zc Removal turned in to an alcove

[briand7878]

After a lot of reading on this forum and months of shopping I pulled the trigger on a wood stove. I started off this project with a heatilator wood fireplace that cost me more electricity than it provided heat. We are completely electric where I live and my electric bills are pretty high year round. It also sucks losing power and relying on a kerosene heater to heat the house. My house is a newer construction two story that is about 2400 sq feet. My wife looked at pictures of installs and really liked the idea of having an alcove. I had no desire to build one so I priced it out. They wanted about $6,000 to do what I knew I was capeable of so I did it myself. The idea of putting something that generated that much heat in to a hole was also concerning to me. I got with the wood stove installer and he told me what would be safe as far as clearances so i built it much bigger and told him not to place it all the way in to the back of the alcove. The stove will be installed on Monday so the pics of the project are of the past few weeks. The stove that is being installed is a Jotul Oslo.

 

[mol1jb]

That is some great looking stone work. What an upgrade!

 

[Rearscreen]

Wow what a difference, very nice design. Now that the wife knows you can do that, look out for the next project they inevitably whip up.

 

[begreen]

Nice project. The Oslo is fairly wide and a side loader needing 16" clear on the left side. Will its clearance requirements be met? (16" + 28" + 14") or will it sit mostly out on the hearth?

 

[briand7878]

Nice project. The Oslo is fairly wide and a side loader needing 16" clear on the left side. Will its clearance requirements be met? (16" + 28" + 14") or will it sit mostly out on the hearth?

Thank you all, it will sit quite a way out on to the hearth but I don't think the side door will be useable. I'm not to concerned about the door however, I mainly bought it because I really like the looks of the front. The opening is now only 48 inches wide.

 

[begreen]

Are the alcove side walls ventilated? That's required for the side clearance reduction from 14" to 6".

 

[briand7878]

Are the alcove side walls ventilated? That's required for the side clearance reduction from 14" to 6".

Well..... no .... I Just looked at that. My installer told me to do exactly what I did and said I only needed six inches on each side. I actually have enough room to set the stove up front with just the pipe going in to the alcove not needing any clearance on the sides. When I removed the old fireplace there was a dryer vent connected to the outside chase that connects to the fireplace. That vent is still there but not the one inch gap. With that being said doesn't that only apply if the ceiling is roughly 41" high making it an alcove?

 

[begreen]

The dealer is incorrect. The clearance reduction requires an NFPA wall shielding system with an opening top and bottom so that air can freely convect behind the wall shield. This is not a condition of ceiling height. Were metal studs used throughout the construction of the alcove including the front corners of the opening? Are the wall cavities insulated or are the spaces between studs open? Will the installation be inspected?

Jotul manual instructions for alcove installation:
1. The stove must be installed with listed double walled pipe.

2. In a protected alcove installation both side walls and rear wall
must be protected per NFPA 211 or CAN/CSA-B365. The wall
protection must be elevated 1”(24.5mm) from the floor and
at least 1” (24,5mm)off the combustible wall to allow for an
air-flow.

 

[briand7878]

Well the first stove that was brought out was completely rusted. The installer took it back to the store and had another one to me in just a couple of days. I'm happy with the new one and can't wait for winter.

 

[mol1jb]

Boy that is handsome.

 

[Billgren]

Wow looks great! Can you tell me where you purchased your stone for the veneer wall?

Thanks

 

[briand7878]

Thanks you. I purchased the stone at Menards and it was called Santa Fe ledgestone. Make sure you use type N cement to bond it. I initially had trouble getting it to bond and switched cement. I held each piece up with a drywall screw. When it dried I removed the screw.

 

[kennyp2339]

Looks nice but you are risking burning your house down, clearances are not met to combustible walls, ie the wood studs holding the cement board and the fiberglass insulation behind the cement board. No good man
Look up pyrolysis, because that's what's going to be happening behind your walls

 

[briand7878]

Looks nice but your risking burning your house down, clearances are not met to combustible walls, ie the wood studs holding the cement board and the fiberglass insulation behind the cement board. No good man
Look up pyrolysis, because that's what's going to be happening behind your walls

I'm only three inches shy of clearance on each side and I had our fire chief look at it. He said it would never get hot enough to be a problem. The highest the temp has climbed to us 135 at the surface with an I r thermometer. I was however concerned and may move it forward. I have plenty of room to move it and still have my 18 inches up front.

 

[begreen]

Watch it in winter when heating full bore 24/7. Our Castine's clearances were several inches over the minimum and I was surprised at the wall temps. They were still legal, but in the 160s after long hot burning.

 

[kennyp2339]

Hmmmm, what does the manual say? The pics didn't elude to side shields on the stove that reduce clearance. Bro I'm not trying to give you a hard time, it's all about safety here, and I'm a fire fighter also