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bhill1

New Member
Sep 2, 2009
9
Southern Ohio
I am looking for a wood burning insert for my existing fireplace. The dimensions of the firebox are 35"W x 29-1/2"H x 25" D. In the back of the firebox the dimensions are 28"W and 19" H at which point the box slopes up and inward. I have about 34" from the opening of the firebox to the edge of the hearth and 15" from the top of the fireplace to the bottom of the mantle. My fireplace is located in the basement on the north east end of my home and my chimmney is taller than the peak of the roof and is all masonry with a 12" flue liner. I have an open stairway leading to the finished basement in the middle of my house. My home is approximately 1800 square feet not counting the basement which is 2/3 basement and 1/3 crawl space. I would guess the area of the basement is around 600 square feet. I also have about 200-250 square feet of loft as a loft above the main level which is included in the 1800 square feet. I want something that is going to be able to reduce my gas bill and be a source of heat when the power goes out at a minimum. If I could shut off the furnace all together that would be great. Lastly my wife is picky and wants something that is as close to flush with the opening as possible and maintains the look of a fireplace (large glass doors). We also would like as small a surround as possible (she doesn't like the large plain surrounds). So far of the stoves I have looked at she and I like the looks of the Hearthstone Clydesdale and the Jotul 550 insert. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Brandon Hill
 
55 gal drum stove, no Just kidding. any of the name brands, Jotul, Lopi, PE, VC, even the stoves from Lowes are pretty good if they are EPA rated. Something around 3 cu ft fire box. You have to decide on steel or cast. I have a jotul F500 and it is first class. Plan on spending around 22 to 25 hundred for a good stove or insert
 
The steps to buy a stove Brandon are:

1. Go with your wife and look at several stoves.

2. Figure out how much you can spend on a stove and chimney installation.

3. Go online and check out all of the specs for available stoves that will heat the space you need to heat.

4. Spend a few evenings on hearth.com and get impressions from people that own the stoves and other suggested alternative.

5. Go back to the store and buy the stove your wife liked to look at in the first place. :coolsmirk:
 
BrotherBart said:
The steps to buy a stove Brandon are:

1. Go with your wife and look at several stoves.

2. Figure out how much you can spend on a stove and chimney installation.

3. Go online and check out all of the specs for available stoves that will heat the space you need to heat.

4. Spend a few evenings on hearth.com and get impressions from people that own the stoves and other suggested alternative.

5. Go back to the store and buy the stove your wife liked to look at in the first place. :coolsmirk:
Click to expand...

exactly.. truer words have never been spoken, BB..
 
summit said:
BrotherBart said:
The steps to buy a stove Brandon are:

1. Go with your wife and look at several stoves.

2. Figure out how much you can spend on a stove and chimney installation.

3. Go online and check out all of the specs for available stoves that will heat the space you need to heat.

4. Spend a few evenings on hearth.com and get impressions from people that own the stoves and other suggested alternative.

5. Go back to the store and buy the stove your wife liked to look at in the first place. :coolsmirk:
Click to expand...

exactly.. truer words have never been spoken, BB..
Click to expand...

That happened to me also.
 
I am looking for a wood burning insert for my existing fireplace. The dimensions of the firebox are 35"W x30"H x 25” D. In the back of the firebox the dimensions are 28"W and 19” H at which point the box slopes up and inward. I have about 34” from the opening of the firebox to the edge of the hearth and 15” from the top of the fireplace to the bottom of the mantle. My fireplace is located in the basement on the north east end of my home and my chimmney is taller than the peak of the roof and is all masonry with a 12” flue liner. I have an open stairway leading to the finished basement in the middle of my house. My home is approximately 1800 square feet not counting the basement which is 2/3 basement and 1/3 crawl space. I would guess the area of the basement is around 600 square feet. I also have about 200-250 square feet of loft as a loft above the main level which is included in the 1800 square feet. I want something that is going to be able to reduce my gas bill and be a source of heat when the power goes out at a minimum. If I could shut off the furnace all together that would be great. Lastly my wife is picky and wants something that is as close to flush with the opening as possible and maintains the look of a fireplace (large glass doors). We also would like as small a surround as possible (she doesn’t like the large plain surrounds). So far of the stoves I have looked at she and I like the looks of the Hearthstone Clydesdale and the Jotul 550 insert. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...

