alt.energy.homepower

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:17:18 -0000, truckee rider
< @ > wrote:

>We recently removed an ugly rock-wall from behind our woodstove and
>we're thinking of replacing it with metal (trying to "modern" the
>place up a bit).
>
>One thought I had was to space the metal sheet out from the wall a
>couple inches, from the floor an inch or so, seal the sides and leave
>the top open to increase heat/air flow. The thought is that the metal
>will heat up, heat the air behind it, that air will rise out of the
>top and draw cooler air from the bottom. The intended piece of metal
>will be about 5 feet by 5 feet roughly.
>
>I would think this would make our woodstove more efficient/effective
>than simply allowing the wall to heat up without the benefits of the
>increased air flow.
>
>Any thoughts on this? Any downsides? And is it likely to be more
>efficient or simply just distributing the heat differently?

I had a sheet metal heat shield that I attached to the back of my
barrel stove using bolts and nuts to hold it about an inch from the
stove. The wall in back barely got warm, even when the stove was
going full blast. The only downside was that when I sneezed, the
sheet metal would resonate and make a ringing sound. I rounded the
edges, but a crimper would have made a safer edge to the metal.

I wouldn't consider the thermal mass of the wall you removed
particularly significant, unless it was about a foot thick.