Wood Stove Installation Hints

When installing a Wood Stove, although the manufactures instructions should always be followed... there are so many tricks of the trade you need to know

This information is a guide to understand the things you may not be aware of when installing a Wood Stove -

How do I move a stove?

This is not as hard as you think.. Brands like ESSE now have wheels you can hire through Pivot that will assist in moving your new stove

The 1s thing to arrange is to get a simple way of getting into your stove into your home – building complicated hydronic ramps are a waist of time

Remove the stove doors and hot plate – its not the weight you are worrying about, but if a door swings open as you are moving your stove – you will chip the enamel paint work

If you need to go up or down stairs – use a ramp….

Make sure its strong enough and has a support in the middle of the ramp

A good quality “fridge” trolley with a strap is perfect – and 4 strong men

Make sure you clear the path way first – and have enough room to swing the trolley around

The Position of your stove

The Flue

The No1 Rule in any Wood stove – is keep the Flue Straight!!!

Before positioning your cooker, check to see if there are any timber beams in the roof space above your stove.

If there are, yes you can put a bend in the flue pipe – but this will effect the performance of your cooker – so either reposition your cooker, or cut out the obstruction in the way ( please talk to your builder before cutting any structural beams)

Wood stoves & wood boilers do not work like normal wood heaters and the flue is working a lot harder to get your stove to work - so make sure your flue is nice and high

Although you need a min od 3.6mtrs of flue - we reccomend a min of 4.5mtrs or higher

A hearth is required for EVERY brand stove on the market

The basic rule is you require the hearth to go all the way under your cooker – and it must extend a min 300mm in front of your stove

Please follow your cookers instruction manual for hearth requirements

The weight of the stove

The most common question is regarding the floor strength – do you need additional supports…

The answer is no – but it is recommended

Installation of your stove

The question we get asked is - can i install the stove myself...

The answer is NO...

You can put your stove into position - and unpack.. but you do need a licensed and registered plumber to connect to your hot water and for the flue...

To protect your home - you MUST receive a Plumbing Industry Complaince Certificate upon completion (this does vary from state to state)

Hot Water

If you are connecting domestic low pressure hot water – or a stove with Hydronic heating – the rules are the same….

Connections to the stove

Use Hemp and plumbers paiste with all connections to the stove

Do not use Teflon or locktite at this point – it will fail in time

Hemp is still available at most good plumbing supply stores

Pipework

All pipe work for the stove to the hot water tank / or header tank MUST be done in Copper pipe

You can run 20mm copper – but we recommend 25mm

It is not required to be lagged – but it is recommended to look at Armaflex lagging

Tank Position

This is the most important thing to get right

No matter what brand of cooker you have – the installation of the pipe work to the hot water tank is all the same. It MUST be thermosiphon or better known as gravity flow.

No 90o Bends / No Valves / No Pumps – No fittings at all between the stove and the tank

There are a number of diferent brands of tanks on the market and we advise to follow the manufactures manuals when installing them

But the basic rules are.

Most tanks weigh 400+ KG… then you need to allow for a human weight.. so allow another 100+Kg.. that’s 500+Kg of weight in your roof

Make sure you consult your builder for working out the support required – but the basic rule is make a platform over a internal wall to spread the weight here

Install a light in the roof – and make an easy platform form your man hole to the tank so you can access easily without falling through your ceiling

Basic stove noises and things your stove will do

Your wood stove or boiler will make sound – they all do ..

When you light up your stove – they will puff out smoke – they all do until the flue gets to hot enough to create the right draught you need

The water will make the pipe creep and groan – they all do

Water Boiling

Will you boil the water in your stove? (Everyone does from time to time..)

The basic rule is “ if you make the energy – you need to use the energy” so if you have been cooking all day and have not used any hot water… you will boil the water…

Will this damage your cooker.. No

If you are getting this daily… there is an issue and you need to contact your plumber or us..

How to you stop the noise.. Easy

Turn your cooker down – lift the hot plate covers.. and have a shower – or run a bath – or do some dishes… you just need to use a small amount of hot water…

You Do Not have to drain the tank… just use some hot water