Best small wood inserts?

Maybe look at the PE Vista.

If you lack chamber depth but have some hearth space, Regency has a hearth heater, I think the model number is something like 2200 or 2300. It is steel, a nice unit, but firebox is not real big at 1.6 cu ft.

The bigger the better, but I would not go without the blower. Most of the heat will be trapped in the fireplace without it.

I just put in an insert and had minimal hearth size too - the only reason I didn't get a hearth stove was because we wanted to save floor space in the room. If you have the room, I think a small stove would be a better heater, as it has more exposure to the room, therefore more radiant heat.

That said, I like our Jotul Kennebec, it needs min 12 3/4" depth, but the reduced depth can make the hookup tight, as the more it is exposed to the room, the more likely the damper and lintel of the fireplace will get in the way. We had to cut steel and brick to get it in.

As for what to focus on - I went for looks, and exposed steel to get the most radiant heat. - I like to play with fire, so reloading often doesn't bug me, but I doubt I'll be getting any 8 hour overnight burns.

If you can afford the floor space - think hearth stove IMHO.

Based on our experience with the Regency hearth stove, get the blower if it is an option. The Regency is designed for convective operation and the blower is almost essential. In addition as someone mentioned above, if any part of the stove is within the fireplace cavity, you get no radiant heat from that part of the stove.

There are some other options for hearth mounted stoves. Hearthstone makes a stove with a rear exit pipe that is quite low, and one of the Jotul cast iron stoves has a low pipe and short legs that looks like it would do well on the hearth. These are both radiant stoves.

I'd like to give the Avalon Rainer and Lopi Revere shoutouts. They are almost hearth stoves in that they only have a depth of about 10" into the fireplace, and sit out about as much on the hearth. Their fieboxes are 1.8cf and 2.2 cf respectively and you can dress them up with different doors and glass etchings. I too have a small fireplace and the combination of an arched opening with a steeply angled firebox limited my choices and my Rainer fits nicely and does a great job at heating my 1800 sq ft splitlevel.

i have a QF 2100i and it heats my 1300 sq ft house very well - i do wish i could find a blower for it but i added a muffin fan to it and i have a floor fan on the other side blowing the air around the insert and it seems to work very well

here's a sample picture

Steve that looks likes the 3100 ,are sure thats the 2100?

just did a google search

here's an actual picture of mine and you can see the muffin fan on the left side

We had a 2100i in our last house with a zero clearance fire place.
Too bad they don't make them anymore.
Our 2700i can fit in a pretty small space and doesn't take much room.
I really miss the fore and aft loading though.

thanks I have the 3100 they are very similar looking.

BUWAHAHAHAHA.......................I thought the thread was titled Best small wood insects!! LOL

I'll second the suggestion of the Pacific Energy Vista insert. We have a very small masonary fireplace, limited depth. The Vista was one of the few inserts that would fit (didn't have the floor space for a hearth stove). It is easy to use, comes with a standard blower, and really cranks out the heat. It keeps the 950 sf first floor of our colonial nice and warm and we get some heat upstairs too (still working on fan arrangements. PE stoves have a good reputation and a lifetime warranty. If you get the optional gold door and trim, it looks pretty stylish too!

We have a PE Vista insert. Our house is just under 1,500 sq. ft. and at this point in time it heats our home to a very comfortable temperature. Granted, we're not in the throes of winter, but it will definitely do the job as supplementary heat at that time. We had a Heatilator fireplace, which limited our insert size. After doing extensive research we decided on Pacific Energy. It got excellent reviews, fits in our limited space, looks good, and the price was reasonable. Since it's a small unit it won't really hold an overnight burn (no matter how much you damper it down), but there's a good bed of coals in the morning for easy start-up.

PE Vista insert
Stihl and Echo chainsaws
7 acres of wooded bliss