Best wood burning insert during power outage?

Hello,

Which wood burning insert do you think performs the best during power outages? I understand that a blower is a must when it comes to inserts but there are some that convect better than others w/o the fan operating I suppose.

We need to heat ~1500sq/ft two story cabin in California's Sierra Foothills at about 4000ft elevation. The cabin is very well insulated (roof, walls and crawl space).

The local dealers around offer Lopi, Pacific Energy and Quadra Fire. Personally I like, Lopi, wanted to go with Freedom just because of the bigger door (watching the fire is an important wife factor... actually if it was her choice she would go with Declaration... but that's fully flush and must have fan operating).

Thank you!

- George

I have the Freedom. I installed it last winter, it threw pretty good heat without the fan. It is in the dinning room, I wanted to be able to run it without over heating the room so I installed the flush kit. With the flush kit it doesn't heat near as well without the fan, and this is what I wanted. We don't use it that much, the BKing runs all the time. A flush insert won't perform near as well without power. I would recommend the Lopi 1750, especially if you already like Lopi. It has a very large top, very easy to cook on and throws great heat without power.

By insert, do you mean insert into an existing masonry fireplace or a ZC insert into new construction?

Check the manuals and it will tell you if it requires the fan to be run during operation. I would think that whichever one you choose at least a third of the firebox should extend out past the surround. I looked at the Quads and it seemed that they had a very wide but shallow box that I didn't care for. Moral is to look at all of them and imagine the functionality of trying to load wood in them.

I recommend a small generator to keep essentials up during the power outage. Extension cords work well. Somehow I ended up with four generators over the years. The neighbors love me cause I lend them out when the power goes out.

I have a Lopi Freedom and was surprised how well it heated my 3200 sq. ft. home without the blower on, lately I have been keeping the blower really low or shutting it off it it seems to do the job just fine even with outside temps in the 30's to low 40's. It really gives off alot of heat with it protruding about 8".

HF has a coupon for their cheap 800Watt 2-stroke generators now, that makes it $99. That size is perfect for running a wood stove fan and another fan, or a small TV and the woodstove.

The best stove during a power outage is one that has a built in generator to power the house. Ha

That's great to know. Thank you for posting the information.

Yeah, we do have a generator, it's a little 1200W that could easily handle the blower. It's just I don't want to depend on it during outage. It's mountainous area and we can be without power for days.

Thank you all!

My Osburn 2400i does a really good of heating without the blower. It protrudes close to 9" and weighs 500 lbs so there's a lot of mass in the room, and it throws pretty good heat.

You can get a UPS or something if you really wanted to.
I was going to buy a new portable Jump Starter when I saw some of them come with 120v outlets on them. Not sure how long they last running an insert fan.
I'm not getting one with a 110v outlet... but I thought it was pretty cool that it automatically converts the 12v battery power up to 120v for appliances without needing a separate inverter.

Those are louder than a broken chainsaw and last about 10 hours before you have trouble with them ie cheap Chinese carb

The Summit really surprised me when I lost power a few times already recently. Was worried the heat would not spread without the blower on and the ceiling fan running. Was only about a few degrees difference, but heated much better than I ever expected without fan & blower. The reason for the temp difference was more the loss of ceiling fan to circulate, as the upstairs was warmer than it is with the blower and fan running. Now just got to fill a rain barrel with water for flushing the toilet.

I run my summit a lot without the fan... Don't really see much.of a difference...
When we lost power in Nov for a week the summit did better than I expected.. that's why I don't use the fan that much now.. I use the fan more for keeping the stove cool than circulation.. during the power outage I took off the surround to let air all the way around the stove.. I noticed burn times were shorter but more heat did come out.. since then I have put insulation around jacket the stove is in which has increased my burn time keeping my stove much.warmer longer

I'd get something with a "gravity air kit," which is designed for effective natural convection with no fan.

I have one and used it for 30 hours straight during Irene

It is not loud - well at least for a generator

I have 40-50 hours on mine now and the $90 I have invested in it was recovered two fold by not loosing a lot of food

My wood cutting partner has a HF motor that he put on his wood splitter when it got so old and carb was junk. We have run iit on the splitter for 2 years never a problem starting it and each time we split is anywhere from one to a few hours. It has way more than 10 hours on it. Granted its not the same motor or even a 2 stroke but its on of thier motors that you buy for $99. Its like 6.5 hp and is a honda copy i beleive.