Brick wall behind my stove

37chief · Nov 29, 2016

I installed my wood stove years ago. The wall behind the stove was sheet rock. I added a brick wall in front of the sheet rock. The bricks are about 1 inch from the sheet rock. anchored to the wall with tin strips. I thought it would be a good idea to fill the space with cement. I found out later there should be a air gap between the sheet rock, and the bricks. The stove is around 14 inches from the bricks. The bricks get super hot. I put a piece of tin sheet behind the stove to keep the brick wall cooler. After all that my question is: can the bricks get so hot, and heat the cement and sheet rock, and wood wall frame to start a fire. Wife isn't too happy to see a piece of sheet metal behind the stove all winter. Stan

NCWayne · Nov 29, 2016

I would imagine anything would be possible, but I'd have to say it wouldn't be probable. This because the temp necessary to make wood burn is going to be in the range of 500 degrees F, give or take depending on moisture content, wood type, etc, etc. As a result I can't see the setup you've described ever getting the temp of the wood to the temperature necessary to ignite, especially with a layer of sheetrock in the way, on top of everything else.

That said, I've burned a stove set up with a drip oil system and seen the skin temps on it reach 650 degrees, plus. Even with it that hot, and the surrounding, bare, wooden, wall (and a wooden shelf) hot enough it was nearly impossible to touch, it never got even close to hot enough to ignite.

I never had an issue over the course of several years, but the heat did scare me, and I ultimately took that heater out and am in the process of replacing it with a factory, waste oil furnace.

D beatty · Nov 29, 2016

I have mine setting 4 foot out from a brick paneled wall with piece steel siding hanging down 6 " below floor joist over stove pipe. We run ours at 400-500 degrees and once a week run it up to 650 degrees for 20 minutes. We have been burning since 1978 in this house.

MarkB_MI · Nov 29, 2016

Wood and paper need to get over 400 degrees Fahrenheit to burn. It seems unlikely your bricks get that hot, but you can stick an oven thermometer back there and see.

Can you add a blower to the back of your stove? Circulating the hot air behind the stove will cool the bricks and warm the room.

JMOR · Nov 29, 2016

Probably ok with your setup. When we had a volunteer fire department, I did go to a house with a smoldering floor fire. Fireplace was built with brick laid directly on top of a wood floor. Not intended as a wood burning fireplace, no doubt, but occupant did try to use it as a wood burning fire place!

Ken Macfarlane · Nov 29, 2016

Have seen it happen but it's not common. Brick has very little insulating value.

Worked one job where the chimney for a large oil boiler was run through an insulated and cement board sheathed chase surrounded by closets on all sides. Mid winter the back of the closets where getting up into boiling range, by calculation the inside of the chase was getting unsafe for the wood framing they used.

Solution was to fix the venting of the chase they had blocked off during construction.

Stephen Newell · Nov 29, 2016

No, there is no risk of fire through the brick. The wood would have to reach more than 800 degrees to ignite.

Dick2 · Nov 29, 2016

You should have left the air gap, vented at the top and bottom to carry the heat away from the sheet rock.

Traditional Farmer · Nov 29, 2016

That cement is not really going to transfer heat that well anyway,and you can always put a fan to blow between the stove and the wall which will really lower the wall temperature plus circulate the heat.

Bryan inIowa · Nov 29, 2016

what are the installation specs for your stove? 14 inches sounds close. Mine is 24 as per stove mfg guide. I have stone over sheet rock. Gets pretty warm at times. I put a small fan of to the side ,it cools off wall and really circulates heat in living room .

2underage · Nov 29, 2016

Putting the metal barrier between the stove and the wall was a good idea as it will reflect much of the heat away from the wall. Many wood burning stoves come with a metal surrounding that allows them to be placed closer to the wall. It is unlikely that the wall would get hot enough to burn but I understand your concern as no one wants to take a chance in starting a house fire.

Crazy Horse · Nov 29, 2016

I suspect that should something bad happen, you would have to deal with your insurance representative. While the companies themselves are polite and cooperative, their adjusters (often outside contractors) can be pretty ugly, they are hired to save the company money I think and not to make you happy. Someone mentioned the stove manufacturer's building/installation specs, etc. I think that's what a guy goes by. Most of the advice here is probably correct about safety but when push comes to shove, you don't want to find out the hard way.

Russ from MN · Nov 29, 2016

Like others have said, I doubt if it is nearly hot enough to start combustion. How hot is super hot? You need to get an infra-red heat gun, that's what I have to prove to my wife that ours is safe. We have a similar set up, except our stove has a heat shield attached to the back of the stove, allowing it to be 6 inches from a wall. The bricks are the thin ones, and they are glued to cement board, and they barely get above 140F. That feels hot, but it is way below the ignition point of any building material. I think what you have is a great heat storage unit!

