I have some disappointing news for you. There will be no wood burning stove. Not now and probably not ever. Oh well.
I called the fireplace guy yesterday and told him that I wanted to go ahead with the install. We were at the point of having my debit card in hand for the deposit, when I started digging into the necessary clearances. I hadn’t looked all that hard at these because I thought it was very straight forward…pop a free standing wood burning stove into the fireplace. Done deal. Right?
Not so fast. Apparently, the manufacturers of these stoves want huge clearances from any combustibles. We have space, but not the space the stove people want. I decided throw my hands in the air and say that I just don’t care. Haha.
My new project is to figure out a way to make the existing fireplace more efficient. My brother and father mentioned to me that there was something called a “Tube Fireplace Heater.” Click here to see what I’m talking about.
Also, I wouldn’t mind getting some ceramic, tighter fitting glass doors. That would be cool. An outside air vent would be the icing on the cake.
So, even though my little project of getting a wood burning stove fell through, I still have some things to think about. And, after all, that’s what keeps me going.
Dude, check out the Jotul wood stoves. They have heat shields on the back and bottom, so the clearances are not that bad. I would think that you’d be able to find something that can fit on your current hearth.
How about a wood insert?
Nope. Unfortunately, we don’t have the clearances for much of anything besides what is already there. The fireplace itself is the normal size, but the moldings are too close. I suppose if we really wanted to get a pellet stove or an insert, I could just fix the moldings, but I will wait on that project.