Potential for huge fireplace insert or stove, but is flue an issue? Need advice

Hi and thanks in advance for the advice!

I grew up heating with wood in a home-made stove and a russian fireplace. Now I own a 1940's era house in Frederick, Maryland with a heat pump, oil furnace, HUGE fireplace, and an equally HUGE oil heating bill each winter. We want a fireplace insert (or stove?) to help relieve some of the oil heating bill, and because we enjoy having a fire. Despite spending what seems like my entire childhood cutting, splitting and stacking firewood, it seems I know little to nothing about modern fireplace inserts and best practices, so please help me!

Location - the fireplace is in a large (about 700sf) family room/kitchen open area. It is very poorly insulated and has a huge old leaky bay window in one wall - those are separate issues I am working slowly to resolve.

Complicating factor #1 - It's a huge fireplace, brick opening is 54" wide by 31.5" high and 22" deep at the floor, tapering in at the back and top. The hearth extends about 25" out in front of the fireplace surface.

Complicating factor #2 - It has a built in shutter-opening damper (see other picture) that looks like it could limit the ability to put a traditional type of stove pipe chimney up through it. I am not aware if this is a common obstacle and if there is some technology to deal with this issue.

Complicating issue #3 - My daughter has cystic fibrosis and it is critical that we keep our living area almost completely smoke-free. We want a unit that we can burn regularly, see the fire through glass, but tightly control any fugitive smoke emissions.

We want high efficiency. Obviously the budget for this is limited. We would like to ideally re-face the brick with a stone veneer, and maybe at the same time we could reduce the fireplace size, but not sure we will be able to do that at present.

Thoughts on a best approach? Thanks!

Owen1508 said:

Based on your last requirement...are you dead set on wood or have you considered a pellet unit?

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Not completely closed to the idea, and I like some of its advantages, but probably prefer a wood burning insert.

EatenByLimestone said:

How tall is your chimney and do you know it's dimensions?

I'd be looking for a stand alone stove that would fit the opening. That's a beautiful hearth you have there.

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Can I ask why? What's the advantage of a stand alone stove?

The chimney is a single story.about 15 feet tall. Here is a picture:

Andy S. said:

Unlike the others, I think that hearth begs for my dream fireplace insert. http://www.osburn-mfg.com/en/heaters/2200ib-2200-wood-insert

My little prefab fireplace really limited my options. Whatever you decide, best of luck and start stacking last year.

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I think I have to agree, that is the look that we were hoping to go for. If an insert and a free standing stove are similar in heating efficiency, I think we would like to stick with a projecting insert.

Is it possible to go TOO large with the firebox? Too many btus? The bigger the firebox, the more firewood you are going to eat through, right? The area we will heat is about 700 sf (though poorly insulated), and I would love it to heat more of the house but the heat would have to be thrown through a doorway 30 feet away, can't imagine that's gonna happen.

Woody Stover said:

How tall is your chimney? With decent chimney height and a liner, you should have good draft and no smoke should ever escape, depending on the design of the stove. As mentioned, a bypass is good insurance. A grated ash-handling system will cut the amount of ash dust escaping to almost zero.

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I posted a pic above, it's only about 15' tall so a draft has occasionally been a problem with it. So a bypass and a grated ash-handling system are features I should be looking for in whatever unit I buy?