Pellet Stove Wood Install of a Chimney Hearth

Pellet Stove

• Pellet stoves get their name from the fuel they use: pellets of compressed wood waste, like bark and sawdust. Cleaner and easier to load with fuel than a traditional fireplace, pellet stoves achieve higher combustion and heating efficiencies then wood burning fires. They can be used in houses or apartments. Pellet stoves use fans to circulate warm air into your home and don’t heat up as much as wood stoves, making them safer to have around family and pets.

Chimney Hearth

• If you have a fireplace already installed in your home, then you have the advantage of having a hearth for your stove already installed. Pellet stoves require a hearth to protect the floor beneath them from heat and the risk of exposure to burning materials. A free-standing stove needs to have cement, tile or stove board installed beneath it. If you are putting a fireplace insert into an already-existing firebox, then the hearth there will work just fine. You can vent the stove up the chimney, reducing the amount of installation work required.

Installation

• A fireplace insert won’t necessarily fill up the whole of your fireplace’s firebox. This doesn’t make a difference; it can still be vented up the chimney. The pellet stove will come with a metal shield that fills the rest of the firebox, sealing the gaps. If you choose a large insert that fills up the hearth of your fireplace, then you might need to extend it. The noncombustible floor protector should extend at least 6 inches out from the front of the pellet stove. Using brick, cement or stove board will work.

Considerations

• If you do need to extend your fireplace’s hearth in order to place a fireplace insert in your home, remove any carpet or wood flooring that is in the way. For safety’s sake, you don’t want to have any combustible material underneath the hearth. Check your wood pellet stove’s installation and use guide; it will tell you if your particular model requires a larger hearth.