looking for a new insert

[nomak]

well starting to finally get some recovery going on my house fire I had a few weeks ago and I need to start looking for a new fireplace insert. I used to have a regncy model I1200 small size insert. I paid for new 6"diameter stainless steel pipe and new insert with blower as well as labor for installation around 3400 dollars. I am wanting to put a medium size insert back in its place since the opening has to be torn all out and built back to suit what ever size insert I choose to go with. I was wondering what kinda prices I can get a good stove for and im willing to throw down some money of my own with the insurance money to get a good and safe burning stove. I just have to find a local dealer and installer becuase Im not going back with the people who installed the regency even though it did a good job it just struggled to keep it 70 on any day below 25 degrees outside.it was only a 55,000 BTU meant for only 1000 sq ft home. I have about 1500sq ft to heat..maybe little more but no more than 200 I know that for sure.. just have high ceilings in my house. thanks..

 

[PA Plumber]

I'm sure a search would turn up some good info, but I've also been considering throwing an insert into our fireplace.

We have a Pacific Energy Summit freestanding stove in the basement.
It's currently 27° F outside, 94° F in the basement and 71° F on the first floor.
When the outside temps get below 25° F, we can only keep it 67° on the first floor, at best.

I am considering a Pacific Energy Summit insert, but wonder if there might be some pretty good cat stoves out there.

Planning to put in the largest stove we can.
Figured it would be nice to have the heat output when/if we need it.

 

[RAG66]

Lennox hearth products, Country 210 or 260. I own the 210, it is a good unit, well built very basic. I have owned 3 Country stoves in the past and the are good heaters. The units I have owned are as follows S160 free standing, 310 insert which is the biggest they make, and the 210 insert. I just recently helped convince a good friend to by the 260 insert and he is absolutly happy as well...

 

[saxman]

I had a Lennox Country 310 insert installed last October in my house and have been really pleased with its performance. They are very well built and have secondary combustion tubes above the firebox so they do not have catalytic converters. I would definately check out Lennox Hearth Products website and see if you have a dealer nearby to inspect them in person

Steve

 

[Richard_]

I am considering a Pacific Energy Summit insert, but wonder if there might be some pretty good cat stoves out there.

Planning to put in the largest stove we can.
Figured it would be nice to have the heat output when/if we need it.

I am a fan of PE , I have a pacific insert , it works great for our weather here , as far as a cat stove , check out Blaze King

 

[dingeryote]

If everything has to be ripped out, and a new chase built etc. why not go with a dedicated fireplace?

http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/7100-Wood-Fireplace.aspx

Ours is roasting me out right now.

Zero problems, no complaints.
Price was high, but we would make the same choice if we were to do it all again.

Take a look at the firebox specs when shopping, and figure that sooner or later you will have access to some free wood like poplar or silver maple.
With a larger firebox, you can run the stuff and still keep the hootch toasty.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[hammercore]

i'm pretty happy with our hampton hi300. Our house is a 2 story and about 1800 sq.ft. with plenty of leaky windows. It keeps the house comfortable if we're home to feed it, the thermostat usually reads 67/68 and its located on the oppisite side of the house as the insert. We've been burning most junk wood like cottonwood and silver maple, just starting to get into the birch. The last few nights have been below zero.

i did come across a soapstone insert the other day (sorry i forgot what brand/website it was on) they claim a 10 hr burn time with 16 hrs of radiant heat from the insert. The dimensions were pretty damn close to those of the hampton hi300

 

[Ironworker]

I own a Lopi Freedom with a blower and use it to heat 2700sq. ft., outside it was 20 when I woke up this morning and upstairs it was 68, downstairs 70, I also have my kids playroom which I keep closed overnight but open it in the morning adding another 400 sq. ft. and that room gets right up to about 65.

 

[sly13]

I have a Lopi Revere with a blower and it keeps our old house comfortable. Easy to use pretty basic. Was my Mom and Dads for years, mine now for 7-8 years. Few cracked fire brick, and a little maintenance, that's it. Never posted on your other thread just kept track of the situation. Glad you guys are safe and everything is working out for you. Scott

 

[nomak]

If everything has to be ripped out, and a new chase built etc. why not go with a dedicated fireplace?

http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/7100-Wood-Fireplace.aspx

Ours is roasting me out right now.

Zero problems, no complaints.
Price was high, but we would make the same choice if we were to do it all again.

Take a look at the firebox specs when shopping, and figure that sooner or later you will have access to some free wood like poplar or silver maple.
With a larger firebox, you can run the stuff and still keep the hootch toasty.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

are u saying that you cant burn silver maple or poplar in a regular fireplace insert or stove>?? got me confused or are u saying with the larger fire box I can load it up with more of the maple and poplar than I can with a smaller box and get more burn time with it..

 

[wdchuck]

Low btu hardwoods are less dense so it requires more volumn of wood to get a similar heat output as a denser wood like oak or hickory.

Larger firebox or fireplace makes allowances for that greater volumn.

 

[Wife'nHubby]

nomak - Glad to hear things are coming around for you. There are a lot of options out there for you considering you are rebuilding. One thing going against you is the exterior chase. Exterior chases are typically harder to get warm, keep warm. If there is anyway to reconfigure your home to have your chase on an interior wall it will help with wood heating needs.

As far as an insert: Personally we went with a free standing wood stove (Jotul Oslo) as a hearth mount in our masonry fireplace. We could have gone with an insert - but - I am not a fan of 'fans' in my immediate living area and it seems almost every insert requires a fan to get the heat out from behind the insert into the room. So, I am biased and would suggest you not limit yourself looking at inserts.

If you do look at woodstoves, the ones I am familiar with, and there are more, which have larger fireboxes are the Blaze King, Jotul Firelight, Hearthstone Mansfield (a soapstone stove).

