Shielding Explained

Shielding Explained

One of the most crucial things to consider when choosing where to install your wood stove is how close it will be to combustible surfaces and whether or not shielding will be necessary.

To put it simply, having the stove or flue pipe too close to anything combustible is extremely dangerous.

 

Here are the clearances to combustibles that were determined through our own in-house testing done according to marine standards:

 

Stove:

Back: 20"

Sides: 20"

Front: 30"

Top: 30"

Bottom: 20"

 

Pipes:

Flue pipe: 9"

Insulated pipe: 1"

 

In other words, these are the minimum distances from combustible surfaces that must be kept.

(The back of the stove must be at least 20" away, the flue pipe must be at least 9" away, and so on).

 

However, all of these clearances can be reduced to 3" if you use adequate shielding.

(Except for the insulated pipe)

 

Our wall mounts that shield the back and bottom of the stoves. They shield the pipes as well, but only up to a certain length. You can extend that length using our flue shield extensions.

Our floor mounts will shield your floor from the bottom of the stove and can also be equipped with a rear heat shield to shield the back.

 

We also carry side shields for shielding your walls against the sides of the stove, and flue shields that shield against the pipes.
These get mounted directly to the surfaces that you want to protect.

 

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If you cannot meet the 30" clearance to the ceiling, it is always recommended to lower the position of your stove instead of shielding the ceiling.
There are two reasons for this:

 

1) Your piping needs to surpass your roof by at least 12" and also have a length of at least 40". Less pipe on the inside means more pipe on the outside, which means that more of the flue gas will be exposed to cold air. This leads to excessive creosote buildup, which you want to avoid.
 
2) The lower you install your stove, the more efficient it will be. Heat rises, so the lower it is, the more of your space will get heated.

 

In general, you can always use your own shielding, but we're limited in the advice we can give on other materials since we have only ever tested our own.

 

The general principle that we follow comprises the following setup:

 

stove > shield > buffer > combustible surface

 

The buffer is necessary so that heat does not transfer directly from the shield to the surface it's protecting. Our shields have a 1" air gap built into them, which acts as a heat buffer between the shield and the wall.

 

In general, you should always make sure that you are respecting the clearances to combustibles and that you are using proper shielding where required. If you have any questions that we can help you with, feel free to contact us.

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