Any wood inserts work well without blower?

Inserts tend to have multiple walls to blow the air into the room from inside a fireplace. That prevents them from being good stand alone stoves.

If you do go the insert route I agree that extending onto the hearth (as opposed to flush mount) is desirable both for day to day operation and during power outages. Another relatively inexpensive accessory would be battery backup. I have one for my set up. I've forgotten how long it will run the fans but it was several hours. Size one according to your expected needs. I did go an extended period of time w/o power after one of our recent hurricanes and was re-charging the battery back up with the generator while running the fridge and hot water heater then running house lights off the battery back up while the generator was off. Worked out quite well.

Look into the Kuma line of stoves. I was going to purchase a sequoia insert but decided to get a free standing sequoia for a basement install. Haven't needed a blower at all due to the natural convection that circulates the heat well. If you don't want a large insert like the sequoia check out their aspen model.

My PE insert was next to useless without the blower. I'd not let this be a limiting factor in your selection. Get a medium sized AGM battery, small inverter, and you're done.

For 530 sqf a small stove should be more than sufficient. As to the 24" height, there are stoves lower than that. What people also opt for is buying a relatively small stove, remove the pedestal and replace that with short legs. See that a lot.

timfromohio said:

My PE insert was next to useless without the blower. I'd not let this be a limiting factor in your selection. Get a medium sized AGM battery, small inverter, and you're done.

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I have the PE Super and run it regularly without the blower on. Any heat that is retained in the fireplace cavity is taken up by the bricks surrounding it and radiates nicely into the house for hours and hours even after the fire is out. Was that fireplace at an exterior wall? You may have lost a lot of heat out the back to the outside.

Rcr72 said:

I'm posting a picture of my fireplace. Although 24" high, it does have a 5" dropoff inside the fireplace. Does that open up any other options?

I'll check those models. Thanks

I'm only trying to heat a 530' home, but it's 7000' elevation and not very good insulation.

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Do you have a masonry flue or is it a metal pipe? What is behind the fireplace?

Grisu said:

I have the PE Super and run it regularly without the blower on. Any heat that is retained in the fireplace cavity is taken up by the bricks surrounding it and radiates nicely into the house for hours and hours even after the fire is out. Was that fireplace at an exterior wall? You may have lost a lot of heat out the back to the outside.

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The other side of the brick chimney was in a garage, so some heat lost, but not like being a true exterior wall. The insert was located in the bottom level of split-level home the front side of which was under ground level, so it was naturally a few degrees cooler than the other levels. All that said, the insert really was next to useless without the blower going. With the blower, it was great (other than the blower noise that we got tired of)

I would consider a pellet stove. It will give you a way more regulated heat output and would not have a problem with a short flue. For that small space you should not need that much.

Rcr72 said:

I've got a small home at 7000 ft elevation, with frequent power outages. Thinking about putting a wood insert in my fireplace.

Does anyone know of any inserts that do well WITHOUT a blower? Given my goal of using this during power outages, I'm trying to find a model/design that's still effective without electricity.

(Yes, I wish I had space for a wood stove, but don't.)

Any thoughts on brands/models that might work?

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We have a Lopi 1750 insert. I think the "insert" name on this one is a bit of a misnomer, as it sits out on the hearth about 10". So it is not a flush insert. It has a cooktop, which is great for power outages (actually, I cook on or in the Lopi nearly every night, even with power!). Although the blower definitely moves the heat, it can run without the blower and still send a lot of heat into the room. We had a power outage last week for about 36 hours. We placed an EcoFan (does not require electric -- heat activated) on top of the Lopi and it moved a lot of heat. After a few hours, it moved enough warm air to the other side of the house (about 50 feet) so that temps were 80 near the stove and 72 on the other end of the house (too hot, but we're still new at this - we often have to open a window). The Lopi heats 1400 sq. ft. easily on 2 loads per day -- loads are maple, oak, and birch, maybe 5-6 splits (firebox 3/4 full). It may overheat your space, depending on insulation, etc.