Looking for a wood burning insert, but I have low / limited clearance to combustible trim and floor

[dwsj12]

I am looking for a wood burning insert to supplement / replace my heating for a 2000 square foot home in Wisconsin. I only have 37” to wood trim from the floor of the fireplace (50” from floor of fireplace to mantle). Additionally, my hearth is only 16” deep. My wife strongly prefers not to alter the existing marble surround / marble hearth / wood trim / wood mantle set-up as she loves the way it looks. Therefore, we are hoping to find a wood burning insert that does not require any additional protection to combustibles that would alter existing appearances. We like inserts like the Pacific Energy Pacific Insert and the FPX 33 Elite Insert, except that we fail to qualify for the minimum distance to combustibles on both of these.

Does anybody have any ideas for us? Are there inserts of similar quality that would better suit our trim / hearth issues? Would we have more luck looking at "flush mount inserts" (like the FPX 33 Elite Insert) vs. “protruding inserts" (like the Pacific Energy Pacific Insert)? Do the “flush mount inserts" generally necessitate smaller clearances? Are there any major categorical differences between "flush mount inserts" and "protruding inserts"?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Devon

 

[SteveT]

Check out the Hearthstone Morgan:

http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/wood-stoves/stove-details?product_id=13

The size seems to be about right. It can be installed flush but the experienced burners seem to point to a significant performance pick up by installing it so that the maximum protrusion into the room (5") is utilized.

 

[dwsj12]

I do not think this one would work - I have 37", total, from the floor or the existing fireplace to painted wood trim. This unit requires 34" from the top of the unit to mantle or trim.

This response implies that "protruding inserts" are more effective at heating than "flush mount" inserts - is this true? How much more effective?

Anyone else have ideas on units that could work with my low / limited clearances?

 

[fredarm]

Try the Pacific Energy Vista. It's a flush mount and you can add a mantle shield to reduce the reqauired clearance. I don't recall right now the minimum clearance, but you can check their web site.

 

[SteveT]

This response implies that "protruding inserts" are more effective at heating than "flush mount" inserts - is this true? How much more effective?

Having the insert protrude into the room definitely has some impact - it gives you a radiant surface in the room that would otherwise be in the chimney. How much it helps is difficult to say. I put this question to a Hearthstone support tech when I was trying to figure out how to position my insert. They didn't have any data but when I said, "maybe something on the order of 10% to 20%?" he thought that was a reasonable guess.

But that guesstimate might be high for another stove brand - with Hearthstone you have an ability to adjust the position of the insert but the convection shroud assembly is fixed position. So if you install it flush to the firebox the hot air outlet is set back 5". This would worsen the losses.