Newbie clearance issue

[Wozz]

Hello all, I am new to the forum, I am contemplating purchasing a new wood burning fire place insert for my existing fireplace, I am leaning towards the Vermont Castings Merrimack, the problem is I do not have the clearance that this unit requires, my mantel width is 55 inches between the side legs and the height from the hearth to the bottom of the mantel is 36, any suggestions would be appreciated, different insert, shielding etc.

 

[begreen]

Yes, the deep box trim needs shielding or a change of mantel. A Blaze King Ashford25 insert might work there with a mantel shield.

 

[HomeinPA]

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Hello all, I am new to the forum, I am contemplating purchasing a new wood burning fire place insert for my existing fireplace, I am leaning towards the Vermont Castings Merrimack, the problem is I do not have the clearance that this unit requires, my mantel width is 55 inches between the side legs and the height from the hearth to the bottom of the mantel is 36, any suggestions would be appreciated, different insert, shielding etc.

I would paint the heat shields and spacers to match the mantel color. I don't think it would get hot enough to require hi-temp paint but if you can get a close match in color it might not hurt.

 

[Wozz]

Thanks for the input, I am trying to warm a area of about 900 sq. feet, the Regency CI1125 has the lowest minimum clearance numbers that I have found, the mantel projects almost 4 inches from the face, do you think I would have to shield the sides also or just the top, I have to make this presentable to the boss if you now what I mean,

 

[HomeinPA]

Thanks for the input, I am trying to warm a area of about 900 sq. feet, the Regency CI1125 has the lowest minimum clearance numbers that I have found, the mantel projects almost 4 inches from the face, do you think I would have to shield the sides also or just the top, I have to make this presentable to the boss if you now what I mean,

You may be ok on the sides.. It depends what it calls for on side clearances though.

 

[Wozz]

Things are not looking good for my insert installation, the 4.5 inch mantel projection from the face is causing all the issues, Vermont Castings emailed me and flat said no shielding is allowed with the Merrimack, The Regency 1125 looked like a good soulotion but they do not want the mantel to project more than 1.5 inches from the hearth face, kind of stuck at this point, I do not want to move or destroy the existing mantel work, i am surprised that there is not a 3 sided box type shield system that one could buy or manufacture, my local building inspector told me that as long as the installation meets the manufactures specs I am good to go, but I cannot find a manufacture that allows shielding as part of their installation requirements, a local insert salesman told me that it was ok to install the Merrimack with shielding, I just sent him the email form VC, is response will be interesting, once again thanks to all for any help, I hope I am not being a pain

 

[HomeinPA]

Things are not looking good for my insert installation, the 4.5 inch mantel projection from the face is causing all the issues, Vermont Castings emailed me and flat said no shielding is allowed with the Merrimack, The Regency 1125 looked like a good soulotion but they do not want the mantel to project more than 1.5 inches from the hearth face, kind of stuck at this point, I do not want to move or destroy the existing mantel work, i am surprised that there is not a 3 sided box type shield system that one could buy or manufacture, my local building inspector told me that as long as the installation meets the manufactures specs I am good to go, but I cannot find a manufacture that allows shielding as part of their installation requirements, a local insert salesman told me that it was ok to install the Merrimack with shielding, I just sent him the email form VC, is response will be interesting, once again thanks to all for any help, I hope I am not being a pain

I looked at the VC manual and without shielding they require 31.25 inches from the center of the fireplace opening. It looks like you'll have 30 if those are 12 inch tiles. I'm pretty sure if you pressed them and talked to someone higher up the tech support ladder you would find that CODE APPROVED (NFPA 211) clearance reduction methods are quite legal/sufficient/approved....whatever. They pretty much have to be. The 31+ inch clearance is the same as it would be for a wall and you certainly can't move the damn wall so you would install a heat shield and it would be perfectly legal.

If you don't want to press them on details then I think the Regency 1250 would work. I also looked at that manual and what you see as 1.5 inch facing means that anything extending more than 1.5" would be considered a mantel....or a really low ceiling. The stove is 19" high and it requires a 20" to the underside of the mantel (anything extending more than 1.5" from the face) so you need a minimum of 39" from hearth to underside of the mantel. It says 15" to a side wall and the stove is 21.5" wide so you'd need 26" from the center of the opening to the wall or mantel extension. It appears that you only have 36 to the mantel so that would need to be heat shielded. I myself would heat shield the entire thing using a matching paint (or gloss black to go with the tiles) maybe just to be safe. Get a metal shop to fabricate it so that you have the proper air gap around it, put a flared edge on it, paint it and install it.

 

[Wozz]

Thanks a lot HomeinPa, I think I am on the right track with your help, I have been reading some stuff at the NFPA's website and coming up with some ideas for the shield, I have a buddy that works at a metal shop and I own a couple of metal brakes so I might be able to bend something up myself depending on gauge, does anyone ever make the shields out of other fireproof materials besides metal? Is there a rule of thumb on how much the suggested manufactures clearance numbers are reduced when using a proper shield? I just have to make a decision on an insert now, I only want to heat an area of about 900 sq feet so I don't need a large insert but I do like a large viewing area, I can't tell you how much this forum as helped me, most of the sales guys I talk to locally do not know very much, I have been reading everything I can at this forum for the last couple of weeks and I feel that I know more than a lot of them,

 

[HomeinPA]

The NFPA version I have laying here says 24 gauge sheet metal with a 1" ventilated airspace gives you a 66% reduction with a minimum 12" clearance required. Basically you can't be any closer than 12" which isn't an issue.
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