Thinking about switching from cord to pellets..

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scottgen20

Member
Feb 15, 2006
75
Lower Saucon, PA
Hi Everyone,

Hope you're all keeping warm! Here is my deal.. I have a log house that was built in 1750, about 950sq ft and is pretty much a sieve. I'm planning on wrapping and residing sometime in the near future, and would also like to deal with my windows.

In the meantime.. I have a fieldstone fireplace with a really wide lintel - which has previously made my choice of woodstoves/inserts very limited. I settled on a JotulF100 a few years ago. It is a good little stove and can really put out the heat.. Warming my living room up into the 70's with no problem. The problem - it's too small and unless I'm on top of it, if I leave the house for a few hours and the fire goes out, the temp drops pretty rapidly. Half night burns are about all I get.

Another problem (my fault, totally), is that I have a hard time keeping up with my wood supply. I have good intentions, but always procrastinate and wind up with less than seasoned wood.. This obviously makes it doubly hard, especially with such a small stove.

So.. I recently realized that I could get a nice looking pellet insert to fit into my fireplace with no problems.. My firebox is still small, so I am limited, but not as limited as I would be with a regular wood insert. That being said, my firebox dimensions are 24H x 29W. Depth is not a problem, it's a cavern, plenty of space.

Pellets would make more sense for me since I'd only have to deal with the daily cleaning and buying pellets. I also like the idea of a blower to move some of that heat around.

I've been doing a bit of online research and also have visited a few local dealers. I saw the Quadrafire Castile which I liked a lot. I also know that Quadrafire has a good reputation (at least for wood stoves), although as I've also been reading, pellet stoves seem to have their fair share of problems.

I also saw an Enviro Empress which I also liked, but when looking online, it seemed to get less than steller reliability reviews.

I'm thinking about this for next season, as it's already late and this winter hasnt been too bad so far. I'm guessing prices will come down in the Spring and Summer.. That is unless there is some great end of season promotion.. My local dealer is selling the Quad Castiles for between $2700-3K. I see that Quad has a $300 coupon, so if the dealer honors it, that might be a good price.. Not sure if they'll be lower in Spring/Summer.

Anyone have any favorite inserts that they'd recommend?

Thanks everyone - I do appreciate it!
Scott
 
Thanks.. I have thought about a Mt Vernon.. Nice big stove.. I "might" be able to squeeze it into my fireplace opening with a bit of chipping of non-structural facing. How far does the Vernon protrude out onto the hearth?

Thanks!
 
if you go to quadrafire.com you can pull a manual with all the dimensions.
 
If you get a pellet stove, keep your exisiting stove as & where it's at and use both - you can vent pellets almost anywhere.

There is nothing like diversification & redundancy when it comes to heating.

JMO.
 
Thanks Daves... I pulled down the manual. I don't think the Mt Vernon will work for me, as it protrudes out onto the hearth too far. I would need extra floor protection to meet the 6" requirement and I've got a narrow room.
 
Might want to check out other multifuelers. Pellets might get crazy here in a bit. Just saying. Harman's can handle higher ash fuels and the Enviro M55. Also have a look see at some of the St Croix units. I'm kind of type'd out today, But a multiofuel unit does offer more versatility and easier on the cleaning maintenence. Please at least have a look see!
 
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