Sounds you like you exactly what I have for a setup, I have a little more finished basement but upstairs is about the same. I went with a Blaze King Princess but I bought it without my wife knowing what it looked like. I like the flush mount look and so does my wife but I wanted a stove that would throw some heat. We were in the store this summer and she saw the VC Montpelier and said "we should have bought that one" confiming my decision to buy the stove without her present was the right one.
You may get enough heat with one of the flush mounts depending on what your goals are.
 
A couple observations... If you have a 12" flue, you're almost certainly going to want to have an insulated SS liner installed. If you want something that's going to provide meaningful heat during a power outage, you probably don't want a flush mount since they release very little radiant heat.

If you get a large enough insert, you might very well be able to heat everything with it. The Buck Model 91 would be an excellent choice to do this, but it's far from a flush mount stove. The BK Princess insert John mentioned would be a great choice as well, but again, it's not flush. If it must be flush, we hear many good things about the Jotul and Hearthstone produce here, so I'm sure either would be a quality product should you decide to go that direction. You're heating a lot of area, so go with as large of an insert as you can if you want long burn times. Cat inserts (Buck and Blaze King) excel at this, they conserve wood, and can burn lower/longer and more consistently. The BK Princess even has an automatic thermostat, which means you don't have to play around with the air throughout the burn.

Most surrounds sold are fairly generic and made to fit a lot of openings, so they may or may not be large. It wouldn't be hard to have a tin wacker fab up a custom surround for you if you can't find something acceptable.
 
bhill1

You should approach this with an open mind. I too wanted a flush insert for the low profile look but ended up with an insert that sticks out onto the hearth. There are many benefits to having the stove sit out on the hearth. Today's furniture level stoves fit in Living rooms or any room you choose. There have beautiful castings for surrounds that really make the stove look good.

You typically want the stove in your living area. If you spend a lot of time in your basement, great. If not, you may want to re-think about putting the stove on your primary living level.

I wanted the Jotul 550 at first, but it wouldn't fit so I had to look for something else and I'm glad I did.

I hate to disappoint you but you are starting this project at the busiest time of the season. Scheduling an install and stove availability can be tight. Last year at this time it was very difficult, this year may not be so bad.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!
 
You'll want to make sure to consider the size of the area you are heating. With the 30% tax credit available, make sure the stove is EPA certified as thats's money in your pocket as well.
 
Ok, after doing some shopping around and reasearch I have finally been able to talk the wife into a free standing stove. She and I did not like the idea of the blower after hearing a couple in action. We have our choices narrowed down to the Jotul 500, the Harman Oakwood and the Quadrafire Isle Royale. I liked the Isle Royale the best and was pretty well set on buying it until...
I found out you can no longer get the shorter hearth legs (still shown as available on the website). The spec sheet shows that for my installation into an existing fireplace, I need 30"H clearance to get the stove pipe through before going up and through the damper and flue liner. The problem, I only have a 29 1/2"H opening. Any suggestions as to a way to make it work? I was really set on the size and the top loading ability of the Isle Royale and my wife liked the looks in the brown enamel and the double doors. Any suggestions if their is no way to make the Isle Royale work? Thanks

Brandon Hill
 
BJ64 said:
summit said:
BrotherBart said:
The steps to buy a stove Brandon are:

1. Go with your wife and look at several stoves.

2. Figure out how much you can spend on a stove and chimney installation.

3. Go online and check out all of the specs for available stoves that will heat the space you need to heat.

4. Spend a few evenings on hearth.com and get impressions from people that own the stoves and other suggested alternative.

5. Go back to the store and buy the stove your wife liked to look at in the first place. :coolsmirk:
Click to expand...

exactly.. truer words have never been spoken, BB..
Click to expand...

That happened to me also.
Click to expand...

