Looking to buy insert for 2200sq ft 2 story colonial..opinions on osburn

[etiger2007]

You will only cook yourself out of the house if you load the stove with more wood than needed. I am so grateful to have an oversized stove this week. It's been colder than average temps and my boiler has been down so we're running exclusively on wood heat and doing fine. The extra firepower really works out awesome in situations like this. My house is very drafty so the extra space in the firebox works out really well for us. If you don't want too much heat just add less wood. I generally load my stove to 70-80%. This week though, I've been loading that sucker and putting the fan on high for the overnights, and chunks of the day. Of course as it's been said a million times: The key to running these stoves efficiently with great heat output and burn times is good dry wood. Good luck!

Dominick. I thought I would have done better with my 2000 in cold weather (20 and under) No matter how much wood I put in there I have to re-load at the four hour mark with a chit ton of coals, I will say a very full load would be two bigger splits mixed in with four small to medium splits of ash. When its real cold no way will i get an over night burn, the furnance will kick on before I get up. Im calling SBI today to chat with them and see what they say.

 

[kallsop]

I am satisfied with my Osburn 2000 insert, heating a 2400 sq. ft. colonial, but with oil heat assist for upstairs. If I had to do it again, I would probably buy a hybrid Blaze King Princess insert for the longer burn times, but in CT it is about 2x the price I paid and that price difference buys a lot of wood.

 

[dafattkidd]

Ed, honestly even with the larger firebox I need the assistance of space heaters in the I bedrooms. There's only so much we can expect from out stoves. If our houses leak heat, there's only so much the stove can do. The same is true for my radiant heat. The house loses heat so the boiler can never keep up. *for the record: the Osburn heats the house way better than the boiler ever did.

I say on super cold days run the boiler for a bit, and let the stove keep the house warmer than you ever would with the boiler. Days like this account for a small portion of the winter. The point of wood heat for me is to keep the house warm and save on oil. I'm not on a crusade to get off oil completely. At this point for us that would be more work than its worth. Turning the heat on every once in a while can be a relief. Especially to my wife when she's home with two sick kids.

Let me know what SBI says. Tell them thanks from me. I love this unit.

 

[Redlegs]

Timcab, welcome to the forum. I just (May 2012) did my own install of an Osburn 2400 and I am really please with it so far this winter. I am heating 3000+ square feet. The price was right for the size and output, and that value was the center of gravity in my decision cycle. The stove is downstairs, and keeps the downstairs around 80+ deg. The upstairs is 65-70 which just right for us. I am hoping to add insulation to the attic this summer and improve the efficiency/heat retention. As I started to search I was leaning toward the Osburn 2400, and then I read the review from the DaFatKid (Thanks DFK!) and I was hooked. Check out the videos on YouTube.

On the install, I "built" a cardboard and duct tape model to the deminsions of the 2400 to verify it would work. Pay attention to the location of the stovepipe connector fitting in reference to your smokeshelf/damperplate. I had to remove the damperplate and some bricks to make everything connect.

I would recommend the Osburn mechical liner coupler that SBI offers. I used it and I feel better know there is no way my liner will ever come off the stove. I went with flex SS liner, and wrapped it in 1/2 in insulation. I built in the blockerplate above the stove and backfilled it with Rolux. I also added Rolux at the top of the liner, under the cap.

Since it hasn't even been a full year of burning the 2400 I may not be the best guy to ask, but considering so far it has been awesome. Great heat output. I am using probably 65-70% of the wood I used in the pre-EPA stove it replaced. I can get eight hour burn times overnight without a worry, and twelve hour burns leave enough hot coals/embers that relights with a little kindling are easy.

My only complaint has been that sometimes we are left with a bunch of "clinkers" - pieces of wood turned into little black chunks. I have been burning some older wood (hackberry) so far that I needed to get rid of , and some has gotten punky. When it turns to clinkers, I add a piece of good wood (hedge) and open up the draft which burns everything down to powder.

I think the best part has been watching the secondary combustion (people are amazed!) while sipping whiskey with friends and solving all the worlds problems. :>)

 

[etiger2007]

I contacted SBI today and after explaining my install to them they said im doing good. They would expect me to load every 5 hrs with my unit. They said I should try some denser wook like oak to get the longer burn. I have been burning dang near all ash. They were happy I insulated around my unit with Roxul and stuffed Roxul in the damper area.

 

[Redlegs]

Ed, can you guys find hedge trees up there? It is a very dense wood and I believe it burns about the best I have had in my piles.

 

[Redlegs]

I should also add that a friend of mine just put in a Lopi Freedom right before I got my stove in. His wife insisted they have theirs professionally installed. While it is a really handsome unit, it throws great hea,t and he reports burntimes similar to mine, he shelled out just over $5K start to finish. I think I got the Osburn 2400 in for less than $2900. I was on a tighter budget then he was, so the value of the 2400 was the best choice for me.

 

[etiger2007]

I should also add that a friend of mine just put in a Lopi Freedom right before I got my stove in. His wife insisted they have theirs professionally installed. While it is a really handsome unit, it throws great hea,t and he reports burntimes similar to mine, he shelled out just over $5K start to finish. I think I got the Osburn 2400 in for less than $2900. I was on a tighter budget then he was, so the value of the 2400 was the best choice for me.

Osburns are priced right that was a major plus for me being I bought two stoves in two years. My stove room is over a crawl space, I might climb in there this summer and insulate the floor, never know it might help. I also get a fair amount of charcoal when the stove cools, I was told it was because the wood wasnt dry enough. I will say Im burning mostly 20% moisture wood, if I burned wood in the teens I might do better.