I am in the process of drawing a set of plans for a new house and had a question about the surrounding construction and how it may relate to possible overfiring. The plan is for a Hearthstone Mansfield in an half alcove set up. The idea was to construct a surround of 6" CMU, grout filled and doweled to the slab on grade, and a angled solid concrete top. The set up would look like a large Rumford fireplace with a woodstove in it. With all clearances to combustables maintained by use of masonry, should I worry about overfiring due to heat build up of the thermal mass?
Wood stove surround
- Thread starter Builder Bob
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CMU? You do not want to let the heat migrate out the back of the surround, Insulate the heck out of the back of the surround. Force the heat into the living space. With a large thermal mass as you are planing once heated you will have a very nice set up. As I see it over fireing is more of a fire box controle issue {draft, wood, settings, temp at reload, operator error, out side temp, stove temp. presence of or lock of creosote in stove and vent pipe} than a surround issue.
For max heat move the stove into the room as mush as possible. I put a wood stove in the center of a great room once in a small ranch, no need for the gas furnace when wood was burning.
For max heat move the stove into the room as mush as possible. I put a wood stove in the center of a great room once in a small ranch, no need for the gas furnace when wood was burning.
Driftwood,
The stove will be in the center of the house with bedrooms on either end of the great room/dining/kitchen. The great room, dining and kitchen are all open. Like your suggestion said the bulk of the stove will be out into the room and the concrete masonry units (CMU) will reflect the heat back into the room.
The stove will be in the center of the house with bedrooms on either end of the great room/dining/kitchen. The great room, dining and kitchen are all open. Like your suggestion said the bulk of the stove will be out into the room and the concrete masonry units (CMU) will reflect the heat back into the room.
The clearance for the stove to cmu varies between 8" (with heat shield and double wall pipe) to 12" (single wall and no heat shield).
I think that should be fine as far as over firing goes, but you may burn alot of wood to bring the CMUs up to temp. How a house are you trying to heat and is this the primary heat source?
The house is about 2050 sq. ft. with a mostly open floor plan. The stove is located centrally in the great room on an inside wall. The original idea was not to try and heat the cmu but as the room/house warmed it would hold the heat as a heat sink. There will be fan forced heat as a back up, but will try not to pay the gas man if possible!!
I think overall its a good plan but you will suck a fair amount of heat to heat all the masonry ( but only on start up ). Sounds like the right stove for the job but Idont have that much knowledge of soapstones, so Ill defer to the experts.
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