Morso insert totally inadaquate

gzecc said:

Bigg redd, Is their house also in WA?

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Yes.

Our winters are milder but far wetter and gloomier (14+ hours of dark in the middle of winter). Also, the house is huge and old.

gzecc said:

My friend installed a morso insert without a blower. It is not adequately heating even one room. Do any inserts without fans work?

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My lopi works great without the fan. I do have a fan but its off most of the time.

I have a 1710. It's performance is underwhelming, even when burning well. The small firebox is also a pain re. log size.
It is pretty, though.

My Morso 1710 is fine with properly seasoned hardwood. I keep an oven thermometer on the front and with good fuel it reads 350* to 450* easily and warms my living room to ~74*, with crummy wood I'm lucky to see 250* on the thermometer. It does require frequent loading due to the small firebox, and takes a while to get everything up to temperature because its also heating a large Heatilator fireplace but once its been burning for a while I'll get convection heat from the Heatilator vents too. My Northern NJ ~25'x50' ranch with walkout basement has 1958 era insulation, and oil burner, and my living room has alot of insulated glass as well as NE exposure. This was purchased for supplemental heat and does so quite well, probably not so great as primary heat in cold areas. I keep the rest of the house around 55* with the oil burner and once the Morso has been running a while it'll keep the living room toasty and the back same level/upstairs bedroom around 62* (I think...)

Update: I've been playing with a fan directed under the front of the 1710 and it certainly helps...but yes I think this stove isn't adequate for primary heat. I came home to a 55* house and have the stove running about 2 hours now with the fan running sporadically the living room is 64* after about two hours of burning. I put a proper stove thermometer w/magnet on the front of the stove and its reading 550*. I'm not terribly dissapointed as it was purchased for supplemental heat but now I'm wondering about a primary heater for downstairs...I know I'm losing heat through my ceiling and I figure I burn about 250 gallons of fuel oil a month for both heat and hot water in the winter...250 gal x 139000 btu/gal / 30 days x 24 hours/day is roughly 48Kbtu per hour...increase that for efficiency/losses and I'm thinking about a 60K btu heater...seems too big, atleast too big to be near.

NJPyro said:

Update: I've been playing with a fan directed under the front of the 1710 and it certainly helps...but yes I think this stove isn't adequate for primary heat. I came home to a 55* house and have the stove running about 2 hours now with the fan running sporadically the living room is 64* after about two hours of burning. I put a proper stove thermometer w/magnet on the front of the stove and its reading 550*. I'm not terribly dissapointed as it was purchased for supplemental heat but now I'm wondering about a primary heater for downstairs...I know I'm losing heat through my ceiling and I figure I burn about 250 gallons of fuel oil a month for both heat and hot water in the winter...250 gal x 139000 btu/gal / 30 days x 24 hours/day is roughly 48Kbtu per hour...increase that for efficiency/losses and I'm thinking about a 60K btu heater...seems too big, atleast too big to be near.

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You should figure your burner is 80% eff, implies more like 38-39 kBTU average, 50k peak should be good.

thats about what this 1710 is rated for...39K btu / 1300 ft^2 which is about my upstairs dimensions, and its not really doing the job...but hopefully with a fan I'll get it working better.

just realized my flue liner is sucking air at the connection to the stove thanks to the 'professional install'. so this would reduce effectiveness I assume(?)...what's the best way to seal this? I don't think I can get the liner lined up properly...are there adjustable adapters? or should I just stuff sealing rope? high temp silicone? furnace cement?

A flush mounted insert without a blower is more a cosmetic appliance than it is a house heater, in my opinion. That morso is kinda small and flush, so it may warm a smallish room fairly well but I don't think it is an efficient or adequate choice for being a primary heater. I know they have that convection chamber but that is not even close to being able to do what a blower does. This is likely another case of the blind leading the blind; inexperienced woodburner goes into a stove shop, assumes the salesman knows what they are talking about, long story short, another unhappy customer with. Sorry to hear it. If it's possible to swap that out and trade up I would do it, if he wants to keep it I would do everything possible to make sure everything else that affects performance is done to the max. Insulated block-off plate, insulated liner, and dry dry dry wood.

NJPyro said:

thats about what this 1710 is rated for...39K btu / 1300 ft^2 which is about my upstairs dimensions, and its not really doing the job...but hopefully with a fan I'll get it working better.

just realized my flue liner is sucking air at the connection to the stove thanks to the 'professional install'. so this would reduce effectiveness I assume(?)...what's the best way to seal this? I don't think I can get the liner lined up properly...are there adjustable adapters? or should I just stuff sealing rope? high temp silicone? furnace cement?

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Can't hurt to cement the gap....

If the rating is 39k, then you will need to keep it going continuously and reload more frequently than you might like to get that output. IF each pound of wood is delivering 5000 BTU ( a conservative figure), then that output would require 8lbs of wood per hour. If you feel like experimenting, you can weigh what you burn over a few cycles. If it much less than 8 lbs/hr, then maybe your eff is aok, and you have a small box with an inflated BTU rating, or just need to pack the wood in tighter or reload more frequently. IF you ARE burning 8lbs/h and not getting close to heating your house (39kBTU/h), then maybe you have a problem that you can fix.

I forget--do you have an insulated block-off plate? Interior or exterior chimney, etc?

the continuing misadventures of noobie woodburner...yet another noob making costly mistakes...I always say I learn my lessons the hard way

its in the middle of three flues of an interior chimney in the main level of a 25'x50' ranch with a walkout basement, inserted into an old Heatilator fireplace, metal firebox with an air space and top/bottom vents in the masonry...SS liner squished to fit through the Heatilator damper and insulation stuffed in around the liner there and also at the top...no insulated blocking plate directly above the stove.

thats helpful though, 5K btu per pound, not sure how they rated this thing at 39K since the manual recommends 3 to 5 lbs per load...I'll get the bathroom scale.

I just saw a UK website saying a 25'x50' space with 8' ceilings would require a 20KW heater which is, if I remember, about 68K btu. Wondering what size heater would work in the walkout basement and also heat the upstairs, long burn time, load it and go about my business for the day...keep the upstairs one for watching...and still be able to use the ~ 15' x 21' room downstairs without getting a sauna treatment. I guess the ranch layout doesn't help either, or the 1958 era insulation.

is there a rule of thumb for average versus rated capacity? or rather, which stoves/mfg's are rated accurately? are they rated by the mfg or by some testing outfit with controlled protocols?

fan seems to be helping but its not too cold today and no wind....