# The mantle above my woodstove



## cuttermark (Oct 24, 2009)

new guy here got a mantle question,I have a small Russo glassview that heats my great room.sits squarely on the bricked fireplace and I have a 6" selkirk chimney liner goin up the chimney.Did it all myself,fire dept approved.The mantle above the stove is just a 48" x 3" thick piece of pine painted with white latex.It is 22" above the stove,the wood pieces it sits on are 18"above the stove.Last 2yrs nothings ever happened except the paint blisters due to the heat thrown out.Now my wife thinks it's a problem.Should I worry about the mantle combusting?I have a product called cerablanket that has a Zero flashpoint that I could tack on the bottom of the mantle verses some ugly mantle shield.I also have some cerablanket pieces stuffed into open flue spaces around the liner just above the T connector never been a prob.I've taken a torch to cerablanket and it will not ignite! Do I have a safe set up? Thanks


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## tickbitty (Oct 24, 2009)

Did you get your stove new?  It should have the clearances listed in the specs... 18" seems way low, so I imagine it's not within a safe range.  These mantel clearance issues come up here a lot, if you search the archives.  It seems like mantel shields within the range spec'd by your stove are the only way to reduce the clearances enough for these to be considered safe.  Good luck, don't burn your house down!


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## branchburner (Oct 24, 2009)

Fire dept approved, but what about building inspector/insurance agent? Blisters are not good. You want a shield, and you might want it to specs/code. I do not know about the blanket approach, but I would think you'd want airspace to prevent heat conduction to the wood, and to allow air flow to cool the wood.  

A quick metal shield, if only temporary, could be better. Drill two small holes with a masonry bit into the mortar joints - the width of the stove, about halfway up to the mantle, at a 45 degree downward angle. Insert two nails (or stiff wire) as supports and rest a piece of sheet metal on them that is at least wide enough to cover the direct line of stove to mantle. Easy enough to remove once you decide how you want to go. 

Of all clearances the mantle is the one that concerns me most, because it's the one I can put my hand on and say man, that's hot!


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## brokeburner (Oct 24, 2009)

Where did you get that cerablanket stuff at man


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## cuttermark (Oct 24, 2009)

good info thanxs! the cerablanket was given to me for free whaen I snagged 25 ft of selkirk stainless steel liner from a guy on craigslist.It's a full roll and guessin about 200 dollars worth.Crazy stuff,I put a piece in a fire and it just sat there and didn't burn.I'm  thinking of selling it.It is a chimney liner material but since I have the selkirk in there I don't need itI figured it might shield the wood mantle since it simply does not burn ,plus it's white same color as the mantle


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## firefighterjake (Oct 26, 2009)

Well I can't speak to the NH FD in question, but I know around here the quality of a fire inspection from the fire department can vary greatly . . . from a department with a full-time inspector who attends class updates and uses the codes daily to the small volunteer fire department where the new Captain is also "promoted" to the position of fire inspector and his training is from the School of Commonsense . . . 

Just echoing here . . . but while I would be concerned with the blistering paint (usually this is either indicative of a really bad job prepping and painting . . . or it's indicating a pretty high heat source), the short answer is you need to consult your manual and manufacturer and make sure you are OK with the clearances . . . and if you're not correct this siutation sooner rather than later.


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## cuttermark (Oct 26, 2009)

thanks I did not buy the stove new,maybe I can find the manual online.I'm guessing the cerablanket shield is not a good Idea even tho it has a zero flshpoint,it may not reflect  the heat away from the bottom of the mantle?


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## littlesmokey (Oct 26, 2009)

If you are sure of the clearance, your problem might be the paint. Heat,  wood and moisture combine to cause the paint to bubble. Check the wood and see if it is affected or just the paint. A quick fix might be the addition of a nice looking copper or stainless deflector under the mantle. You can screw it in with non-combustible tubes. Screws are a different issue, if you don't put them directly over the stove, I have used copper pan head screws that give that riveted look.

I think this also reduces the clearance issues for most insurance and fire marshalls by as much as sox inches.


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## tickbitty (Oct 27, 2009)

I tried to do a search for your Russo stove to see if there's a manual out there, didn't find it, but someone did post the manual to a different Russo stove on here that maybe you can check, I suppose if the firebox is a similar size or something it might work for similar clearances?  
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/15494/#168852
Also I saw some pics of the "glassview" - cool stove!  Does the glass stay clean enough to see through?


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## cuttermark (Oct 27, 2009)

tickbitty said:
			
		

> I tried to do a search for your Russo stove to see if there's a manual out there, didn't find it, but someone did post the manual to a different Russo stove on here that maybe you can check, I suppose if the firebox is a similar size or something it might work for similar clearances?
> https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/15494/#168852
> Also I saw some pics of the "glassview" - cool stove!  Does the glass stay clean enough to see through?



That's not my stove,but some info in that manual tells me I got most of it right.Just need that heat shield with the 2 inch spacer.My stove is a side loader and is longer than it is high.The glass is hard to keep clean ,but after checking other posts it's because I don't burn hot enough (Mainly due to the blistering paint on the mantle)The local stove shop sold me some Rutland white off,but I'm not too happy with it.I do better scrapping toth a razor blade with th white off on the glass.

http://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5CO-54110

Anyone have any comments on this shield?


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## tickbitty (Nov 10, 2009)

NH woodstove guy said:
			
		

> tickbitty said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



It is the same shield as this one, but this one is a bit cheaper http://www.builderdepot.com/browse.ihtml?pid=823841&step=5&prodstoreid=9781

And this illustration shows how it's mounted 
http://woodheatstoves.com/mantel-shield-47-p-9425.html


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## cuttermark (Nov 10, 2009)

Thanxs the install pic really gives me an idea of how it will look,since I know my wife will say "oh that looks ugly!"


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## tickbitty (Nov 10, 2009)

NH woodstove guy said:
			
		

> Thanxs the install pic really gives me an idea of how it will look,since I know my wife will say "oh that looks ugly!"



I bet you could probably get some heat resistant paint and paint it the same color as the mantel, maybe wouldn't be as bad then?


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## thinkxingu (Nov 10, 2009)

Hello There,
     I made a mantle shield that tucks behind my stove's surround.  I didn't like the look of the one mentioned above, but you can hardly notice mine is there since it blends with the surround.

S


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## tickbitty (Nov 10, 2009)

Oh good!  Do you have pix?


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## thinkxingu (Nov 10, 2009)

Yup, I just took them.  Actually, I took them before my post and then realized: why bother--someone's gonna ask for them!

Here are a couple with and without.  20 AWG steel (a little tough to bend, but it was free), painted w/high temp black.  Matches pretty well if I don't say so myself.

S


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## tickbitty (Nov 10, 2009)

Yeah that does look quite nice considering the options.  Keeps the attention on that pretty stove, where it should be!


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