Choosing the right size insert

Take BTU with a grain of salt. You will want a 2 - 3cft stove. I would also get 1 with a fan or have a box/pedistal fan handy you can point at the stove to get the heat moving around when you get there and its cold.

There are many many stoves that could work well for you. Post some models you like and we can tell you why it would/wouldnt work.

850 sf is not that large. I think 3 cubic feet is an overkill... the lopi large flush insert at 3.0 cubic feet is rated for 2,500 sf.

I also agree about going bigger is better. I would try to find a 2.0 cubic firebox in size (maybe a little bigger or smaller). Realize that a 1.2 square foot firebox from Lopi is rated at 1,000 square feet and I think this is also a viable option.

I am not loyal to Lopi but I would go with a NAMED brand that is recommend in this forum.

I would also get a CAT so you can have long burn times.

So I just purchased a insert and I was also very confused about what size to get. I have about 1,800 sf and I ended up getting the lopi large flush hybrid (will be installed in about 2 weeks) which is rated at 2,500 sf. But I live in a well insulated town house and I only have two walls facing the outside and Boston's winters are not as cold as yours (I'm from Quebec)…. basically I feel I purchased an overkill but everyone told me that you can adjust the air flow and that would increase the burn times even more... the down side is that I may end up cleaning the glass more often cause soot may form on the glass if your are not burning at a high temperature.

begreen said:

Ratings have little to do with this situation and the advantages of a cat stove would be nil here.

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I don't understand why you would say this. Doesn't a cat mean longer burn times? That means you may be able to sleep all night and the fire will produce heat all night... without a cat perhaps at 5:00 am your fire is coals and not producing that much.

Also, with a cat it means you are doing less work... that is less times you need to fill the wood.

Can you tell me why you say a cat insert would not be advantageous? What about the environment? Doesn't a cat stove help with that and what about cleaning your insert... doesn't a cat stove produce less creosote which means that the chimney doesn't need to be cleaned as often and less chance of a chimney fire?

Doesn't a cat insert burns wood and delivers more heat a stove without a cat using the same amount of wood?

begreen said:

For this installation I don't think a flush insert is the best solution. An insert that projects out onto the hearth is going to radiate more heat. That will help with warming up the place. In milder weather, just add less wood and make smaller fires.

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I haven't heard of any insert that heats great without the blower on. Personally I like the flush look.

Last thing I wanted to add is... don't listen to me.. listen to the STAFF cause I really do not know much... maybe enough to get into some trouble. Good Luck.

joshuaboston said:

I haven't heard of any insert that heats great without the blower on. Personally I like the flush look.

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I heat my whole house with a blowerless insert in the fall and spring. The blower doesn't come on until it gets below freezing.

It works great because it doesn't have the flush look you like.

Wondering said:

Hi Jetsam. Great. I'd like to find an insert that works well without a fan. What insert fo you have and how big an area are you heating?

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Blaze King Princess Insert, and 2300sf. It it a little too small for that job but it manages. (Disclaimer: My 2300sf is not your 2300sf. Square footage ratings are made up by the marketing department, not the engineers. They do not know what kind of insulation and windows you have, what temperature you want in the back room, or how you run the stove.)

I don't have a lot of basis for comparison with inserts, but my guess is that the secret to finding an insert that works well without a fan is pretty simple: Find one that sticks out into the room as much as possible. (Better yet, get a freestanding stove because all of its surface area is in the room to be heated.)

Another one that gets great reviews on here is the Kuma Sequoia. I have no experience with it, but it was a close second to my Princess when I was picking stoves. It has a neat convective loop air channel in the jacket that keeps air blowing across the firebox without a fan.

The Sequoia is a bigger firebox with a higher top end. The Princess is smaller but with a vastly lower low end and 2x the shoulder season burn time. Don't remember if the Sequoia was 6" or 8". They both stick out about a foot.

Don't know much about the Enviro, but if begreen says it's good, it's good.

Honestly, you can probably find someone to tell you that each of the three is the best one, so pick what is going to work for the way you want to burn.