Clearances question

[delagirl]

Thank you! It was more work than I expected, but here's what I did:

1) Bought a 3' X 8' sheet of 20 oz roofing copper and cut it into two 3' X 4' pieces;
2) Nailed each piece to a sheet of plywood (at the corners), and hammered (for a long time) with a 16 oz ball peen hammer - I discovered that it is best to avoid hammering in one place for too long because the sheet warps and work hardens fast;
3) Annealed by heating with a weed burner (outdoors) and then cooling, to soften the metal when it became too rigid from hammering;
4) Once the texture was right from hammering, the metal was wavy, and had raised ridges and veins in some places (best seen on the right panel, which was my first one) - I put the sheet upside down on a sheet of plywood, laid few inches wides board on top (actually, a piece of the floating wood floor we pulled up), and hit it with a mallet to ease out the ridges and to make the sheet relatively level;

That was it for texture. It would have been much faster to use a power tool (some sort of compression-run device) to run the ball peen hammer. I then had to pickle to remove the firescale from the copper, riveted both sides together (made rivets out of copper wire) and then bent 45 degree angles to make the corner behind the stove (clamped boards on either side of the bend, then used another board to lever the end of the sheet up - made a nice straight bend).

Hope that isn't TMI!

Mary

 

[begreen]

Hi,

Thanks for all the discussion! the stove pipe is all double-walled, with 6" clearance. The distance from the pipe to the soffit at the closest point is 7".

In order for the soffit to be covered 57" (84"-stove height of 27") from the furthest point of the stove, the shield will have to go about 38" along the soffit. Thanks for confirming that that is the right way to calculate it, skinanbones!

What about around the edges of the soffit? Should the shield bend 90 degrees and follow the vertical sides of the soffit to about 3" from the ceiling, or should it extend (how many inches) out horizontally or at a 45 (or other) degree angle?

I'm not sure if we'll go with a ceiling shield that is "discreet" (metal painted the same colour as the soffit), or with another piece of copper. Suggestions?

Mary

If this is double wall, then I'm with Rick on this one. Try it out. You could be fine.

I'm amazed at the work that went into the heatshield. There must be a few thousand hammer peenings to make it look like that.

 

[ScotO]

I'd like to make a trim escutcheon for around my flue pipe where it exits the wall on the Napoleon 1900p in the kitchen. I may try this method with the copper. I really like that look! I'd maybe put a little bit of a patina on it with some acid or something.

Either way, that really looks nice, Mary. You are very talented!

 

[delagirl]

Thank you - I think some would say obsessed, more than talented.

I think something that size shouldn't be too bad for peening time. My 24 sq ft took a long time. I got a lot of help on the artmetal.com forum when it came to annealing, pickling, riveting - I recommend them if you have any questions on copper work or finishing for that escutcheon.

Anyone have an answer to the question about the ceiling shield - whether it needs to extend past the edges of the soffit, how far and in what direction (horizontal, vertical along soffit wall, or other angle)? I guess it doesn't on account of the pipe, but does it because of the floor to ceiling clearance requirement?

 

[begreen]

Based on the info you have provided a ceiling shield for the soffit may not be needed. But if you want to have more piece of mind it should be kept 1" away from the soffit on 1" non-combustible spacers. It would be on the horiz. surface, extending 9" wider than the pipe. It can be done discretely with a color matched piece of metal, or artistically with an interesting matching hammered copper panel.

 

[delagirl]

Thanks again, but to clarify, the ceiling shield isn't for the pipe clearance; it is for the floor to combustible ceiling clearance (needs to be 84" and is less than that underneath the soffit). So I was wondering, for the shield I need to put on the underside of the soffit, for the floor to combustible ceiling clearance, if the shield only has to cover the underside of the soffit, or if it has to extend out or up along the walls of the soffit?

Mary

 

[begreen]

Well, you have two mods saying they really don't think that is an issue. The radiated heat from the pipe is likely to be the more apparent influence on the soffit. But you can certainly make the same shield larger on the underside of the soffit. There is no harm in overkill. In that case it should extend horiz. 1" beyond the soffit edge. No need for covering the vertical side of the soffit if installed this way.

 

[delagirl]

Okay, thanks!

Mary

 

[Jags]

Well, you have two mods saying they really don't think that is an issue.

...and one slacky to back them up.

 

[skinanbones]

begreen's right just bring the sheild out 1 inch past the verticle and you will be fine on your ceiling clearances

 

[delagirl]

Alrighty. I think that this project is finally finished. All fingers and toes are crossed. Here is what it looks like with both heat shields. The edges of the ceiling shield are bent up at a 45 degree angle, but maintain 1" out to the sides, and the 1" clearance from the soffit.

Thanks for all your help!

Mary

 

[begreen]

Nice work, you've done well. Just one thing missing now, FIRE!