by pa_friendly_guy » Mon Jan 14, 2013 10:05 pm
From an Insurance point of view George the Companies want 18" of no combustible materials on the floor in front of the stove for sparks, 36" on the sides and back to any combustible walls and I think it was 18" from the stove pipe to the ceiling. The ceiling is not an issue with this stove. He should use a thimble or triple insulated stove pipe to go through the wall to the out side. The distance to the wall is of concern. Especially for the barrel, I would not think the cob bench would be of concern because the cob is non-combustible. The barrel however will get extremely hot and could be of concern. Adding a piece of thin metal sheeting placed on 1 " spacers [ I used copper pipe cut to 1" at my place and nailed through the center of the pipe ] will effectively double the distance that he has to the wall. Another alternative would be to place a cement board behind the stove that would be non-combustible. He has a plastered wall there now, but just plaster is not considered non_combustible. If he wants to be on the Safe Side, he could call his insurance guy and ask about his companies requirements. That has a down side though, his agent may tell him NO WAY and cause him a lot of problems. If the Company does not know about the stove it would not void his policy and they could not do any thing about it in case of a loss, at least here in Pa that is the Law, I am not sure about your area. If they inspected the house at some future date however, they could cancel his policy if the stove did not meet their specs. You pays your money, you takes your chances so to speak. My advise is be up front about what he is doing and get it per-approved by the Insurance Company. Then he knows he is safe and has no problems.
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