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Encore Woodburning Stove
2000956
Floor Protection for Fireplace Installations
Do not assume that your fireplace hearth is completely
noncombustible.
Many fireplace hearths do not meet the “completely
noncombustible” requirement because the brick or
concrete in front of the fireplace opening is supported
by heavy wood framing. (Fig. 13) Because heat passes
through brick or concrete readily, it can easily pass
through to the wood. As a result, such fireplace hearths
can be a fire hazard and are considered a combustible
floor.
Keep in mind, also, that many raised hearths will extend
less than the required clearance from the front of the
heater when it is installed. In such cases, sufficient
floor protection as described above must be added in
front of the hearth to satisfy the minimum floor protector
requirement from the front of the stove: 16” (406mm)
from the front in the United States and 18” (459mm)
from the front in Canada.
Hearth rugs do not satisfy the requirements for floor
protection.
Fireplace installations also have special clearance
requirements to the side walls, side decorative trim, and
fireplace mantel. This information follows in the section
on Fireplace and Mantel Trim Shields.
ST247
Rear exit floor dgrm
12/14/99 djt
Wood framing requires pro-
tection from radiant heat
ST247e
Fig. 13 Combustible supporting timbers may lie beneath
fireplace hearths, requiring additional floor protection.
Keep the Stove a Safe Distance
from Surrounding Materials
Both a stove and its chimney connector radiate heat in
all directions when operating, and dangerous overheat-
ing of nearby combustible materials can occur if they
are too close to the heat. A safe installation requires
that adequate clearance be maintained between the
hot stove and its connector and nearby combustibles.
Clearance is the distance between either your stove
(measured from the bottom edge of the stove’s top
plate) or chimney connector, and nearby walls, floors,
the ceiling, and any other fixed combustible surface.
Your stove has special clearance requirements that
have been established after careful research and test-
ing to UL and ULC standards. These clearance require-
ments must be strictly observed.
In addition, furnishings and other combustible materi-
als must be kept away from the stove as well. In gen-
eral, a distance of 48” (1219mm) must be maintained
between the stove and moveable combustible items
such as drying clothes, furniture, newspapers, firewood,
etc. Keeping those clearance areas empty assures that
nearby surfaces and objects will not overheat.
Reducing Clearances Safely with Shields
Clearance requirements are established to meet every
installation possibility, and they involve the combination
of four basic variables:
• When the stove and chimney connector have no
listed heat shield mounted on them.
• When the stove and chimney connector have a
listed heat shield mounted on them.
• When the wall has no listed heat shield mounted
on it.
• When the wall has a heat shield mounted on it.
D
E
A
B
A
E
C
ST500
Encore
floor protection
2/23/01
E
F
E
F
U.S. Canada
A. 39” 43” (1092 mm)
B. 44” 48” (1219 mm)
C. 12” 12” (305 mm) 8” Connector
10” 10” (255 mm) 10” Connector
D. 6” 8” (203 mm)
E. 6” 8” (203 mm)
F. 16” 18” (459 mm)
ST500
Fig. 12 Required floor protector dimensions for both top-and
rear-exiting stove.