Newbie, insert advice

[Burnbaby]

Newbie here, what a wealth of info here, hopefully I'll be able to contribute soon. I'm extremely interested in cutting, splitting, and burning wood.(wife and friends think I'm crazy for enjoying a day cutting wood). I would like to heat my t-shaped ranch mostly with a wood insert. Here's the layout it's a basic ranch with an addition dead center in back with cathedral ceilings about 250 sq ft, from that room an 8 ft opening to a 200 sq ft kitchen, another 6 ft opening to dining room 175 sq ft. All of these rooms are in a row with the insert going at the far end of addition. The addition is 10 years old with brick masonry fireplace that's been used under 5 times. My question is will an insert heat this area quite comfortably? Will an englander insert do the job, I like the price and has good reviews.( I would prefer the englander) my other stove I'm looking at is regency hearth heater, but it's more money. I'm hoping the englander would do the job any advice, info appreciated.

 

[begreen]

Welcome to the hearth forum. Be sure to visit the Wood Shed forum here too. Lots of wood chatter there.

The Englander insert is medium sized and it should heat the addition ok. But whether it will heat the rest of the house in the dead of winter may be debatable. I suspect the rooms at the far ends of the ranch may get a bit short changed. What's the total sq ftg of the whole house?

 

[Fsappo]

You want to get a unit that will give you an overnight burn. Thats a big part of heating with wood. For that, I would suggest a minimum of 2 cubic feet for the firebox. 2.3-2.5 would be great. Regardless from what we find out about the layout of the house, it's impossible to predict how much of the house will be heated. Even with a 100,000 btu monster in that room, it still may be a challenge to move the heat to the far reaches of the ranch. Get a good sized model that you can afford and then work on moving the air where it doesnt naturally reach. On paper, a 2.5 CF insert with a blower will heat a 1500 square foot home...thats on paper. So it may be a work along as you go thing to maximize the actual footage heated.

The Regency hearth heater is a great little insert, but at 1.6 cubic feet on the firebox, is not really a ranch heater. Its more of a couple of rooms heater. You'll be hard pressed to get an overnight burn out of it. From the Regency line, you'd be better suited with the 2400 model. Regency does have a sale going on till the end of July that should help with the purchase. They make an excellent quality wood burning product.

If you want you can PM me about some closeout type stuff you can look at to give you some more options, or a little more negotioating power when you go to buy.

 

[cmonSTART]

Will a larger freestanding stove fit in the fireplace? This might be a good option if you're looking to heat more of the house and get an overnight burn.

 

[Burnbaby]

Thanks for the quick replys. Just a little additional info, the space I would like to heat is just those three rooms totaling about 800 sq ft. I know the fireplace isn't in an ideal spot being all the way back in the row of rooms( about 47 ft from front to back). Off one of those rooms is hallway to bedrooms in which I will be putting on different zone with oil heat. I did check out the regency 2400 and liked it as well.

 

[Fsappo]

The smaller inserts will "heat" 800 square feet, its the burn times you wanna shoot for. Go medium instead of small I say.

 

[begreen]

Given these parameters, the Englander should work out ok. It may take a fan in the kitchen or dining room, blowing cooler air from that room into the stove room, to even out the heat, but that's not a big deal. If the Englander fits the fireplace and your budget, this should be a good improvement. If you can fit a larger stove, the benefits of longer burn times and a deeper firebox are nice.

 

[dafattkidd]

Hey burn baby,

Welcome to the forum. You've made a good choice to come here for information.

I don't know what prices you're getting for the Englander, but I looked around for a long time and the best prices I found were on dynamitebuys.com. I bought my osburn 2400 insert from them. Great customer service, and the best prices I've found on the web. If I were you and on a budget (as I was with my purchase) I would look at http://www.dynamitebuys.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=4735

or

http://www.dynamitebuys.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=1052

Give him a call for prices. Tell Sean Dominick from Long Island told you to call. I don't work for them or anything I just had a great experience, and for a guy looking for a quality insert on a budget this is a great deal.

Which ever stove you go with I would stick with a 2.2 cf firebox for the longer burn times. I bought a smaller stove 1.7 cf and it put out a lot of heat, but the burn times just were too short. It took a lot of maintenance. I upgraded to a 3.2 cf firebox and man that was a great decision. I'm heating about twice what you're looking to heat. Honestly a 1.7 cf firebox would heat your space well I'd imagine, but for a couple of bucks more the larger firebox will serve you well. Easier to load, longer burn times, less attendance needed. You can always build a smaller fire in a large box.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

 

[Burnbaby]

Thanks everyone, it's great getting so much info. I definitely check dynamite buys. I'm also trying to talk wife into free standing. I tend to overly research things ( probally not a bad thing ) so many stoves. I'm already eyeing wood on side of roads. Can't wait to burn.