Nubie help choosing a new wood insert for 24x7 burning.

[Relay700]

Hi all,
I am looking to install a wood stove to do quite a bit of heating in my house.
There are 2 reasons for this, 1st is I HATE the central forced air heating! It's terrible. Very hard to maintain a comfortable temperature. Second is I would obviously like to save some $$$.

I have been reading this site and researching but I figured I would ask directly in case there was something I missed.
Here are the details.
The house is a single floor ranch style built in the 60's, about 2400 sq. ft. I have added a 2nd layer of R19 in the attic and had blown in insulation done to the walls. It's vinyl sided and 50% newer windows. It's very long, about 75'. I installed a propane fired stove in the family room at one end of the house and the bedroom section is at the other end.

I have a center of the house based traditional fireplace. It's rather big though, 10' x 6'. The fireplace opening is tapered in toward the back so the dimensions are like this: rear of the fireplace is 34 1/2"W x 31"H. Front or opening is 41"W x 31"H. The hearth is an additional 16 1/2" before it drops off about 12" down to hard wood floors. A floor standing stove would then stick out too much into the room, hence the insert.

I know you can pay a lot of $$$ for some of the premium brands but I was thinking of getting an Osburn 2400 insert with a 3.2 cu ft firebox that can handle 21" logs. It's about $1600, no tax including delivery from Homeclick.

I was going to get a chimney reline kit directly from the manufacturer, Flex King kit is like $330 w/ free delivery.
I am not sure about the insulation kit as that's another $300, especially since the fireplace is in the middle of the house. Any recomendations there?

Wood in my area is about $250/cord right now so I was thinking of getting 3 or 4 cords of seasoned wood for the upcoming winter.

Anyone see anything I am forgetting or should be looking at?

Thanks for a great resource

 

[begreen]

Welcome, it sounds like you have done your homework and are on the right track. Not too many Osburn folks posting here so it will be great to hear more about the stove. There are a couple reviews for the 2400 in the ratings section and those folks seem happy. It has a nice big firebox and should burn a long time. Be sure to honor combustible clearances, particularly if there is a mantel.

Before ordering from HomeClick make sure all details, parts, accessories are spelled out and clear. I seem to remember some folks receiving their stove in pieces, literally and not too happy with customer service.

 

[shaggymatt]

Well I just happened to end up here today, and you're post isn't that old. I have an Osburn 2400i(nsert). BIG stove. I heated my split level entirely with it last winter. The house was usually in the low 70's. We ended up using around 7 cords at about $130 a cord.

My complaint with the stove is the backpuffing. I've been through all the standard fixes, nothing really helped it. I honestly think it is because of the double elbow the installer had to use to install the stove as the exhaust for the firebox is SO far forward on the stove. If you're getting an insert, I'd make sure that your chimney can accept the liner without having to do much masonry work or elbow insertions.

And... since it sounds like you're doing the install yourself, that baby is HEAVY. If you don't have a lift, you're going to need 3-4 guys to help lift it in place.

Keep thinking of more things... the blower fan is loud when running on high, but I think that is pretty standard of blower fans. On low when you want to watch tv, it sometimes rattles, and is louder than the fan on high. I've been pondering doing something to isolate some of the noise during the off season. Be it with whisper fans, and/or something to isolate the metal on metal contact which causes the rattling.

 

[Relay700]

Thanks for the info shaggymat!! Exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Jay H]

I've read some not-so-nice stuff about HomeClick on gardenweb (this is before I found Hearth.com!) but FWIW, I ordered a Toto Drake (toilet) from Homeclick which came fast and quick (they are in NJ) and had no problems with them. Problems may have been in the past as this was 2 years ago, but you never know and like I said, my experience was good.

Jay