# Hearthstone Clearance help



## EaatyB (Jun 10, 2013)

I'm beginning an install on a 1995 American Heritage (8202). My question is why is the side door clearance to combustibles 4 FEET whereas other hearthstone stoves with the side loading door it's considerably less? I'm having a hard time finding a place for it - And I know how important codes are after reading other posts here  My house isn't very big.. Does building a non combustable wall reduce this to 2 or even 3 feet?? Thanks


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## begreen (Jun 10, 2013)

That does sound very high, when the Heritage 8020 is only something like 17". I don't have the manual for this stove, so all I can recommend is to read it again closely to be sure there is not an error.


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## Highbeam (Jun 10, 2013)

Wow, 4 feet. I am guessing some sort of error somewhere. Regular NFPA spec for a freaking burn barrel is less than that.


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## EaatyB (Jun 10, 2013)

Thats what I thought - being a worrywort I would rather stick to what it sais in the unlikelyhood I burn my house down and they say "well your stove wasn't 48 inches from the wall". And I'm assuming scale played no part in their diagrams.. Here's a link if the photo i cropped doesn't appear


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## begreen (Jun 10, 2013)

Can't argue with the manual, but I would think you can reduce that 48" by up to 2/3ds with a proper NFPA wall shield. How close is the side wall now? What is the goal?


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## EaatyB (Jun 10, 2013)

I haven't placed it yet but we decided it would be best/easiest in the front (insulated) porch. The width of the porch is about 90 inches, I wanted to center it but that would only leave about 34 inches to the exterior wall, So moving it slightly off-center (towards the interior wall) would give me some but still not 48 inches..Thinking I should've bought a different stove. Someday I will afford a new one!

I sent an email to Hearthstone co but no response yet

I've read a few of the posts with NFPA wall shield, that will be the route we go.. thanks for the advice!


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## Highbeam (Jun 11, 2013)

begreen said:


> I would think you can reduce that 48" by up to 2/3ds with a proper NFPA wall shield.


 
Hold up now, unless the Hearthstone manual specifically allows for the 2/3 reduction you can't do it. The NFPA reduction only works for the standard NFPA clearances unless your manual allows for it specifically. This is why it almost never makes any sense to build a wall shield.

I wonder if the 48 was supposed to be an 18?


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## EaatyB (Jun 11, 2013)

Ok! Hearthstone wrote back to me - "that stove is an EPA exempt model which is designed to burn rapidly all the time; it doesn’t have an air control over the intake on the back. Consequentially the stove can burn very hot and the tested and listed clearance from the loading door side is 48 inches as per the clearance diagram in the manual."

Makes sense now. The manual doesn't say anything about no air control - This is my second wood stove so I'm still a rookie, the 48" seemed strange. They did go on to say the proper 1 inch air space with heat shield will suffice for my application. Not sure how its going to burn, guess I'll find out.



Highbeam said:


> This is why it almost never makes any sense to build a wall shield.


 

I Know! I totally agree..the whole idea behind modifying a manufactuers code is unnerving to me, they are stated for a reason. In this instance I am going to make an exception but will probably never do it again.  Thanks for the suggestions.. You guys from WA are alright. I guess I could've just wrote to Hearthstone sooner before coming to forums but hopefully other readers will find the thread helpful.


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## rideau (Jun 11, 2013)

No expert here, but appears this stove has both a front and side loading door.  Think I have read elsewhere on the forum that if one permanently seals a door one no longer needs to maintain the same clearances on that side.  Based on that, I'd guess you could reduce the side clearance to the 26 inches on the other side if you don't need to use the side door.  If that would work better for you, worth asking begreen/Hearthstone/the forum in general? 
I may be totally wrong....


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## begreen (Jun 12, 2013)

Highbeam said:


> Hold up now, unless the Hearthstone manual specifically allows for the 2/3 reduction you can't do it. The NFPA reduction only works for the standard NFPA clearances unless your manual allows for it specifically. This is why it almost never makes any sense to build a wall shield.
> 
> I wonder if the 48 was supposed to be an 18?


 
The diagram mentions a shorter dimension for shielding for rear clearance. Based on the response it sounds like Hearthstone is ok with the wall shield. I'm a little leary of a stove with no air control on the inlet. Did the rep say how well this stove worked (or not)?


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## Highbeam (Jun 12, 2013)

begreen said:


> The diagram mentions a shorter dimension for shielding for rear clearance. Based on the response it sounds like Hearthstone is ok with the wall shield.


 
That specific, though vague, mention of a reduced rear clearance with "shielding" but not an allowance for a reduced side clearance is actually pretty conclusive that they don't want a reduced side clearance.

Hearthstone didn't give an inch in that email. In fact, they brought to attention just how hot this stove can burn. Where did you see Hearthstone being okay with a sideshield?


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## firecracker_77 (Jun 12, 2013)

EaatyB said:


> I'm beginning an install on a 1995 American Heritage (8202). My question is why is the side door clearance to combustibles 4 FEET whereas other hearthstone stoves with the side loading door it's considerably less? I'm having a hard time finding a place for it - And I know how important codes are after reading other posts here  My house isn't very big.. Does building a non combustable wall reduce this to 2 or even 3 feet?? Thanks


 
I'm running a newer Heritage and there's no way that side door needs 4 feet.  The front perhaps, but not that side door.


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## Dave A. (Jun 12, 2013)

No real experience with stoves with side doors. But isn't 48" the typical stated safe distance to combustibles for in front of a stove with a front opening door? I mean you don't want to be keeping wood/combustibles any closer than that.

I've understood this risk that if you were to inadvertently leave the door open and walk away combustibles within that space could catch fire from the open door.

Actually can't see how you could reduce that side door clearance without sealing the door closed.


