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Hearth Solutions: Wood Stoves (Freestanding)
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What are Freestanding Wood Stoves? |
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Adding a Wood Stove is an attractive, safe, efficient, and convenient way to add "fire" to a room. Wood stove have a way of making people feel relaxed and right at home. In addition to the ambiance, wood stoves today product a low-cost heat that helps protect winter air quality and reduces the threat of global warming.
Best Fire wood stoves are all EPA-certified, are non-catalytic, and ultilize clean-burning technology. An EPA-certified wood burning stove reduces smoke emissions by approximately 90 percent as compared older models. Clean-burning technology allows for the stove to obtain a more "complete-combustion" burn cycle. A more complete combustion cycle equates into greater operating efficiences, longer burn times, lower maintainence costs, and lower overall fuel costs. Today's stoves have simplified air controls which give a great deal of control over the burn rate of the fire inside. |
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Why would I purchase a Wood Stove?
To add a new EPA-certified and attractive secondary heat source.
To lower your heating bills by ultilize the plentiful natural resouce of wood.
To lower your heating bills by zone-heating the rooms you spend the most time in.
To experience the steady even, relaxing heat you get when you burn wood, it's un-paralleled.
To retire or replace an older non-EPA-certified and/or un-attractive wood stove.
To add a back-up heat source to your home in the case of a power outage.
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Typical Projects for Wood Stoves:
There are several differnet locations for a Wood Stove to be installed into your home. The primary consideration when determining the location is the stove's corresponding vent configuration. Review the examples below of the differnet types of wood stove installations to help to determine your options. For more details on installation basics and wood stove vent requirments click here to jump down the page. |
Wood Stove - Pictures of Installations: |
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Click here to view more "Before-After" pictures... |
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Installation Basics-Wood Stoves:
Wood Stove installations consists of four basic componenets: design of sytem, setting the stove, installing/connecting the interior connector pipe, and installing/connecting Class A Chimney and termination. Design and installation of a gas stove is highly recommended to be performed by NFI certified wood specilists from Best Fire.
The design stage of the project is the most important as it maps how the remaining steps will be accomplished to achieve the desired result, taking into account all the limitations, restrictions, requirements, and clearances that must be adhered to. The stove size, model, color, position in room, and venting are all finalized during design.
When setting the stove proper clearances to combustibles set forth by the manufacturer must be maintained, including adding hearth protection under the stove and wall protection behind and to the sides as required.
Installing the interior connection pipe sytem to the stove must be performed according to manufacturer's specifications to ensure proper performance and clearance to combustibles. Based on the model stove, their may be several different venting configurations that may be applicable.
Installing the necessary Class A-All Fuel chimney system must also be performed according to manufacturer's specifications to ensure proper performance and clearance to combustibles. Correct installation is extremely critical for the continued safe operation of the stove. |
Venting Requirements - Wood Stoves:
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Wood Stoves are natural draft appliances which consume air from the room/fireplace for combustion and exhaust the by-products (smoke) to the exterior.
There are several different ways to properly vent a wood stove. Simplified, there are two different sections of a wood stove vent system:
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Connector Pipe - commonly know as "stove pipe", this is the pipe which connects to the wood stove and is visible within the room. Stove pipe diameters vary, 6 inch is used for most stoves, and is manufactured in "single-wall" or "double-wall" varieties. Each manufacturer will have unique clearance to combustibles that must be maintained during installation and use, primarly based on the "single" or "double" wall variation of the connector pipe.
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Class A Chimney - also known as "All-Fuel" chimney, is the section of the vent system that starts and continues once a combustible wall has been penetrated by the vent system. Class A chimney is a manufactured metal chimney that is tested and approved not to transfer heat to combustible materials around it when the chimney itself has extremely high temperature flue gases passing through it. Class A chimney is usually a double or triple wall and either an insulated or air-cooled variety Each chimney manufacturer will have specific clearances that must be maintained during installation and use. Furthermore, usually only components of the same brand of chimney are able to be used together.
Manufacturers of both types of vent, connectior and Class A, make various components that may be used to taylor a vent system to most situations. And example being that the Class A vent system may include a square support box which will accomodate a transition from connector pipe to Class A during a ceiling penetration.
A variation or another type of acceptable Class A Chimney is an exsisting masonry flue. If the integrity of an exsiting masonry flue has not been compromised and is in good working order, then the flue may be used as passage way for the hot flue gases produced from the wood stove. If using a masonry flue, most times it is a good idea to re-line the chimney with a stainless liner. Re-lining ensures the proper performance of the new wood stove and minimizes creosote build-up. However, if your flue is adequately sized to handle flue gases from your stove (BIGGER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER), then you may be able to simply use connector pipe to connect your stove to your masonry flue. However if significant, major deterioration of the flue and chimney have occured then a wood stove cannot be vented into it. Wood stove liners can only be installed into a dedicated flues. This means that the flue cannot serve multiple appliances such as water heater, furnaces, other wood stoves, dryer vents, or anything else.
It is extremely important that a wood stove vent system be designed and installed by a Hearth Professional like Best Fire. Taking shortcuts and chances when you are putting "live-fire" into your home is not a good idea!
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Above: Wood Stove Vent system: Connector pipe from stove to ceiling, transitions to Class A Chimney through attic and roof.
For illustration purposes only. |
Above: Wood Stove Vent system: Connector pipe from stove to first ceiling, transitions to Class A Chimney, enclosed in second story, Class A Continues through attic and roof.
For illustration purposes only. |
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Each model stove with have specific clearances, restrictions, and requirements that must be adhered to during installation. Fore more information about Wood stoves, venting, and installation details, contact one of Best Fire's design consultants (518) 869-9600. |
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Click here to learn more about the different types of wood stove venting..... |
The illustration below shows the air flow typical of a "clean-burning" wood stove, fireplace or insert.
Roll your mouse over the word below to view the air flow for each segment.
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