My neighbor raves about his wood stove and spends his summer cutting up wood. He told me it's more of an obsession than a hobby now.
Your neighbor is right . . . it is an obsession . . . but it's a lot healthier than stalking Jenna Elfman. 
After rising oil costs, and the offer for free wood (have to cut and split myself), I pondered the idea of getting an insert for my otherwise useless fireplace.
Ah, you have already figured out that a) oil will most likely to continue to rise in price and not go back down to the 79 cents a gallon or even $1.39 a gallon that it used to be and b) that free wood is good wood and c) fireplaces are not very useful when it comes to heating a home. What you will need to do however is determine what type of fireplace you have (masonry or factory-built) as this will determine what you can and cannot use as an insert.
I have a 1200 sq ft 1 story ranch and the fireplace is all the way at one end of the house (
CRUDE drawing attached if I can figure it out). I have replacement windows and insulated attic.
Again, a job well done . . . some of the best advice I got here when I was contemplating getting a woodstove was to first spend your money on insulating a home so that when you get a woodstove you can retain the heat you generate rather than attempting to help PETA save the squirrels from freezing to death.
My questions are:
Is it really worth for me to get an insert for a secondary source of heat?
Answer: It depends. For most of us the answer is a resounding yes . . . but it's more than just a financial equation (although getting "free" wood certainly is in the pro- column for you.) It depends on whether you have the time to get the wood, you're willing to spend a little more time getting a fire started or while reloading (definitely not as simple as just turning the old thermostat up or down) and if you can commit yourself to cleaning your chimney, properly disposing of the ashes, etc.
Are the bedrooms going to get much heat? (Insert will have a blower)
I think the size of your house would mean that the heat would get to the bedrooms . . . but it would be a bit cooler . . . which most folks prefer anyways.
How does the 30% tax thing work? I couldn't find anything on the IRS web site where everyone says to go.
Do a search for tax credit . . . last I knew there was a sticky at the top of this page with info on this tax credit.
I'm sure I have 100 other questions but can't think of them now.
Ask away when you think of them . . . we love answering questions . . . it makes us feel a lot smarter than we actually are . . . and occasionally we even get a question right.
Should I get a slightly oversized insert or stick with minimum? (ie: go for the 1500-2000 sq ft. insert opposed to the 1000-1500 sq ft. one)
There's some debate on this question . . . but again I got some good advice when I was looking and I am glad I went the way I did. Folks said that very few people complain about getting a stove that is too large for their heating needs, but many more folks complain about getting a stove that is too small. In addition, the spacing specs are designed by the manufacturer using their info . . . in other words, they don't know how well your house is insulated, what your climate is like, how your house is laid out, etc. A 1879 Maine farmhouse in The County with little to no insulation with a "closed" layout could have the same space as a home in South Carolina that is new, well insulated and with an open configuration . . . and yet a stove rated for the same spacing requirements would heat both homes much differently. I would recommend figuring out your space needs and then going one size larger.
Thanks
Mike