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## firecracker_77 (Jun 12, 2013)

Dave A. said:


> No real experience with stoves with side doors. But isn't 48" the typical stated safe distance to combustibles for in front of a stove with a front opening door? I mean you don't want to be keeping wood/combustibles any closer than that.
> 
> I've understood this risk that if you were to inadvertently leave the door open and walk away combustibles within that space could catch fire from the open door.
> 
> Actually can't see how you could reduce that side door clearance without sealing the door closed.


 
I would guess an object 2.5 feet from the side door would get no warmer than 100 - 110 degrees.  I don't know what material would be heat damaged to the point of combustion in that range.


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## Highbeam (Jun 12, 2013)

Clearance to combustibles means just what it says. You can surround your stove with plywood paneling so long as you respect the minimums. Even in front of the loading door, most modern stoves only require the 16".

Three feet is the standard NFPA clearance.


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## EaatyB (Aug 20, 2013)

*UPDATE* My apologies, the wood stove project took the back burner for a while as we had a new baby, our first, to our family - I haven't been on the internet for some time. I did take the advice from HearthStone and installed 1/2 inch cement board with 1/4 inch thick ceramic tile and allowed 1 inch air space using noncombustible spacers (doubled 1/2 inch cement board as suggested from other clearance threads). The clearance from my tiled wall to the side loading door is now 32 inches. A friend said maybe they wanted 4 feet to allow room to physically get wood into the side door and not merely combustion clearance. 4 feet would give you enough room to move around whereas 32 inches is a slight squeeze but still certainly doable. ??



> That specific, though vague, mention of a reduced rear clearance with "shielding" but not an allowance for a reduced side clearance is actually pretty conclusive that they don't want a reduced side clearance.
> 
> Hearthstone didn't give an inch in that email. In fact, they brought to attention just how hot this stove can burn. Where did you see Hearthstone being okay with a sideshield?


 
Sorry Highbeam, I didn't copy and paste the entire response from HearthStone.  Here it is:

"Hello, that stove is an EPA exempt model which is designed to burn rapidly all the time; it doesn’t have an air control over the intake on the back. Consequentially the stove can burn very hot and the tested and listed clearance from the loading door side is 48 inches as per the clearance diagram in the manual. So your 34” is technically a violation. You should protect the wall with some type of non combustible shield with the proper 1” airspace and non-combustible spacers. Then the stove would not be in violation.
Thank you for your inquiry."



The above mentioned "intake on the back" led me to another question. Let me know if I should start a new thread. I located the 7/8th inch hole through the back bottom cast where the ash-pan sits. no screen blocking ashes from the hole, no cover, nothing.  That didn’t appear very safe to me so I referred to the exploded parts list found by googling replacement parts. If I'm looking in the right location in the diagram there is a screen or something related to a screen. I've included a picture that I took of my stove along with their diagram. My question is does anyone know if I'm missing something? I emailed HearthStone again but no response yet (fingers crossed).


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## EaatyB (Aug 22, 2013)

HearthStone wrote back- Much thanks to Ray Mayer. Turns out I have a later version of American Heritage 8202 complete with reduced sized hole intake - exploded parts diagram I posted shows earlier model. Excited to burn wood


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## ridemgis (Aug 22, 2013)

Interesting, the parts diagram found here:

http://www.hearthstoneparts.com/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=8202

Lists part #36 as the "throttle".  It seems to be nothing more than a standard flue damper, so maybe you should get one if you don't already have one.  If you're the least bit handy (looks like you are), you might try making up a control for that air intake hole.


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## EaatyB (Aug 25, 2013)

Hi ridemgis,

Yes I did think of manufacturing some kind of control. I'm curious to see how it burns first. I did look through other models parts diagrams getting some ideas. I wonder how or if the burnt ashes on my stove will impede air coming through that hole. Not sure yet. It did come with a standard flue damper looks like previous owner had it installed further up the stove-pipe rather than on top of the collar like what's shown in the parts diagram. I'm not sure where I'll put it yet. Right now I'm estimating stainless chimney pipe. Preparing myself to depart with a lot of cash. .


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## thermass (Sep 9, 2013)

eaaty,
Nice stove! I just acquired the same one last week that needs just a little work. I am surprised to see this is the _only_ discussion of the American Heritage on the entire internets. You said you have a later model with the reduced intake hole size, what is your serial #? Would like to know if mine is also a later model (ser 2344).



EaatyB said:


> that stove is an EPA exempt model which is designed to burn rapidly all the time


That is not what I wanted to hear after lugging this stove home, at least it was only $75. This stove would be going into a tight 10 year old single story, no need for a constant hot fire. Definitely thinking about an intake control...

 If there is anyone out there with experience with this stove and how it performs - please chime in!


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## EaatyB (Sep 10, 2013)

Hi thermass - 

Yes its nice to know someone has the same stove! My ser. reads 2640. Not sure when they changed the intake. After researching wood stoves and flue temps via internet searching I'm curious about controlling burn rates solely on exhaust (key-damper). I'm sure i'm quoting others from forums and anyone please correct me but if you limit the exhaust exiting the stove (dampening) you thereby reduce the rate of air coming in and hence "controlling the burn rate". I'm not sure how legality and EPA exempt comes into play. I tried researching that but its government mumbo jumbo. Like I said before I'll be sure to play with intake control and the damper. When you start burning please let me know. Its 90 degrees right now hard to even think about burning wood!

My last wood stove was a small US Stove Forester, if I remember right. The only intake was on the door and you could "control" it by sliding a lever covering and uncovering holes (pending on which way you slid the lever). I found sliding the lever either way really didn't do anything different as far as burn times or warmth, but it was EPA certified because I could pretend to control the intake. Unless I was wrong.


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