thinking of new insert

[husky455rancher]

i dunno if im gonna do anythign but im kicking it around. i have a dutchwest fireplace insert. my house is a bit over 1200sqft. i heat the house 100% with this insert. now its a decent stove it throws alot of heat but unless the wood is great and i mean prime wood i have a hard time keeping the temps up in the house. also the burn time is crap with this stove. but i think i paid 1200 for it new 3 years ago.

anyone know of a insert i could pick up that would be a good improvement over my dutchwest and not break the bank?

i dunno if i would want a cat stove or not seems more hassle than its worth. then after years theres a question of parts availibility. thanks guys, Mike

 

[adamc]

Mike,

I have a Fireplacextrordinair 33 Elite. My house is also about 1200sf and is a dormered cape, and I heat my house almost exclusively with the insert.

When I first chose this insert, the fact that it had one of the largest fire boxes and longest burn times that would fit it in my space was attractive. It accepts 24" pieces of wood, though you can't fit many at this length. It is rated for 12 hour burn time, but I the best I can get is about 8-9 hours with prime wood (white oak).

To clarify better, that 8-9 hours is to actually still have some stuff burning. I can get up to 12 hours with enough coals to put out a little bit of heat. With lesser quality wood, I can still get up 8 hours later and still have plenty of coals to just stoke it a bit and throw in more wood to perk it back up. Clearly, all insert makers ratings for burn times are unrealistic.

The 33 elite does require a pretty big fireplace opening, so measure carefully. I think list is right around $2K for this insert, but I got mine 20% off last fall.

www.********** has a ratings section that I found very helpful.

Hope this helps.

Adam

 

[psych038]

hard to go wrong with a buck insert. get a catalytic model. they are more effeciant and burn the creasote out. my parents have had theirs for prob 20 years and it has worked perfect. its about half the size of my blaze king, makes a little more heat and uses about half the wood. could still get a glass and other parts from buck last winter. (only thing to ever be replaced was the glass cause it got broke on a log)

 

[DonB]

Mike,

I don't know if you can even get one anymore but I'll tell you what a 20 year old straight pipe Hawke insert will do. This is the only heat we use.

Different house, different climate. House is twice as big and on the Gulf Coast. It's 2x6 framed with double brick veneer, no windows on the east and west gable ends which are bricked all the way to the roof. It's insulated out the wazoo including all interior walls and sits on a 15" insulated slab with 8" of slab under the sunken living room. The main ceilings are modestly vaulted and it's a fairly open floor plan. It's completely shaded on all quadrants with live oak, red oak, sawtooth oak, water oak, green ash, pecan and red cedar. Zero solar gain for cheapest cooling. The only wall that ever sees the sun is the east wall and that's only after mid-winter when green ash and pecan finally drop leaves. Basically, it's an above ground cave.

This Hawke insert is framed into a 3'x4' hole in a ceiling height, 8' wide brick fireplace with heavy steel plate surrounds. It has a variable speed blower system and will accept 22" wood. I burn only oak with the exception of one large cherry tree I harvested about 8 years ago. It doesn't matter if the wood is seasoned or green. Anything I throw in it burns like a champ and I don't use that much. I can't tell you exactly how much but I can tell you that during a typical serious deep winter cold snap that lasts four days with nights in the teens and days in the 30's, I won't go through a fully loaded 4 ft³ wheelbarrow of wood. It's dirt simple to keep the house very warm. When it's cold I'll feed it maybe four times a day and easily maintain 76° or better. If I'm lazy about loading it completely full on a cold night or go to bed really early, it may go down to 72° by morning at the end of the house furthest away from the stove. As long as the doors are left open, all rooms are nicely heated. The only time I can fully open the intakes and let 'er rip with high blower speed is on beastly cold/windy nights when it feels like the only thing between us and the north pole is a barbed wire fence.

I don't remember what this insert cost but it was fairly pricey back in the day. If you can still find one, it's the heater from hell.

 

[Blowncrewcab]

hard to go wrong with a buck insert. get a catalytic model. they are more effeciant and burn the creasote out. my parents have had theirs for prob 20 years and it has worked perfect. its about half the size of my blaze king, makes a little more heat and uses about half the wood. could still get a glass and other parts from buck last winter. (only thing to ever be replaced was the glass cause it got broke on a log)

I have a Buck model 27,000, if it ever failed I'd get another. I can go to bed after filling it with 6/8 pieces of oak and 8+ hours later theres enough coals left to start it up again. it doesn't have glass doors but I don't care.