Changing Stoves - Clearance Questions

[76ER]

Hello all and Merry Christmas,
I have decided to change out my stove, Pacific Energy Vista with a Drolet Legend. My house has no insulation in the walls because it is double brick and old. It does have a well insulated attic. It is a 800 sq ft bungalow with unfinished insulated basement. I live in Southern Ontario. My windows are the originals but in good shape so about 80yrs old. My Vista sits on a raised hearth pad 50" L and 42" W. The vista was installed to code and I added a metal heat shield behind it that measures 42W and 36 1/2 H. I put the shield behind it only because I found it reflected a lot of heat forwards instead of warming up the wall behind. I plan on using the same hearth pad for the Drolet Legend but obviously setting it down to the correct measurements from the back of the stove and flue pipe, to the wall behind. There are no issues that I can see to either side of the stove but I will have to add some length to the front of my hearth pad. I plan on using sheet metal to extend the length out from the pad at the front. I have 8 1/2 foot ceiling. Am I over looking something? I chose the Drolet because of the size of the firebox 3.1ft3 and the cost 1159.00 CAN. I work 12hr shifts so the burn time is important. I did also look at the PE Super 27. Phew!..sorry for being long winded but I tried to cover all the basics for everyone. Cheers

Ian

(broken link removed to http://www.drolet.ca/product.aspx?CategoId=1&Id=213) here is the stove

 

[76ER]

Well..I bought the Drolet Legend and should have it installed next Friday/Saturday. I'm looking forward to 3.1ft3 of firebox for heating this meat locker. Off topic...I see a lot of folks here post pics of their pets...I just adopted this guy from the Humane Society...he was rescued as a stray in Louisiana...fallout from Katrina. I hope he likes the stove! Cheers All!

 

[gyrfalcon]

Nice dog. Congratulations on your new family member!

Can't help you on your hearth questions, but maybe someone who can will be along shortly. If not, try reposting the question with a more specific title.

 

[begreen]

How well the 3.1 cu ft box works in an 800 sq ft space will be interesting.

The Legend hearth pad requirements are different from the Vista. The Vista and Super just require a non-combustible barrier. The Legend requires an insulation value of R = 1.0. What is the construction of the current raised hearth and how high is it?

 

[76ER]

BeGreen,
The raised hearth is 6 1/4" off of the original floor...the frame of the hearth is made from 2"x4"s with a 1/2" cement board on top then covered with 3/8" tiles. Thanks gyrfalcon.

 

[begreen]

OK, The insulation will need to be beefed up for the Drolet. Right now it has only about R = .28 at best.

 

[76ER]

Thanks BeGreen....I made a mistake with the construction of the pad...I have 2 layers of 1/2" cement board under the tile. While there are several methods to correct the insulation problem I'd like to add to the existing pad from the top. Although the tiles do look nice it wouldn't bother me to add 1/4" of plate steel to the surface...checker plate maybe...it would give it an "industrial" kind of look but I'm not trying to please anyone but myself and my new dog.

 

[begreen]

That's better, cement board r value is .52/ in. The steel plate will add nothing to the R value, it's a pretty good conductor of heat. The easiest fix may be to screw down another 1" of cement board on top of the tile. Then you can put the steel plate on top of that and trim the edges or re-tile the top.

 

[76ER]

Thanks for the help BeGreen...how do the tiles factor in to the R value as a total? Would a 1/4" piece of plate on top with spacers between it and the original tile increase the R value?

----------------------------------------- metal plate
spacers spacers
----------------------------------------- original tiles on top of the hearth pad

 

[begreen]

Tile has a pretty low insulation value. They would have to be quite thick to matter.

Yes, I would suppose an air gap under the plate of 1" would also do the job. Just be sure to support it well.

 

[76ER]

Cool...I could have a 50" x 42" plate made up with spacers welded to the underside...what effect if any does raising the stove up from the hearth pad have eg. putting 4" or 5" stone blocks under the legs to bring the stove up and farther away from the hearth pad surface. I have lots of ceiling room.

 

[76ER]

So here it is burning...wish I had something better than my friends I phone for the picture!

 

[begreen]

Nice, and hot!