Small wood insert: Morso vs Pacific Energy

[cgoldey]

I am looking into buying a wood burning fireplace insert. I have gone to several stove shops in my area. I live in MA and have a 2400sf colonial. The folks at the stove shops recommend that I buy a small insert due to the layout of my house and fireplace dimensions. The thought being that if I bought a large insert then it would be really hot in the room with the stove and I would also have to put in a hearth extension. My fireplace is only 20in deep and 20in wide at the back.

So I have narrowed my search to two models that seem quite different from one another. The first is the Morso 1710. It is rated for 1300sf and 39,000btu. It is a cast iron unit, good looking, contains no fan, and has a small fire box (will only take 14in long wood). My neighbor has one and loves it.

The second it the Pacific Energy Vista insert. It is rated at 1500sf and 56,000btu. This is a plate steel insert, looks like many others on the market (not very good looking), has a fan, and looks like it will take up to an 18in log. Folks who have rated them on this site, rate this model very highly.

So I am looking for the pros and cons of these two models if you know of any.
Also, is there another model I should be looking at?
Also, also, the Morso takes a short 14in log. Can you buy 14in long cord wood? Evrything I see advertised is 16-18in.

 

[Max Headroom]

The 14 inch limit would bother me. I'm planning on doing a bit of scrounging for wood, so being able to use larger pieces is important to me.

 

[begreen]

Short wood lengths are a pain. Before deciding, can you describe the room size and the 1st floor plan? Several members have had good success using a fan or two to get the heat circulating. It would be nice if you could heat a bit more of the house with a little assistance.

 

[fossil]

It's very important to keep in mind that woodburning appliances are space heaters. That being said, a lot can be done with fans, as BG mentioned, to diffuse/distribute the heat to adjacent spaces in the house. What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that just because you have a 2400 SF house doesn't mean you have to find a 2400 SF-rated stove...it'll likely just drive you out of the room the stove's in. A lot depends on the configuration of the house. I, personally, wouldn't even consider an insert without a blower in it. Even a freestanding woodstove benefits greatly from a blower kit in my experience. 14" splits might be hard to come by, and if you're stuck with that length restriction and all you can get are 16"-18", then trimming them down is a real PITA. Those are my thoughts. Welcome to the forum! Rick

 

[BrotherBart]

Never ever buy a wood stove fireplace insert without a blower. Period. Paragraph.

You want to heat the house. Not the chimney. You don't live in the chimney. And 14" wood has a name. Kindling. That Morso was made to heat a European house that is a lot different from your house. Even if it is a 1950's FHA box.

Other than that. I have no opinion. ;-)

 

[karl]

I with Brother Bart on this one. I have the big PE insert and it's a heat monster. One day the electric went out for a few hours and it didn't put out much heat at all.

Also take this space heater stuff with a grain of salt. Alot of houses have the fireplace in the formal living room. Mine does. Anyway, alot of people don't use their formal living room, I'm rarely in mine, so I don't care if it gets hot in there. A couple of fans and it keeps the whole house warm.

My reccomendation is to buy the biggest insert that will fill in the fireplace and make sure it has a blower.

 

[Highbeam]

2400 SF with a small insert in MA! Unless you have severe floorplan layout restrictions then I would bail on trying to fit an insert in that tiny fireplace. Instead, how about setting a properly sized woodstove on the hearth and venting into the fireplace.

I had an insert, I feel that they are a noisy compromise between actual heating and space constraints. But if you really want to use an insert and the PE will fit then I would much rather have an 18" log burner than a 14" burner.

I just filled a half cord trailer with the cutoffs created by shortening 24" firewood into 18" firewood. It was not fun. It would have been much more difficult to shring 16" firewood into 14" and remember that the 14" is the max so you would really want wood in the 12-13" range. Total PITA.

 

[cgoldey]

Thanks everyone for the support.

My floor plan is that my fireplace is in my family room, where the TV is and the family spends time. The family room is about 14'x20' with the fireplace on the short wall. The room also has a cathedral ceiling with a ceiling fan. This room opens into the kitchen through a 6' wide doorway. The kitchen is open to the dining room through a 5' wide doorway with the stairwell to upstairs is at the end of the dining room through a 3' wide doorway. All doorways are floor to ceiling with no actual doors on them. I guess as open a floorplan as you can get in a box colonial.

So it sounds like from what I am hearing is an insert with a fan blower is the way to go. Then with a strategically placed fan in one of the other rooms I should be able to move the heat around and upstairs.

Also, get as big an insert as possible. And one that takes a 16+ log.

Folks who have the Pacific Energy inserts seem to like them.

My goal is not to heat my whole house 24x7, but supplement, to reduce my home heating oil bill.

 

[begreen]

A very common mistake folks make when buying their first stove is getting one too small. I'd go with a minimum of a PE Pacific D1 insert. It sounds like with a ceiling fan blowing upward in the family room, and another floor fan near the 3' doorway by the stairs blowing towards the stove, that you will be able to heat a lot more area than just the family room.

 

[RedRanger]

Thanks everyone for the support.

My floor plan is that my fireplace is in my family room, where the TV is and the family spends time. The family room is about 14'x20' with the fireplace on the short wall. The room also has a cathedral ceiling with a ceiling fan. This room opens into the kitchen through a 6' wide doorway. The kitchen is open to the dining room through a 5' wide doorway with the stairwell to upstairs is at the end of the dining room through a 3' wide doorway. All doorways are floor to ceiling with no actual doors on them. I guess as open a floorplan as you can get in a box colonial.

So it sounds like from what I am hearing is an insert with a fan blower is the way to go. Then with a strategically placed fan in one of the other rooms I should be able to move the heat around and upstairs.

Also, get as big an insert as possible. And one that takes a 16+ log.

Folks who have the Pacific Energy inserts seem to like them.

My goal is not to heat my whole house 24x7, but supplement, to reduce my home heating oil bill.

Even though the PE plant is closer to where I happen to live than the Enviro plant, I chose the Enviro Kodiak(the one you see on my avatar) cause it has a larger firebox=2.5cu.ft as opposed to 2.0 cu.ft. and requires the same opening in your fireplace. Hence, a slightly longer burn time. Only had it since april this year but can tell you it really pumps out the heat. And is slightly less expensive. Or at least it was when I bought mine earlier this year.

 

[jbroich]

A hearth.com colleague had a terrible experience with that particular Morso model and the company as a whole.
See https://www.hearth.com/rate singles/rate2201.html
I imagine that the company has other satisfied customers, but it appears this model is particularly under-powered.