"Yep, you've had chimney fires." GULP!

I think I've finally convinced the wife that we NEED a good insert in our masonry fireplace. We love fires and have them often during the winter. I've always been frustrated that no matter how nice a fire I have burning it never heats up the house. After lurking around here for a while, I know now why I've been having trouble getting any heat....

ANYWAY, today we had the first guy come out to look around and give us an estimate. The first thing I hear after he looks up the chimney is "Wow......you've definitely had a chimney fire in the past...."

Yikes.

Sorta scared the you-know-what out of me.

He's telling me that it's so bad that a chemical needs to be applied to the chimney and a 6 hour fire needs to be burned to be able to clean it properly.

He's also pushing an Napoleon 1402 for the insert.

I'm supposed to get his estimate in the next day or two.

The whole process has me anxious for some reason. I love to burn and would love to be able to actually put some heat in my house (1,800 sq.ft. split) in the process, but I figure I'm looking at a $3-4k estimate for the insert.

I'm going to have at least one more person shoot me an estimate.

Please reassure me that this is the way to go.

Thanks,

Greg

Make sure he installs a full liner with a block off plate.

Putting in an insert is an excellent way to go. If you have easy access to wood, it will be an expense that will pay for itself in just a few years. You also will have far less creosote (chimney fire fuel) buildup from an insert compared to an open fireplace. All that said, I'd get second opinions on both the condition of your chimney and what needs to be done about it and the also the type of insert. You may benefit from using a chimney liner which can be installed when you get your insert and which might be necessary for a better draft which is key in having your insert work well, in which case, the current condition of the chimney would be less of an issue.

gd9704

I was in the same situation as you. When oil prices were reasonable I didn't mind lighting a fire in the fireplace for the atmosphere. When oil heat started to climb, I only burned in the fall and spring. When oil heat was around $5.00 back in 2008, I said I had enough of the oil situation and installed an insert. I don't know why I didn't do this years ago. It's a great investment and keeps you warm! Good luck and take pic's along the way.

Steve

Greg, the figure you quoted is probably not too far off. If I were you, I'd check into both an insert and a free standing stove. Either one you'll be looking at the same chimney with a liner and most folks report they get better heat from the stove than from the insert. Of course that would require taking a bit of space from that room so that might be the determining factor.

One thing I would highly advise is your fuel. You've already had a chimney fire so try to not have another. The key to this is the wood you burn. Getting wood now and expecting to burn it this winter is extremely difficult to do. Wood sellers will say it is seasoned, which means nothing. Simply put, they do not have the time it takes to dry the wood so just tell everyone it is seasoned well and ready to burn. Usually, that is not the case. So do yourself a big favor and look for some fuel before you buy a stove! If you can't find good fuel now, then but it anyway and put off the stove until next year. By then, the wood will probably be okay with the wood. Always make sure you have at least a year's supply of wood ahead and better is 2-3 years ahead. Then Mother Nature is your friend and will dry the wood for you. That will be worth the wait.

Thanks for the replies, fellas.

I live on a wooded lot, so fuel is falling down all around me on a regular basis. If anything, I have trouble finding sunny areas to stack my wood to get it to dry. I find that I usually need 2+ years to get it dried to burn well.

I made an appointment for 2 other companies to come look at my situation.

I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't had my chimney cleaned in 9 years. I won't make that mistake again.

Living and learning.

Greg

Greg, for drying the wood, wind is more important than sun. So stack in the windest area you have on your lot. Stack so the wind hits the sides of the stacks. Stack it loosely and in single rows for the best and quickest drying. Make sure you put something under the stacks so the wood is off the ground. That also allows some air circulation under the wood. Naturally different types of wood take different amounts of time to dry. Some can be dry in 6 months but something like oak will take 2-3 years. We give it 3 years here. Soft maple and elm we could burn in 6 months if needed but we always try to have 2-3 years or more of wood ahead. That way we are assured of it being dry.

BE sure to look into other brands of inserts, Is there a hearth shop around that can offer the stove and liner with installation? The first guy was pushing the Napoleon because that is all he sells, likely. Before you choose one, search it on here to see what other people have to say about theirs.

Dennis said it right: you could also install a free standing stove over an insert. Both are great ideas and are better than wood.

Don't get stuck on a recommendation that one installer provides. There are lots of great stoves out there. Buy what YOU want. Have you been looking? Do you want steel? Cast Iron? side loading? top loading? CAT stove or secondary combustion tubes? Price? Size of the house?

There are several questions to be answered before deciding on a stove. With all the PRO wood burners around here, you'll certainly get the best (and free!) advice around.

Andrew

I've had several stoves, and I would challenge a stove to put out more heat than my Lopi insert. The burn might not be that long but DANG, the air coming out of that thing is intense!!

First installer e-mailed me his quote.

If I may share for your input:

napoleon 1402 $ 1,862
26' x 6" 316TI liner 465
1/2" foil faced insulation 187
"fire-safe" plate 88
6" elbow with band strap 52
SS Armor mesh 30
18Ga SS top plate 30
6" SS top plate clamp 17

Installation (includes cleaning flue) 867
tax 177

Total $ 3800 (rounded off for our purposes)


Sounds fair to me.

I have 2 others coming this week.

It can feel very daunting at the beginning. Suggestion: take a look at your fuel bill from last year and multiply it by ten or twenty. Double GULP!

It's amazing how quickly that stove can start paying for itself, especially if you're living on a woodlot that is raining fuel down from above. You're getting the lot cleaned and heating the place at the same time--doesn't get better than that. Also, you may have county/state/federal rebates, tax credits, etc., that will take some of the sting out of that outlay. I had to have a chimney installed in my two-story house, so the price tag for stove, hearth materials, chimney, and installation came to just under $5K. The $1500 tax credit dropped that down substantially, and my fuel consumption dropped the first winter by around $2K. I figure that the stove will have paid its way here in the next year or so.

One drawback to an insert, if I understand correctly, is that you really need that blower to pull off the heat (ask an insert owner about this--I'm just speculating). That means that in those storms and various power failure situations where we need the stove to work no matter what, it's going to be marginal.

You're doing the right thing, absolutely. Just take it a step at a time and come back here for as much help as you need. It's going to work. Just breathe into a paper bag when you feel lightheaded.

From what I've seen, that quote is not greatly out of line. Let us know what the other dealers quote when you speak to them.

That quote seems to make sense. As Pagey said, wait to see what the others say.

ANdrew

My suggestion would be to follow Dennis and his advice...... :cheese:

I too think the quote seems about right.
But, are you able to install it yourself? Have buddies or kids that could help? I did mine and saved about $1500.00
The only tricky part was cutting and removing the damper. Other than that no biggie and took about 3 hrs total. Just a thought. I don't know about you but i don't make $500 an hour. The good folks right here walked me through the install (stupid questions and all).

The quote deos seem about right. If I remember mine was about 4200 total. From other guys quotes, labor does seem to be a big part of it. I believe my quoted labor was around $700. It took two guys about 3 hours to install. Can you do it yourself, yes, do you want to..well if you have the time go for it. I am a big diy'er, but opted to have the shop do it. I hate paying someone for something i can do for a whole lot less. My main reason was the steepness of my roof. I do roof work like sealing flashing and stuff like that, but im not carrying a heavy steel liner, so i said, "have at it".

Price seems reasonable. The 1402 is a nice insert - gets good reviews. Only thing I'd do would be to check into something with a larger firebox if you plan on trying to heat 24X7. The 1402 is something like 2.25 cuft - if you have the space I'd suggest getting closer to 3 cuft for good heat and longer overnight burn. I presume that price included the blower? That's a must have with an insert imho.