Advice on an insert purchase

[Niro]

Hi all, I'm new at this, still getting adjusted after moving out of NYC last year during this pandemic we are getting acclimated to country life I guess. After dealing with hurricanes, blackouts and downed trees, I'm looking at my heating situation. I'm considering purchasing 2 fireplace inserts for our home. After plenty of research and reading through thread after thread, we narrowed it down to a few choices.
Regency Ci2700
Blaze King Sirocco 25
Osburn Matrix

We decided on the Blaze king for the tax credit and efficiency. The place where I planned to make my purchase is telling me that the fireplace opening is too big and will require a custom faceplate for additional cost of $250 each. the opening in the front is 41.5 " and height is 29" depth is 21" the width on back wall of fireplace 1 family room is 34" and fireplace 2 Den is 32" on the back wall. I have 4 bedrooms upstairs and the stairs are right out side a double door to the Den, my hope is to run both and heat the house or at least save on oil cost. the total space is 2700 square ft. I basically have 2 questions:

1. Should be looking for a bigger insert in the Family room? as I have a large opening fireplace, and they say get the biggest unit that can fit.
2. From the 3 options above we choose the Blaze King for the tax credit. putting the tax credit aside is it still the best choice?

Thanks so much for your advice.

 

[bholler]

Hi all, I'm new at this, still getting adjusted after moving out of NYC last year during this pandemic we are getting acclimated to country life I guess. After dealing with hurricanes, blackouts and downed trees, I'm looking at my heating situation. I'm considering purchasing 2 fireplace inserts for our home. After plenty of research and reading through thread after thread, we narrowed it down to a few choices.
Regency Ci2700
Blaze King Sirocco 25
Osburn Matrix

We decided on the Blaze king for the tax credit and efficiency. The place where I planned to make my purchase is telling me that the fireplace opening is too big and will require a custom faceplate for additional cost of $250 each. the opening in the front is 41.5 " and height is 29" depth is 21" the width on back wall of fireplace 1 family room is 34" and fireplace 2 Den is 32" on the back wall. I have 4 bedrooms upstairs and the stairs are right out side a double door to the Den, my hope is to run both and heat the house or at least save on oil cost. the total space is 2700 square ft. I basically have 2 questions:

1. Should be looking for a bigger insert in the Family room? as I have a large opening fireplace, and they say get the biggest unit that can fit.
2. From the 3 options above we choose the Blaze King for the tax credit. putting the tax credit aside is it still the best choice?

Thanks so much for your advice.

The 2700 qualifies for the tax credit as well. And why go with the smaller 25 instead of the 30

 

[Niro]

The 2700 qualifies for the tax credit as well. And why go with the smaller 25 instead of the 30

All the information that I found including a list from regency website is stating that the 2700 in not qualifying for the 26% credit as the requirement is based on HHV of greater than 75% and the 2700 is 74% HHV. and as far as why not the 30, because I'm looking for a wood burning insert. I think the 30 is a free standing stove. not sure if it can be installed into a fireplace??

 

[begreen]

Yes, the arbitrary 75% rule really cuts down on options. The Lopi Large Flush insert is one.

 

[bholler]

All the information that I found including a list from regency website is stating that the 2700 in not qualifying for the 26% credit as the requirement is based on HHV of greater than 75% and the 2700 is 74% HHV. and as far as why not the 30, because I'm looking for a wood burning insert. I think the 30 is a free standing stove. not sure if it can be installed into a fireplace??

I was mistaken. I really thought the 2700 hit 75%

The 25 and 30 are different sizes I assumed they had a 30 insert as well but I guess not.

Sorry for my misinformation.

 

[Niro]

I was mistaken. I really thought the 2700 hit 75%

The 25 and 30 are different sizes I assumed they had a 30 insert as well but I guess not.

Sorry for my misinformation.

yeah no worries, you think that it would since its a relatively new model. I think that a lot of these manufactures will attempt to recertify as the 26% is pretty attractive vs the cost of unit plus install. either that or offer a discount or rebate to bee competitive.

 

[bholler]

yeah no worries, you think that it would since its a relatively new model. I think that a lot of these manufactures will attempt to recertify as the 26% is pretty attractive vs the cost of unit plus install. either that or offer a discount or rebate to bee competitive.

Recertification costs lots of money and takes lots of time

 

[Niro]

Yes, the arbitrary 75% rule really cuts down on options. The Lopi Large Flush insert is one.

ok thanks I'll look at that one.

 

[Geoff C]

If you are new to wood burning I would probably recommend starting with 1 stove. It’s a lot of work just keeping 1 Stove running plus getting all that wood stacked.

 

[moresnow]

All stove makes, models, particulars aside. Your biggest challenge with any of them as a new owner is to be able to feed it properly seasoned fuel. Hopefully you can fill us in on that consideration? Enjoy stove shopping!

 

[EbS-P]

It’s a lot of work just keeping 1 Stove running plus getting all that wood stacked.

But if they are BKs and you can get them running on a 12 hour cycle I could make the argument that two low and slow stoves you could keep the stove tending time to a minimum.

Do you have AC. Cost wise you are getting into larger mulit head heat pump territory. Maybe one stove one mini split? The modern flush inserts just are not huge stoves. I’d probably go with one Osborne 3500 ( no tax credit but cheaper than two BKs with the credit.

get an Auber at200 temperature alarm (or two).

just my two cent

Evan

 

[Niro]

All stove makes, models, particulars aside. Your biggest challenge with any of them as a new owner is to be able to feed it properly seasoned fuel. Hopefully you can fill us in on that consideration? Enjoy stove shopping!

