New house, new stove puzzles. In one room, there's an existing open-hearth masonry fireplace that I'd like to re-purpose to host a free-standing wood stove just in front of it. I'm aware this will require using a rear-exit flue woodstove. My question is how do I know from the specs of the stove if it'll work in my application or not? What do I measure on the existing hearth? What other measurements/offsets/whatever do I need to consider? We're not moved in yet and the only picture I have of the room was from the floor refinishing, so the fireplace is small in the frame but it should give you guys an idea of what I'm working with. Thanks as always.
How far in front? Totally, partially? You'll need to measure from the back rear (floor of the hearth?) to the flue exit to see what height of rear exit from the stove will work. Some will be too high to fit but you'll need to measure that first. Also the height and width of the outer opening of the fireplace so you can sort of match that up to an appropriate sized stove. Also how many s/f are you going to heat with the stove? There are lots of options. Are you looking for a Cast Iron or steel stove? cat combustor or non-cat, traditional looking, modern looking, enamel finish? Soapstone? haha Lots of options. I'm sure we can help you make a decision. Congrats on the new place. Nice looking room for a fireplace!
That looks like a pretty tall fireplace, I don't think you'll have much problem finding a rear exit stove to work there... IIRC some of the Woodstock stoves are convertible top/rear connection. Lintel height will tell you what you have to work with in that respect. If those are standard brick, each row is 2.5", so the lintel would be 27.5", which would just barely fit even the large Ideal Steel. You'll just have to extend the hearth out for it (which on some stoves, that can be as simple as a black piece of sheet metal (ember protection) but some require significant r value of the hearth, gotta research em! Oh and that wooden mantel might have to be shielded too. Looks like a nice place though!
A stove we installed a few years ago required two 45* angles in place of 90* in the chimney for draft and warranty. Makes sense to me, so if you do rear vent instead of top vent, consider that and add room for them in the back.
Top of stove to combustible mantle components should be considered when stove shopping. Would an insert be an acceptable option?
I have been party to installing something like this 3 times. In laws / cousin / buddy houses. If this is going to be a DIY job, I'd start with making sure you're able to get an insulated flue liner in the chimney. Each time we ordered them from Rockford Chimney Supply. Since so much of what comes next will be personal, I'd say start with an Englander since it's a capable stove with easy to find dimensions and get the old tape measure & notebook going and see what dimensions you have to work with. We installed an Englander, a Vermont Castings Vigilant and I can't remember the 3rd stove but I think it was a Napoleon I just wouldn't swear to it under oath. For all 3 stoves we had to cut some amount off of the legs to get it to fit. In your exact set up, I'd see what floor protection you would need since I'd want to meet or exceed minimum code requirements.
Some stoves have a short leg option...which changes the hearth R value requirements too, maybe other clearances/etc also...
Cutting legs means there is no explicit floor requirement anymore... Those requirements are coming from testing labs. With shorter legs one doesn't know what protection will give the same results. Your insurance may also not like it if the excrement hits the air moving device. So I would get a stove with short enough legs rather than modifying one.
before you go too deep on this project you may want to Check with your insurance company, my son's insurance company said they would only cover if an insert was installed, a free-standing stove would not be covered.
