by pa_friendly_guy » Wed Oct 30, 2013 9:53 pm
When I installed my Riteway wood stove in the basement the guy who built my chimney did not extend the flue liner very far under the ground into the basement. The Man I bought the stove from installed it for me. He installed a sheet of metal to the floor joist and used cooper pipe cut to 1" lengths as spacers and nailed through the cooper into the joists. He told me that a 1" space covered with metal effectively doubled the distance to my floor joist above the stove. That gave me to required clearance that I needed for the stove pipe and the joists. There is nothing special about cooper, that is just what he had. [ Cooper does dissipate heat well but its the 1" space that makes the difference ] The metal does a good job of catching and dissipating the heat. If you really had a concern about a flammable wall I see no reason why a sheet of metal spaced 1" from the wall would not have the same effect of dissipating the heat and effectively doubling your clearances. The insurance industry requires 18" clearance to combustibles from the opening with the fire, 3' on all sides to combustible walls and 18" from where the pipe enters the chimney and the ceiling. Making the walls non-combustible solves the side clearance issues. Think brick, stone, cement board, or the like for wall coverings. The mass bench is not an issue, its the barrel that your insurance agent would be concerned about. There is a question on a Homeowners app about having a woodstove, but it does not increase your premium at all. If you install one after you have a policy there is no way for them to know. If they happen to inspect your home and find one that doesn't meet code they can cancel, but they can't void your coverage if you have a fire caused by a wood burning devise that was added after you took the policy.
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