Yeah so I dropped 5 dead standing Ash trees least year and 1 dead standing tulip this year. half of the ash we burned already the other half is on the ground in 10ft logs. and in have about a 1/2 cord tulip stacked now. I also dropped a medium size cherry. My plan is to work on building a proper wood shed this weekend likely will take me a few weekends to finish as its just me. after that i plan to start splitting and stacking what I have in there. not sure exactly how long properly seasoned takes.

BTW if anyone has decent plans on an 8x12 wood shed that I can download that would help a lot.

 

[moresnow]

Woodsheds are nice. Never had one myself. Someday.

Generally speaking. Get your wood cut, split, stacked asap. Purchase a moisture meter. Check a few splits from your split pile and check the freshly exposed interior face immediately after splitting. 20 percent or under is your target for easy, clean burning with good heat production. Testing the outside or end of a split after it has sat and weathered is worth nothing. You must re-split your test splits and test the newly exposed interior face/surface. Best results are gotten by testing at room temp. Super cold/froze splits will yield inaccurate results.

Typical seasoning time varies by location and specie. Nothing will truly season until split and stacked. Preferably stacked off the ground with full sun and wind. Some of your softwood's can season in 6 month's to a year after splitting and stacking correctly. Hardwoods are another story entirely. One to two years is common. Some cases three years to get the job done. Purchasing wood from a firewood seller advertised as "seasoned" usually means (you bought wet wood). There are a few sellers selling truly seasoned wood but I would venture a guess that they are very far and very few between.

Get your dead Ash split/stacked first in my opinion. Some of it may be surprisingly dry. Best of luck.

Post a few pics of the woodshed as it comes along.

 

[marty319]

I remember a few years back friend of mine bought 2 cords of poplar 8 ft lengths.told me it was seasoned cause it was 2 years old .I told him bs and when he started bucking it up a foot in was like it was freshly cut.

 

[Niro]

Woodsheds are nice. Never had one myself. Someday.

Generally speaking. Get your wood cut, split, stacked asap. Purchase a moisture meter. Check a few splits from your split pile and check the freshly exposed interior face immediately after splitting. 20 percent or under is your target for easy, clean burning with good heat production. Testing the outside or end of a split after it has sat and weathered is worth nothing. You must re-split your test splits and test the newly exposed interior face/surface. Best results are gotten by testing at room temp. Super cold/froze splits will yield inaccurate results.

Typical seasoning time varies by location and specie. Nothing will truly season until split and stacked. Preferably stacked off the ground with full sun and wind. Some of your softwood's can season in 6 month's to a year after splitting and stacking correctly. Hardwoods are another story entirely. One to two years is common. Some cases three years to get the job done. Purchasing wood from a firewood seller advertised as "seasoned" usually means (you bought wet wood). There are a few sellers selling truly seasoned wood but I would venture a guess that they are very far and very few between.

Get your dead Ash split/stacked first in my opinion. Some of it may be surprisingly dry. Best of luck.

Post a few pics of the woodshed as it comes along.

That's great advice! I ordered a moisture meter and I will prioritize splitting, over the shed for the moment. Thanks will post pics as I progress.

 

[xman23]

2 stoves and a wood shed. Your into this real deep. Good for you, but as Geoff said you might see if this is for you. A nice double row running stack on pallets, out in the sun and breeze and top covered works fine. The wood doesn't start drying until it's split. I don't know ash but oak takes 2-3 years to season.

 

[marty319]

I've never covered my wood since I started burning in 1982.sits out all summer and goes in the shed come fall.anything left outside for the winter then gets covered.

 

[Niro]

2 stoves and a wood shed. Your into this real deep. Good for you, but as Geoff said you might see if this is for you. A nice double row running stack on pallets, out in the sun and breeze and top covered works fine. The wood doesn't start drying until it's split. I don't know ash but oak takes 2-3 years to season.

I split and stacked wood on bricks and rocks, some in my trailer last year with tarps. I wound up having like 5 different piles all over the property and some tarps held while others ripped. It was just unorganized. I figure one central location is easier and I don't have to worry about tarps holding up or not.

As far at 2 stoves, why not its better that what did last year, which was burn in an open fireplace and wasted all that wood. We are definitely going to want to light fires in the winter, weather it's to heat my whole house or to save the boiler from kicking on for a night or two, it just makes sense.

Although we are now considering one lopi large rectangle in the large family room and one bk 25 for the other side. I looked at the lopi and my wife and I like the big viewing glass. She likes that look and feels it will be better for the family room as it's big room and open concept to kitchen and dinning room.

The Bk can still go in what is the formal living room since we are not formal living room people I just use it as my office. It leads out with double door to the stairs upto second floor and st the top of those stairs it the return vent so I'm hoping I can circulate to the bedrooms.

 

[BKVP]

You can build one heck of a wood Shed from pallets and 2 x 4's. Pallets offer great air flow for walls and base.....then OSB for top. One guy used the rubber membrane off a motor home....man that thing is crazy for preserving against the elements.

Try looking up on Facebook "Woodway wood Shed competition". Some spectacular sheds.

 

[begreen]

Lots of sheds are shown in the Wood Shed forum here.

Show Us Your Wood Shed

New sticky for wood shed photos and plans.

www.hearth.com