I want to purchase a wood burning insert, but no one will sell me/install one?

[basswidow]

Knightfire,

there are many of us here on Hearth.com that encountered the same thing. Whatever you do, make sure you pull a permit and have it inspected and approved for safety.

BTW - you have a beautiful stone facade on your heatilator. Save the stones when you chisel that hunk of junk out.

Mine was exactly like yours. It had a propane gas log set in it. The big problem is - inorder to fit the firebox - there were only 2 inserts that would work and they were dinky small. You have some high ceilings in that room - You do want heat from this new stove right?

The other issue is - I will bet your heatilator flue is not a class A HT flue rated for woodstove temps. So in addition to a small insert, you'd have to run an insulated liner.

For us - the price of doing that was equal to simply pulling the heatilator and installing a zero clearance woodstove and Class A HT flue. Same price. We bought the Kozyheat Z42 (same exact dimensions as the heatilator 42). It's manufactured to be an easy swap. Installed the stove and new flue was around $ 5000. I probably over paid some.

I saved money by doing the removal of the heatilator myself and then the finish work after the install. The new flue fit into the same chase and was installed in mere minutes.

I am really pleased with the Kozyheat z42 - it puts out great heat. The firebox takes up to 22 inch logs, it's easy to operate, clean EPA stove - you don't even see smoke coming out of the chimney. We burn 24/7 and go thru maybe 4 cords a season and in our house of 3000+ sf, we completely heat with the z42.

I would strongly recommend a zero clearance wood stove or as others have recommended - extend the hearth and put in a free standing stove. We wanted to keep the same look - so having a zero clearance wood stove was the best of both worlds. That looks like a beautiful great room. You just need something that looks the same - that you can burn wood in and get a ton of heat out of.

I would NOT recommend a small insert in a heatilator. For that size room - seems a waste. My heatilator had fake firebrick panels. They say you could burn wood in it, but I wouldn't be able to sleep at night thinking about a woodstove insert cranking in it.

Many different companys now make zero clearance woodstoves for replacement of heatilators. RSF, Buck, Kozyheat. It is an easy solution.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[KnightFire]

Thank you one and all for the massive amounts of information, I thought I would let you know what I decided.

I decided to have the existing "fireplace" walled up (with matching stone of course), the hearth lowered and extended another 20", and I'm putting a Regency F3100 wood burning stove on the hearth. Of course the installers will also be putting in a class A chimney system to match the stove's requirements.

The decision to go with the stove was done for mainly two reasons, the first being that in shear numbers, the stove out performs nearly all the replacement fireplaces I researched and the largest reason was the ability to easily cook on the stove. I love the idea of being able to cook during power outages, when my propane tanks run out. Will I NEED that capability, I sincerely hope not, but I'd rather "be prepared." The last reason which only kinda entered into the equation was that this will be different, not quite what most people are used to seeing in a "modern" living room. I kinda like that.

All said and done, it will cost me a little over $4,000.00 and I'm also eligible for the EPA $1,500.00 tax rebate, making the grand total around $2,500.00. A pretty damn good deal IMHO.

Again, thank you everyone, I'll be sticking around though, owning a wood burning stove is new for me, so I'll need all the guidance I can get.

The installation is next week, I'll post some process and "after" photos in this thread.

 

[basswidow]

Congrats!

 

[basswidow]

That sounds like a good option.

Are you going with the pedestal or legs? Blower? That's a big stove. Are you all stocked up on wood? Good price!

Yeah, please post pics of the process.

Looking at the picture, seems like it was taken from an upstairs balcony. If the room has a ceiling fan, that might help with the distribution of the heat. The balcony will allow the upstairs to get some heat.

Enjoy - it's a tremendous improvement over the heatilator (decorative fireplace only)

 

[KnightFire]

That sounds like a good option.

Are you going with the pedestal or legs? Blower? That's a big stove. Are you all stocked up on wood? Good price!

Yeah, please post pics of the process.

Looking at the picture, seems like it was taken from an upstairs balcony. If the room has a ceiling fan, that might help with the distribution of the heat. The balcony will allow the upstairs to get some heat.

Enjoy - it's a tremendous improvement over the heatilator (decorative fireplace only)

The stove will be on a pedestal, it's what the wife liked best, and it will certainly have a blower and airmate. It was taken from the balcony, the room has a huge ceiling fan, I expect this sucker to really warm the top two floors .

I'm pretty much stocked up on wood, I have several cords of seasoned wood at the ready; although, one never has enough wood, so I'm continuously falling, bucking, and splitting, this way I always have wood ready to burn, while the rest seasons.

 

[FPX Dude]

Awesome...I think you'll luv the free standing stove!

