Hi All,
I've been haunting this forum since 2005 and it has been a great source of information. So, thanks.
A couple of years ago I installed a gas insert in one of my two fireplaces. It is located in an infrequently used formal room located near the center of the house. We waffled on wood versus pellet versus gas when selecting that insert. It was already plumbed for gas (replacing wasteful gas logs) and not used frequently, so we went with gas and an efficient insert. It would have been nice to use a biofuel there but it was not very practical.
Now I'm seriously considering installing a wood insert in my second fireplace. This fireplace is located in a frequently used family room that has a cathedral ceiling (shaped like the bottom half of the letter "A" above the 8 foot level, 14 feet high at the top). The family room connects with an open kitchen (regular ceiling), laundry area and, upstairs, a home theater that is located above our garage (see attached diagram). The home theater also has a ceiling shaped like the bottom of the letter "A", but it starts at the 4' level making for a low ceiling overall (you'll crack your head if you don't stoop near the walls along the long sides of the room). Experience tells me that heat migrates upstairs to the theater very easily, so I am including this space in my heating planning. We use it almost every night. It would be nice to be able to open the door to the theater a couple of hours before we plan to use it and be able to heat it with wood heat versus heat from the distant forced-air propane furnace. The area heated by the gas insert is adjacent to the kitchen area. However we've found heat from the gas insert does not migrate into the kitchen much at all, even with a fan. We assume heat won't migrate much in the opposite direction either, so we aren't planning to heat more than the area documented in the diagram with a wood insert. My measurements are rough but it is about 1000 - 1100 square feet in total.
The house is fairly tight overall after several years of improvements but I would say the theater is one of the most lossy rooms in the house. It is insulated but the ceiling of that room directly connects with roof trusses and it is over a cold garage... The kitchen and family room are over an unheated basement but the floor is well insulated. There are a few too many windows for my taste but it is what it is.
Anyway, on to the questions. I am looking at two Jotul inserts, the 350 Winterport and the 550 Rockland. I strongly suspect that the Winterport will be adequate for my needs but it would good to get some input here. It seems I'll have an issue with hearth clearance requirements for either model. The mantel is 8 inches from the wall and it is 50.5 inches from the floor to the bottom of the mantel. If I'm interpreting Jotul's specifications correctly, this situation requires a mantel heat shield. I'm curious how that works and what it looks like (haven't seen a picture). Both the Winterport and the Rockland have a high Wife Acceptance Factor, but the heat shield thing is a wildcard. I'm open to suggestion about other makers and models. I want to do things right for safety and right for looks so I can still live house post installation.
I also need to figure where to put a large woodpile (the property is challenging from a sun perspective), but I'll research that issue before I post some thoughts on that.
Thanks,
Victor
I've been haunting this forum since 2005 and it has been a great source of information. So, thanks.
A couple of years ago I installed a gas insert in one of my two fireplaces. It is located in an infrequently used formal room located near the center of the house. We waffled on wood versus pellet versus gas when selecting that insert. It was already plumbed for gas (replacing wasteful gas logs) and not used frequently, so we went with gas and an efficient insert. It would have been nice to use a biofuel there but it was not very practical.
Now I'm seriously considering installing a wood insert in my second fireplace. This fireplace is located in a frequently used family room that has a cathedral ceiling (shaped like the bottom half of the letter "A" above the 8 foot level, 14 feet high at the top). The family room connects with an open kitchen (regular ceiling), laundry area and, upstairs, a home theater that is located above our garage (see attached diagram). The home theater also has a ceiling shaped like the bottom of the letter "A", but it starts at the 4' level making for a low ceiling overall (you'll crack your head if you don't stoop near the walls along the long sides of the room). Experience tells me that heat migrates upstairs to the theater very easily, so I am including this space in my heating planning. We use it almost every night. It would be nice to be able to open the door to the theater a couple of hours before we plan to use it and be able to heat it with wood heat versus heat from the distant forced-air propane furnace. The area heated by the gas insert is adjacent to the kitchen area. However we've found heat from the gas insert does not migrate into the kitchen much at all, even with a fan. We assume heat won't migrate much in the opposite direction either, so we aren't planning to heat more than the area documented in the diagram with a wood insert. My measurements are rough but it is about 1000 - 1100 square feet in total.
The house is fairly tight overall after several years of improvements but I would say the theater is one of the most lossy rooms in the house. It is insulated but the ceiling of that room directly connects with roof trusses and it is over a cold garage... The kitchen and family room are over an unheated basement but the floor is well insulated. There are a few too many windows for my taste but it is what it is.
Anyway, on to the questions. I am looking at two Jotul inserts, the 350 Winterport and the 550 Rockland. I strongly suspect that the Winterport will be adequate for my needs but it would good to get some input here. It seems I'll have an issue with hearth clearance requirements for either model. The mantel is 8 inches from the wall and it is 50.5 inches from the floor to the bottom of the mantel. If I'm interpreting Jotul's specifications correctly, this situation requires a mantel heat shield. I'm curious how that works and what it looks like (haven't seen a picture). Both the Winterport and the Rockland have a high Wife Acceptance Factor, but the heat shield thing is a wildcard. I'm open to suggestion about other makers and models. I want to do things right for safety and right for looks so I can still live house post installation.
I also need to figure where to put a large woodpile (the property is challenging from a sun perspective), but I'll research that issue before I post some thoughts on that.
Thanks,
Victor
I reviewed clearances for the three Jotul inserts. It appears that a heat shield is only available for the C450 and the C550. The C350 is ruled out due to clearances unless I'm totally misinterpreting requirements...
