Fireplace insert

[sapratt]

My Dad is looking to put an insert into his fireplace. He has 2500sqft house and is looking to heat most of his house with it.
About how much will he spend on an insert? I've looked around and couldn't find any prices.

 

[RedRanger]

My Dad is looking to put an insert into his fireplace. He has 2500sqft house and is looking to heat most of his house with it.
About how much will he spend on an insert? I've looked around and couldn't find any prices.

Don`t own one, but think for that kind of size? for an insert, the PE Summit should do the job. and not as expensive as other "more charming" inserts. ;-) seriously though, only pe has that extended burn technololgy.

 

[karl]

I have about the same size house. It's a ranch. I bought a Summit last year and didn't run the furnace once. It did take some work to manage that, but then again my wood wasn't the best. And the Summit is a pretty stove. I paid $2450 for the stove and the liner and installed it myself. I bought it from a dealer on Ebay. I doubt you'll get that type of deal this year. Everybody is buying them now.

 

[doc623]

Karl,
Is there a surface that extends out that sould be used for a cook surface?
If so how much and how far?
What model and what your experience with the burn time?
Thanks.

 

[sapratt]

Nice setup Karl I like the way that looks. I'm putting in a free standing stove, so I've never even looked at an insert.

 

[karl]

Thank you No Man. I'm happy with it.

There is a surface on it that sticks out about six inches. It's part of the heat shroud so it doesn't get really hot. I put a kettle on it as my humidifier. I'm guessing it gets the water to 150-170 degrees or so. It works great as a humidifer but I doubt you could cook on it. You might heat up a can of soup but your're not going to fry eggs on it.

I'm leary about giving you burn times. Last year was my first year using it and I didn't have the best wood or best burning practices. It will go 10 hours with enough coals to relight a fire if you work at it. 8 hours, and you can pretty much just throw more wood in it. The blower comes on automatically when the stove is hot and it will stay on for 6-7 hours easily, after that it tends to cycle on and off a bit as the stove has really cooled down alot. I think I will be able to do better with it this year. I'm also going to insulate above, behind, and around the insert this year. I think it will help alot. Even with a liner and a block off plate, I'm sending alot of heat up the chimney. I could tell when it snowed last year and the snow melted off the roof around the chimney. Plus, last year, I didn't have much hardwood to burn. I burnt alot of poplar.

It's a 3 cubic foot insert, which is about as big as you can get can get. I think they're a few 3.5 cubic stoves but not inserts out there. I did see one 4.5 cubic foot insert when I was shopping around. It was so expensive, I though if I could afford that, I would just run the furnace instead.

It's a Pacific Energy Summit model. Alot of people on here have then as stoves and inserts. PE also makes atleast one more model that is basically the same, but with different trim.

I think we need to co-op Brother Barts slogan and say, "The Summit is the best bang for the buck, as far as inserts go."

 

[sapratt]

I'm not sure if he is going to put one in or not. He had someone look at the chimney they told him $2000 to reline the chimney.
I thought that was high to have a chimney redone.

 

[BrotherBart]

That kind of money to drop a liner down a chimney is nuts. As to the Summit insert, if there had been dealer around here I would have one now.

Totally pleased with what I did but the Summit insert was at the top of my list.

 

[karl]

One story house or two? You can get a flex liner for probably $500.00. Installing it is really easy. I spent a few hours putting mine in and most of that was cutting a hole in the damper. I really don't see why anybody pays to have these things installed. I guess I'm just a tight ass.

 

[gibson]

PE makes great stoves, no doubt. But as far as being cheaper, I don't know. I was quoted around $2500 give or take $50 for a Jotul C550 or a PE Summit. I was down to these two because both dealers were good people, which was the exception rather than the norm. Buy what you like! Good luck.