One tip that was passed along to us way at the beginning of our purchase quest was take the manufacturers rated btu's and subtract 25% to find what stove will work for you. It worked well in our case as our Jotul Oslo is rated for 2,000 sq ft and we only heat 1,500 sq ft of our 1,700 sq ft home in the winter. We are well pleased with our Oslo for our heating needs.

EDIT TO ADD: We also insulated our 6" SS interior liner - more for fire protection than any other reason. If using an exterior chase an insulated liner is the way to go.

Shari

 

[dingeryote]

are u saying that you cant burn silver maple or poplar in a regular fireplace insert or stove>?? got me confused or are u saying with the larger fire box I can load it up with more of the maple and poplar than I can with a smaller box and get more burn time with it..

I'm sayin' that with a large enough firebox, you can pack enough in thier to get almost an overnight burn using stuff like Poplar and silver maple.

Stay safe!
Dingeroyte

 

[Wife'nHubby]

I'm sayin' that with a large enough firebox, you can pack enough in thier to get almost an overnight burn using stuff like Poplar and silver maple.

Stay safe!
Dingeroyte

Yup - & rule of thumb is 2+ cu ft firebox gets you an overnight burn. Now, that phrase 'overnight burn' has lots of meaning for different folks. Some people assume that means 'active flame' whereas it actually means 'enough coals to start a fire the next morning".

Shari

 

[nomak]

If everything has to be ripped out, and a new chase built etc. why not go with a dedicated fireplace?

http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/7100-Wood-Fireplace.aspx

Ours is roasting me out right now.

Zero problems, no complaints.
Price was high, but we would make the same choice if we were to do it all again.

Take a look at the firebox specs when shopping, and figure that sooner or later you will have access to some free wood like poplar or silver maple.
With a larger firebox, you can run the stuff and still keep the hootch toasty.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

checked out the quadra fire and saw some of the prices.. they are pricey and I do like them but I dont know if its gonna be in the budget with the insurance money and I would definately throw money down to make up for the rest of difference but the economy kicked me where it counts for about a yr and half and now Im working again trying to save my money to help in getting a better fireplace or insert.. but I definately want at least a 1500 sq ft with at least 60,000 btus or more..are there any budget fireplaces that have a door on them like this one that are a good name brand. and I did find a lopi dealer and a quadra fire dealer within 60 miles of my home.. they also had some other brands they sold but cant remeber the names with out going back to check them out..another conern of mine is having the blower vents on the sides instead of like my old insert it had a blower attachment that snapped on to a ledge hanging out from bottom of insert with about 5 inches clearance from my hearth stones..almost didnt fit..but I guess since im tearing out I could always raise it a few more inches if need be.. but I definately want to go with the next size up than what I had..want a medium size now instead of a small.. thanks again..

 

[nomak]

ok now I found a couple more fireplace retailers and installers that are within 30 miles of my home selling both regency and lennox hearth products. so im going to check with them and see what I can find out.. I liked my regency I had but wanted one that heated more sq ft. I dont think it was the fire place that caised the fire so much as it was how it was installed but that is still yet to be determined but the regency was a good adn afordable insert so I may go back with another one but a medium size and make sure its installed with the proper fire safety lining to prevent any future fires from happening again..

 

[lopro]

Yup - & rule of thumb is 2+ cu ft firebox gets you an overnight burn. Now, that phrase 'overnight burn' has lots of meaning for different folks. Some people assume that means 'active flame' whereas it actually means 'enough coals to start a fire the next morning".

Shari

I'd have to agree with that. We just installed a Morso 5660 (insert with a blower) this year. It looks sleek and clean and it sits flush with the walls. The firebox is only about 1.5 cu ft. It means I need to use smaller sized splits to get efficient heat and I have to put the last piece in around 11-11:30 to get a good overnight burn. The stove is rated at 55,000 btu, but the firebox size is the limiting factor.

I still love burning wood in my house, and I'm glad to keep the central heat off most of time (unless I need to take the chill off the kids' rooms upstairs) and if I'm gone most of the day...the wife doesn't really like to keep it cranking like I do. Plus we're down in SC, so to most of you who post here, it doesn't even get cold enough to turn the stove on.

 

[dingeryote]

Nomak,

Ya keep calling it an insert.

The zero clearance fireplaces are stand alone unit's, so your masonry and all that wont have to be redone.
Just puncha hole, frame things up to support it, stuff it in there, run the flue pipe and put a chase around it.
It might be cost effective for you, on account of not having to re-do all the masonry.

As for the blower outlets on the Quad, it's on top and built in, with two gravity outlets on top, and two on the bottom available for remote runs, or they can be blocked off and hidden. We just run with just the primary, because of the layout of the house allows for it.

The lennox line is actually somebody elses and rebadged, I forget who's though. The Monticito and Villa vista were the two we looked at installed and operating. The Villa Vista looked to be the better choice for us untill we got to the Quad with it's bigger firebox and features we liked better for our needs.

On price, make sure to get a TOTAL price for installation and all the details, and let the installer/dealer know what is going on with the claim.
I'll bet they can wiggle some numbers here and there in your favor.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[nomak]

Nomak,

Ya keep calling it an insert.

Dingeryote

lol.. its a habit.. have to start a new one with fireplace now..

 

[nomak]

well talked to my contractor today and found out since I dont have a masonary fireplace and that what I had before was just a plain old firebox to burn in when the house was originally built and that I will have to go back to a insert which is fine by me. Im just ready to have a warm fire to sit by again. but here is what im looking at getting just not sure if the price is affordable. If it is in the right price range though I really like this one..anyone out there know around about what these brand inserts go for are they resonably priced or high dollar.. thanks...

http://www.lennoxhearthproducts.com/products/inserts/performer-c210/