Upgrading 1988 Heatilator to 2016 Pacific Energy FP30

[mcdougy]

Give us a full frontal please......

 

[mcdougy]

Umm....is the piece of galvanized strip under the front installed correctly? I thought it was ember protection in the case anything gets between stove unit and hearth material? I didn't look at install manual......

 

[Weaselfest]

safety strip appears to exceed specifications of 2". There is a 2"+ thick piece of limestone coming to cover this up.

 

[Weaselfest]

 

[fordtrucknut]

I just bought the FP30 today,
I'm wondering if its possible to bring the hearth "seat" up closer to the bottom of the black.
I planed on using block and mortar opposed to wood for the inner structure.

 

[Weaselfest]

I'm no expert, but the instructions state that no combustible material can be in that region. Interpret that as you will. Seems as if it was all block and masonry, it would be ok.

 

[fordtrucknut]

Ah, i have not seen the manual yet, i will have to look it over thoroughly when the stove comes in and make my own determination,
Mine is also going to be sitting on a steel sheet that comes out the front the whole 18" of the hearth.

 

[Weaselfest]

Time to cover up all that hard work. Structural support for mantle. 7/16's all thread run through the steel studs and backed with another piece of uni-strut. Washers and nuts on both sides of metal stud to keep from crushing it. Wiring for Sillite electrical outlets switched low voltage for RGB LED strip lighting recessed in the mantle top. I will rough in a box from dimension lumber and OSB which will be wrapped in oak to give the appearance of a solid slab.

 

[Weaselfest]

Ah, i have not seen the manual yet, i will have to look it over thoroughly when the stove comes in and make my own determination,
Mine is also going to be sitting on a steel sheet that comes out the front the whole 18" of the hearth.

no reason to wait for the unit to show up. Manual is available online. Appears to be the same as the version I received in my unit.

 

[mcdougy]

Looking good weasel....when I first looked at first set of pics, I thought the metal strip was under the unit, not out in front. My bad.

 

[Weaselfest]

All closed up, ready to rock. Brought the sample home one last time, now that paint and lighting are in place, just to be sure.

 

[begreen]

Looking good. Have you lit it up yet?

 

[saydinli]

Looks great!! Can't wait to see it finished.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Weaselfest]

Looking good. Have you lit it up yet?

no fires yet. Am I overly paranoid to wait until the hearth stone is in place first?

 

[begreen]

no fires yet. Am I overly paranoid to wait until the hearth stone is in place first?

Cover the hearth with Durock and it should be ok for a break-in fire.

 

[Weaselfest]

temperatures are supposed to drop again this weekend and I have the house to myself, sounds like it's time to stink things up
Anybody care to spare me hours of searching on break in fires and give me the Cliff notes version?

 

[begreen]

It's a steel stove at heart. Just do a small break in fire with 6 or 7, 2" sticks to dry out the firebrick. Let that go out, then go ahead and do a good load of splits to bake the paint. Open a window or two and put a fan to exhaust fumes out one window if possible.

 

[Weaselfest]

it is finally that day...

 

[Weaselfest]

FIRST BURN!

 

[Weaselfest]

My blower didn't kick in during this initial small burn. Should it have? Manual only offers cryptic description of " appropriate operating temperature" with no numerical range.

 

[Weaselfest]

I swear as soon as I hit "post reply" the blower kicked on! Whoopee!

 

[Weaselfest]

Initial impression: WOW! This thing breathes easy as reported. Igniting one fatwood stick was all it took to get my little stack of hickory going. The air wash system is something to see for the first time. Smoke rolls down, right over the glass, about an inch behind it. The blower is noticeable at my controllers "high" position, but "medium" is a minimal hum and "low" is imperceptible unless you darn near have your ear to the surround. And this is with just the cement board over the top. Can't wait to fire it up a little more seriously later today.
My ages old woodpile will need a good sorting when I go to build something a little more weather resistant to hold my harvest this summer. A lot of mush, but still a fair amount of hickory and cherry has survived, I just need to get it re-stacked and covered better.

 

[begreen]

Gonna be a hot time in Iowa City tonight!

 

[Weaselfest]

don't you know it!

 

[Rickb]

Fantastic build!! I wish blaze king would have had a insert other then the prinsess when I bought my stove and I would have done a fireplace instead!