what is a really good,efficient fireplace insert

[roger m]

i was wondering what would be a good fireplace insert for my parents,i am not knowledgeable on these,i have a hardy owb, my parents had mentioned they was wanting to get an insert for when it gets real cold and i know you AS members will know what is the best,thanks,Roger

 

[ss~zoso~ss]

We have an Osburn, 1600 kinda on the small side, but our house is small and our fireplace was small.

Osburn is a very well built product, it's a Canadian based company that has been around a good while.

Well built, efficient, and if you search around you can get them for a good price!

 

[howard270]

I currently have an Osburn 2400. It will take a 20 inch log if you load side to side and a 16 inch if you load front to back. It is very efficient and completely heats my roughly 2000 square foot house and the attached insulated garage for part of the winter if I place the fans just right. I can easily get 10 hour burn times with mine using a mix of elm and hedge or black locust. Then I just throw in another log and leave the door cracked a bit and have a good fire in a few minutes again.

In my last house I installed a Quadrafire (cannot remember the model but it started with a 3) and I liked it, but do not think it was as efficient as the Osburn I currently have. It heated that house well, since it was a pretty small house. It only took an 16 inch log. I could get 6 to 8 hour burn times using pecan and hedge but that was about the limits of the useful heat. Still had a good bed of coals to get the next log going though.

 

[Fyrebug]

We make the Osburn brand among various others. Thanks for the positive replies.

Before making recommendations, can you post the size of the fireplace this unit will go into? Pics are always helpful.

As a rule of thumb you want to put in the biggest insert that will fit into the opening.

 

[MN Ripper]

I've had the Blazeking Princess insert in our upstairs fireplace and its a beast of its own. We use it when it gets real cold out because it gets the house way to hot otherwise even on low burn.

The majority source of heat comes from a freestanding Drolet Escape 1800 made by SBI (like Osburn, Enerzone) which I have in the basement. It'll heat both floors above 70°F very well till it gets below 15°F and for the price, build quality, efficiency & ease of operation it was one of my better buys in life. So I would guess there inserts would be comparable.

I liked the Pacific Energy line too when we shopped for our insert.

 

[Richard_]

check out Pacific Energy , best bang for the buck imo