 

[madauswb]

Wow what a posting, as I for the past couple of weeks have gone through the same agonizing, confusing, frustrating circles it seems you have. I have a 2 year old home roughly 3000 sq ft. POS "fire-breathing dragon" ZC fireplace in an island type floor to ceiling hearth place in the center of an open floor plan. I have read my eyes out on the net trying to figure out what to do cause the local "heater" distributor said it wouldnt even be worth his time to come look at my place, and determine what he could sell me for $4000 bucks.Feeling pretty screwed with it all, I've decided to tear out the old ZC fireplace and start from scratch with the Kozy Heat Z42 High efficiency fireplace. I'm tired smelling like a bonfire has been raging in the living room. I also have deep roots with the Lopi stoves as I grew up in a warm home heated with a Liberty free stander, But thats just not going to happen this time.Rambled enough. Thanks for thread good luck.post pics of whatever you do.

 

[madauswb]

Wow what a posting, as I too for the past couple of weeks have gone through the same agonizing, confusing, frustrating circles it seems you have. I have a 2 year old home roughly 3000 sq ft. POS "fire-breathing dragon" ZC fireplace in an island type floor to ceiling hearth and wall of stone in the center of an open floor plan. I have read my eyes out on the net trying to figure out what to do. The local "heater" distributor said it wouldnt even be worth his time to come look at my place, and determine what he could sell me for $4000 bucks.Feeling pretty screwed with it all, I've decided to tear out the old ZC fireplace and start from scratch with the Kozy Heat Z42 High efficiency fireplace. I'm tired smelling like a bonfire has been raging in the living room. I also have deep roots with the Lopi stoves as I grew up in a warm home heated with a Liberty free stander, But thats just not going to happen this time.Rambled enough. Thanks for thread good luck.post pics of whatever you do.

 

[KnightFire]

Just a quick update, it appears the stove may NOT be installed this week. My installer is having a tough time finding a dealer who has the stones we need on hand. Since the housing bubble collapse and the massive reduction in new home buildings, dealers don't keep much on hand, and ordering it takes weeks, at best.

So, I haven't forgotten about the photo requests, I'll be posting pics as soon as we actually get started, which is now starting to look like early-mid January.

 

[KnightFire]

As promised:

This is what we started with, it was nice to look at, but wasn't very functional.

Demolition

"Class A" chimney pipe installed

Rock board installed.

The rock board was "mudded," the carpet removed, and fire board/insulation were laid.

Hearth stones laid and some of the chimney rocks put on wall.

DONE! All that's left is to let the mud cure and add wood trim around the hearth stones to finish the look and save our toes.

If for some reason you can't view the photos, just go to my blog where I also speak to my real world differences between zero clearance builder grade POS "fireplaces" and wood burning stoves:

http://awakeningpatriot.blogspot.com/

 

[Trail_Time]

Nice. Very well done. Final product looks great.

 

[DanCorcoran]

Looks great...how's the heat?

 

[KnightFire]

Looks great...how's the heat?

The heat is incredible, it actually heats the entire house (except for the basement of course) and when burning, the HVAC systems never turn on. We have a very open floor plan, the ceiling fans spread the heat evenly throughout the house. I only wish I had done it sooner.

In the winter I leave my HVACs set to 67F, and when it's below 40F, they run non-stop. When I use the stove last week, the temps were well below 20F, it heated the entire house to 72F and the HVAC units were quiet the entire time. I can see myself using a LOT more wood in the future, lol.

 

[bmwmaw]

I am in the same boat right now as a lot of you are. This post has been very helpful and I have a few questions.

I just got a new house with a "nice to look at, but not practical" prefab fireplace insert. Trying to decide between a pellet insert like the Quadrafire Mt. Vernon (I am used to pellets as I had a Harmon P61 in my last house) or getting some type of a wood fireplace/stove insert.

My main concerns are heat output (I want to heat my 3000+ sq ft house - or as much of it as possible) and how long I can get a burn without reloading (issue for when I am at work and wife is home.)
Also how much modification would have to be done to my current fireplace. Trying to keep it as simple as possible.

Also I would most likely be buying wood if I go that route, so I'd be paying for fuel either way.

I have never burned wood so I am totally unfamiliar with how that would be. Wondering if a fireplace like the kozy heat Z42 would it keep the house reasonable warm for 8 hours or more at a time?

Any other helpful info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Iembalm4aLiving]

Very nicely done. Very resourceful, too!

If you really love burning wood, a stove or insert is a must, IMO. It took me 10 years to make the transition, but I've never been so happy to spend this amount of money on a home improvement!


Enjoy your new setup, it looks great!

 

[KB007]

Very nice. Curious - why didn't you just pull out the frame/box from the old unit?

The heat s/b prodigious, that F3100 has the same box as our I3100 and makes huge heat.

 

[mellow]

When you get the chimney swept make sure they vacuum out that tee on the bottom.