Hearth for Multi-Fuel Stove

McWotever

Hi there,

I have a Carron cast iron stove rated at 6.7kw sittin in a spare room for the last 6 months, with this weather coming in I've decided to eventually install it.

Now it says it needs a hearth extending 300mm at the front, 150mm either side, 50mm at the rear and 300mm thick... its says that thats in accordance with the UK building regs.

Now I can't really find a suitable hearth that is in keeping with the room. I was hoping to extend the laminate flooring in the the fire place and sit it in as is.

Any thoughts on this, anybody have any experience with this stove or similar?

I also have a LCD TV mounted on the chimney breast above, with no mantal-piece... will I return from the kitchen to find my TV melted in to a heap on the floor! From my experience with similar stoves they dont seem to emitt too much heat vertically.

In hind sight 6.7kw was prob a bit much, but thats wot we have to work with. Itried to attach a photo, so hopefully it'll be below!

Thanks

McWotever

kay 9

Are ya sure it stated 300mm thick?

McWotever

kay 9 wrote: »

Are ya sure it stated 300mm thick?

Thanks for pointing that out it; actually states 150mm thick

Wally Runs

Whatever else about the buildings regs minimum distance, the hearth acts to stop hot ash and cinders marking your floor when you open the door an maybe your house going in fire. In my experience laminate will shorch in no time. Even the smallest bits will mark leaving you with black marks.

Might you opt for some slate or granite tiles and lay them on the floor. You can get some petty large ones. Lift them up when not in use?

As regrards the TV, I would be careful, unless you are loooking for an excuse to up grade?

kay 9

If I were you, I'd concentrate on re-positioning the tv first. Polished or brushed stainless is a nice addition under a stove.

Hootanany

It will melt your telly

beaniepod

the hearth is a must. i have a multi fuel stove with a granite hearth on a wooden floor, and the floor still gets quite warm. you can get the hearth from a stove supplier.

you will need an appropriate flue too, which usually costs as much if not more than the stove.

move the tv as the heat from the stove is intense. if you damage the tv i doubt your insurance would pay up as tvs are not meant to be mounted on firebreast of working fires.

delonglad

You'll most certainly need a heart.. The heat transfer from the stove will be too much for laminate floor(or any wooden floor for that matter) You could make your own heart from the fire rated tiles. This is expensive but looks really good. You can also use this instead of skamol board (basically a vermiculite backing used in some case but not essential when mounting inside an existing fireplace) for the rear. The tv will have to be moved or it will just be wrecked. They don't like heat in the first place.

Heart will cost anywhere from 130 quid up for decent one and I can't remember off my head what the going rate is for the tiles.

Have you all your flues for installation?

McWotever

Thanks for the replies.

Yea I have a flue that came with the stove. That obviously still has to be installed. I think I need some sort of converter for it to fit in to the chimney. The flue is roughly 1m in length, with no access for cleaning, but I think the rods should work from the stove itself.

delonglad

McWotever wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

Yea I have a flue that came with the stove. That obviously still has to be installed. I think I need some sort of converter for it to fit in to the chimney. The flue is roughly 1m in length, with no access for cleaning, but I think the rods should work from the stove itself.

You need to get a converter alright, probably one of the most important parts. It changes your flue size (5" or 6") to the 8" chimney flue. This stops all your heat from being pissed up the chimney and cold air being pushed back down. Your looking 70 - 80 for the adapter anything cheaper and i'd question the thickness of the flue your getting. Some companies sell thin stuff that wont last the test of time. Don't worry too much about getting a bend with a door for cleaning but if you want one there isn't much difference in price. Also haggle like crazy as there is usually room to negotiate with these parts!

Gary

McWotever

Thanks for the help Gary

joanofarse

I did something similar man. What i did was stick a granite hearth down, cost about €60. Bought three slabs of granite, put it down myself. I got some brick work for the back and to solve the depth problem i put in three railway sleepers on the outside of the fireplace, €70 for 3 solid oak ones.

The flue converter was €65, that was 6" to 8".

Ill attach a pic, might give ya some ideas.

My stove is a 16Kw one now, so this may be a slightly big example for ya. Although , looking at the picture you have, it might suit fine. Very rustic finish

McWotever

joanofarse wrote: »

Hi Joanofarse,

thanks for responding to this thread. I put the stove on the long finger, but the whip is being lashed now, so I'm back to it.

You seem to have a similar set up as me, except I'm not trying to warm a carrot up?! He does look happy thou! LOL.

I notice that you don't seem to have a hearth of 150mm thickness, do you find any problem with that? Also you don't have 300mm extending to the front either. Again, any problems? Or is it just a case of the Building Regs erring on the side of caution?

The major difference between our set ups would be the TV. I've accepted that the TV will melt, but just wondering do the items on your mantle piece heat up much? Would there be a huge difference in temp between the bottom surface of the mantle piece and the top? I know the KWage's are different but would give me an idea.

Thanks

McW

joanofarse

Hi McW ,

The hearth is about 100mm, concrete set underneath it. On the 300mm, zero problems on the mantle surround. Believe it or not, it might just be the stove but with the fire on full for hours, the hearth and surrounding wood has barly no heat.

On top of the mantle. there is no change in temp with the fire on or off. it could be the width and thickness of the sleeper....???

Overall, i have zero problems with the setup, the dog lies right up against the hearth when the fire is on - hence the carrot - and upon touching it, almost no change in temp to when the fire is off.

Cheers,

Kev

McWotever wrote: »

Hi Joanofarse,

thanks for responding to this thread. I put the stove on the long finger, but the whip is being lashed now, so I'm back to it.

You seem to have a similar set up as me, except I'm not trying to warm a carrot up?! He does look happy thou! LOL.

I notice that you don't seem to have a hearth of 150mm thickness, do you find any problem with that? Also you don't have 300mm extending to the front either. Again, any problems? Or is it just a case of the Building Regs erring on the side of caution?

The major difference between our set ups would be the TV. I've accepted that the TV will melt, but just wondering do the items on your mantle piece heat up much? Would there be a huge difference in temp between the bottom surface of the mantle piece and the top? I know the KWage's are different but would give me an idea.

Thanks

McW

Wally Runs

No help with the fire but why not set the area above the hearth as a projector screen instead of a TV? ie. leave it white. The prices are in line with any high end TV and the quality better IMO. (having done this myself).

joanofarse

Thats a good idea - Quality is as good as most TV's and high lumen projectors are very reasonable these days, light is not as much as a problem as it used to be

Wally Runs wrote: »

No help with the fire but why no set the area above the hearth as a projector screen instead of a TV? ie. leave it white. The prices are in line with any high end TV and the quality better IMO. (having done this myself).

McWotever

Think I have the hearth sorted anyway, gonna install it next week.

As for the projector, I may need to blind the woman with science and tell her its the only way its going to work! I like!

Thanks for the help guys