk of blocking that, but I did do both sides and the top. The masonry still gets slightly warm, but not anywhere near as hot as it did before. It has worked. I am happy.

Two weeks ago we had a major wet, heavy snowfall and lost power for 24 hours - hence the blower fan would not work. I was concerned that the stove might overheat, but it did not. The thermometer on the front never went over 600, and the house stayed quite warm. One thing I did notice though is that the bottom of the mantle, though it is 24 inches above the top of the insert, began to get hot. I have the 'heat deflector' on the stove, but I had to place another piece of sheet metal on top of that to direct the heat further out into the room.

As far as the stove manufacturers recommending this, I don't think they care. If they suggest this, some people will look at it as an extra expense and go to another brand, regardless of the benefit. Then you also have the chance of someone doing this incorrectly, maybe blocking the outside combustion air vent, and they might be held liable.