We did the same and she picked the prettiest stove we've ever owned, the F400 in blue-black enamel. I wanted an Oslo, but the side-door was on the wrong side and she thought it 'looked' too big. A year and a half later, we switched to the T6. Not quite as handsome, but during last years snows and power outages it became a close and appreciated friend. Now she likes it too. Easy to start and load and long burns have won her over.
 
bhill1 said:
I am looking for a wood burning insert for my existing fireplace. The dimensions of the firebox are 35"W x 29-1/2"H x 25" D. In the back of the firebox the dimensions are 28"W and 19" H at which point the box slopes up and inward. I have about 34" from the opening of the firebox to the edge of the hearth and 15" from the top of the fireplace to the bottom of the mantle. My fireplace is located in the basement on the north east end of my home and my chimmney is taller than the peak of the roof and is all masonry with a 12" flue liner. I have an open stairway leading to the finished basement in the middle of my house. My home is approximately 1800 square feet not counting the basement which is 2/3 basement and 1/3 crawl space. I would guess the area of the basement is around 600 square feet. I also have about 200-250 square feet of loft as a loft above the main level which is included in the 1800 square feet. I want something that is going to be able to reduce my gas bill and be a source of heat when the power goes out at a minimum. If I could shut off the furnace all together that would be great. Lastly my wife is picky and wants something that is as close to flush with the opening as possible and maintains the look of a fireplace (large glass doors). We also would like as small a surround as possible (she doesn't like the large plain surrounds). So far of the stoves I have looked at she and I like the looks of the Hearthstone Clydesdale and the Jotul 550 insert. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Brandon Hill
Click to expand...

How much do you want to spend?
 
I'm surprised to hear that they are not selling the hearth legs anymore for the IR. They're still advertised as an option on the Quad website. I sent in a question to Quadrafire. Maybe they will respond today.

Did you show her the Hampton HI300 insert in brown enamel? Seems like that might be a reasonable compromise.
 
I will take a look at it but I have pretty much decided on going with a free standing stove at this point. We don't really want to listen to a blower and I don't think it would be nearly as effective at suppling heat when the power goes out as a free stander would be. We are really dissapointed about the Isle Royale. Thanks
 
When you "heard the blower in action" on those couple of inserts were they running full speed? As a general rule I run the blower in my Vista insert at half speed or less and you barely hear it--just a little background white noise. Whe it's really cold I'll run it 2/3 to 3/4 speed and its still not bad. I don't think I've ever run it at full speed--we sit near the stove and it would cook us out! Also, truthfully it is somewhat noisy on full speed, but the point I'm making is that I never need to run it that high.
 
For performance and efficiency and cost and ease of operation it's tuff to beat the PE inserts. Either the Pacific or the Summit should be less than $3000 delivered and installed.
 
bhill, I got a confirmation from Quadrafire that the short legs are not being made any more, too bad. However, if you are considering a Jotul F500 or Oakwood, the Quad Cumberland Gap has the same size firebox and a 28 3/16" flue outlet height for rear exit. Available in the same finish as the IR. Then, there is the hacksaw...
 
Bigg_Redd said:
For performance and efficiency and cost and ease of operation it's tuff to beat the PE inserts. Either the Pacific or the Summit should be less than $3000 delivered and installed.
Click to expand...

If the Pacific and Summit run like the Vista, I completely agree. It kicks out a lot of heat for its size, is frugal with wood, has simple single-lever operation, is very well made, and reasonably priced. You can dress them up with a gold door and surround trim for a little bit more and they look very nice. No, they don't have the cast iron look of a Jotul (when will PE come out with the Alderlea version of its inserts??), but they don't have the price tag, either.
 
That Oslo sure is a good looking stove. ;-)
 
I saw an option listed in the manual for the Isle Royale about a horizontal flue kit. This was also shown as an option for reduced clearance installation. Anyone know exactly what this kit is and if it is still available. Thanks
 
Ok, talked to quadrafire today and they do still have the horizontal flue kit whick will reduce the height by 2". Looks like I will be able to go with the Isle Royale after all. Now I just need to shop around a little and find a fair price. Anyone recently purchased an Isle Royale in an enamel finish? If so what is a fair price. Thanks
 
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