OldFarmTractor · Nov 29, 2016

As often happens, be weary of comments on any website. Wood ignites way below 800 degrees. See the link below. Remember Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, named so because it is the temperature at which paper ignites?

Can you get a more decorative metal sheet to put behind the stove or maybe a layer of concrete backer used in showers? Put that up with a spacer. But what is right above the stove?
Temperature to Ignite Woos

Bob in SD · Nov 29, 2016

This. Every other brick missing from the bottom row or two and a gap at the top so the warm air flows up through the gap.

Maybe nothing would happen, but look at the potential downside if something does. I once had a wood stove (not an insert, but an old stove) plumbed into a brick fireplace in an older house. It was in a fireplace designed for wood burning, on a hearth, etc. I had a big piece of wood that didn't get split small enough and I set it off to the side, well over a foot and a half away from the stove. That piece of wood stayed cool enough to touch, but it looked kinda rustic and my wife decided she liked it sitting there. She put a plant on it in the summer and a rusty watering can on it in the winter ("decor" I guess they call it). It sat there for several years and finally got dry enough that it started to smolder. Luckily we were home so I just chucked it out in the snow.

My point being, cool enough to touch and too cool to ignite might change over time as the wall is slowly cooked.

4wdtom · Nov 29, 2016

Could you replace the "piece of tin" with a finish looking refrigerator door? They are painted up to look nice and if you can get one with fiberglass insulation it is easy to remove the insulation and you have a nice heat shield. Cut a few good sized vent holes in the top and bottom edge for air circulation and hang the panel by two screws you put in the brick. Just let them stick out a half inch or so and hang the door panel from them. You can take the panel down in the off season, and the white? color will not look to bad, (better than a piece of tin) for heating season. Doors come in many sizes and colors for that matter, but a light color would reflect heat back to the room. The ones with foam insulation are tough to get the foam out of usually and you don't want or need the insulation. Possibly you could chemically remove it, gas? acetone? might melt it. I have a couple of such heat sheilds, but mostly I collected refrigerator doors to use to cover my firewood stacks. Around here though you don't see them too much anymore as the electric company will give you $50 or a refrigerator when you buy a new energy efficient one, they come and pikc up the old one and you get a check in the mail.

old · Nov 29, 2016

This is just for reference to light up paper it takes 451F degrees to start it burning. So as long as the bricks say cooler then that there is almost no chance you can start a fire since wood does not start burning as easy as paper.

flying belgian · Nov 29, 2016

Would the simple solution be to move the stove away from the wall another couple feet? If you don't use a fan I would think you would want the stove closer to middle of room anyway. All the heat trapped in your brick, cement, etc. is not being enjoyed for your comfort.

BarnyardEngineering · Nov 29, 2016

The house I grew up in has been heated by wood stove for over 40 years. The walls behind the stove have a thin decorative brick applique about 1" thick directly on the drywall.

Those bricks get hot, too hot to touch, but the average human threshold of pain is 130 Farenheit. That's nowhere near the ignition point of wood, paper, brick, or gypsum.

Get yourself a non-contact infrared thermometer and see how hot those bricks are REALLY getting.

If you have a full thickness of brick and 1" of concrete between it and the drywall, you are in no danger.

Bob Harvey · Nov 29, 2016

Hey ! I've got one of those thermal fans too. Sucker is 20 + years old and still works fine.

guido · Nov 29, 2016

Hello 37chief

You did it right the first time! The air space behind the wall would not get hot enough to be a concern.

Now you need to check the wall temp!

Guido.

Geo-TH,In · Nov 29, 2016

Stan,
I bought a IR thermometer from HF. I used it when working on a twin cylinder air cooled engine. It confirmed one cylinder was 200 degrees cooler.

Get a IR thermometer measure brick and well behind brick. Paper begins to burn at 454, I think.

TomH in PA · Nov 29, 2016

I have a piece of concrete board (that has ceramic tile mortared to it) behind my stove; it's attached to the wall with spacers so air can circulate behind it. The tile never gets more than warm to the touch, but my stove also came with a heat shield on the back which I left in place.

I'd replace your solid brick wall with one that allows air to flow behind it.

JBDyer · Nov 29, 2016

Just a thought, you could fill the gap with ceiling tiles, just cut to fit. The 2' x 4' acoustic tiles that just about every commercial building in the US has in their suspended ceiling. I believe they are pretty fireproof, cheap and every hardware store has them.

Goose · Nov 29, 2016

What are the stove manufacturer's recommendations for installation? As someone else said, if anything bad happens, the first thing your insurance company is going to do is compare the actual installation with what the manufacturer recommended.

Brick wall behind my stove

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