Hearthstone Gas Fire

[chamois]

My daughter recently purchased a property that has a Hearthstone Tucson DV free standing natural (mains) gas fire fitted in the living room. The fire's four legs stand on a tiled panel with the vent pipe rising out of the top and angled at 45 degrees so the pipe travels out through the housewall - the property is semi-detached.

I can find very little information on the fire on the internet other than the manufacturer is in Vermont in the USA. The model is shown in a downloadable online catalogue that they produce but it's not a current model. The "DV" means it's a direct vented model. There appears to be no Hearthstone dealers in the UK.

The fire is controlled by a mechanical thermostat manufactured by Hearthstone. It has an on/off override lever at the top of the case and a small lever accessible from the face that you are meant to push left or right to alter the temperature that the fire comes on. There's a temperature scale above lever slot. The inside of the thermostat has a large helical metal spring similar to a clock spring, that takes up most of the inside of the case. Three terminals are visible, two of which I think are attached to the spring and a lever arm. A 50mm wide length of plastic trunking takes whatever wires are attached to the thermostat back to the fire, about 12 metres away.

My daughter wants to redecorate the room and hates the trunking. I'd like to know if the mechanical thermostat described can be replaced with a wireless digital programmable one. I'm having difficulty finding anything suitable as most types seem to be for combi boilers/central heating. Hearthstone seemed to have something suitable a while ago but I'm really looking for something I can buy in the UK to do the job. The only thing that the thermostat need to control is the fire itself.

Could you offer some advice please as to what she needs please.

Thank you.

[chamois]

I would add that I've no intention of tampering with the fire itself or the connections inside as they are way beyond my ability and understanding. I just want to replace the current thermostat with a digital wireless model.

[The Builder]

As I understand this, you have two possible ways to go, Chamois.

One is to simply have the trunking removed, and the cables channelled into the wall, then plastered over and decorated.
Initially messy, but it's something that's done all the time. Any builder/handyman could manage this. Since the connections are not interfered with, it wouldn't need an electrician.

The other option is to call in a proper Heating Engineer, one who can handle the electrical work as well.
I'm assuming that the thermostat is a simple electro-mechanical type (the "spring" is just a switch that turns on or off depending on the temperature..... but this would have to be verified.)

Any simple thermostatic switch can easily be replaced by a normal wireless type. The trick would be to fit a "receiver" at the fireplace end, with whatever is needed to operate the controls.

Don't call in a plumber. You need someone used to complete heating installations, to figure out how it's all set up.

[chamois]

Thank you The Builder. Sorry for the late reply.

I have wondered if the Hearthstone thermostat could be replaced by one of those Honeywell thermostats with a temperature dial on the face as they are reasonably inexpensive, obviously after resiting the new thermostat elsewhere in the room by taking the wires out of the trunking and possibly clipping to the skirting boards. The problem is I'm not certain if the Hearthstone one could be replaced by a Honeywell type. In turn, I then thought that if a dial type Honeywell one would work, why not some sort of Honeywell wireless model? Sorry, just thinking out loud here.
Thank you again.

[fender62]

i would ask your question here as well, very helpful site.
https://thediyforum.co.uk/forum/17-plumbing-amp-heating/