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27
ENCLOSING the FIREPLACE
Element4 Gas Fireplaces
European
Home
.com
BUILDING THE ENCLOSURE
A safe installation of your Element4 fireplace requires that four things be clearly understood.
1. Most important, these fireplaces are NOT zero-clearance fireplaces. Unlike zero-clearance fireplaces, there is not a metal box
around the Element4 fireplaces. With no metal box there are no louvers to distract your view of the fire. However, we want the
cooling advantage of a metal box so your site-built, non-combustible enclosure will substitute.
2. Your fireplace enclosure must be made to
act
the way a metal fireplace box acts - letting room air in below and warm
convection air out above. The framing cannot interfere with the air flow. The
Room Air Inlet
is part of the fireplace and cannot
be changed or adjusted. The convection air outlet is part of your enclosure design, is provided by you and MUST be included.
Note!
The convection air outlet must be installed in the same room as the fireplace or a space which ALWAYS flows air into the room
in which the fireplace is installed. The flow of convection air must NOT be blocked.
3. Since these are not zero-clearance fireplaces, the clearances and dimensions listed in the
CLEARANCES
section MUST be
maintained. Only the non-combustible wall, the mounting brackets and the venting may touch the fireplace. As previously
stated,
NOTHING
may be built closer than 2”/50
mm
to the non-glass sides.
4. The controls will be mounted to your enclosure and below the burner. The controls are at the end of a 50”/1270
mm
line set
and are to be mounted to the Wall Access Door which is included. The controls must be located for ease of physical access
(gas line, maintenance, etc.) as well as wireless signal (remote control) access. See the
LOCATING THE CONTROLS
and the
MOUNTING THE
CONTROLS
sections.
The combination of multiple glass sides and no zero-clearance box makes for a non-typical enclosure project. It may seem
straightforward to build the ‘rough opening’, set the fireplace then attach the wall. However,
for most projects
, it will be easier to
first set the fireplace in position then enclose it with Skamol Skamotec® or Promat
PROMAFOUR®
building board.
REDUCED CLEARANCE TO EXISTING COMBUSTIBLE WALLS
When retrofitting the fireplace against an existing wall it is often desirable to reduce the distance between the fireplace and the
combustible wall. Normally, this distance is 11”/280
mm
but it may be reduced by shielding the existing finished wall with a 1” air gap
and a sheet of non-combustible material as shown on the following page.
IN ALL CASES:
• A reduced clearance shield is ONLY ALLOWED ON A VERTICAL WALL; IT IS NOT ALLOWED TO BE USED ON OTHER SURFACES WITHIN
THE NON-COMBUSTIBLE ZONE.
• The shield shall be placed no closer than 1”/25 mm to the floor or any intersecting walls. Air MUST be allowed to continually
circulate around all sides of the wall shield.
• A 1”/25 mm air gap between the wall shield and the existing wall MUST be maintained.
• A 2”/50 mm air gap between the wall shield and the fireplace MUST be maintained.