Hello,
This may be a long post, but I am a new member and have gone through this website and forums for a few years now reading and researching. Anyways, I live in Montana and we bought our house a while ago right around before COVID. The place needed quite a bit of work and one of the areas that needed work were the chimney and fireplaces. Since we have bought the house we have not used them, but the previous owner did. However, the chimney inspector strongly recommended to not use them due to safety concerns. The chimney itself is actually concrete block and runs from the basement up to the roof and a second fireplace on the first floor. Due to the area I live in and many new houses being built it took almost 3 years to get a mason to come out to fix the top of the chimney above the roof which was stone.
Anyways the inserts that were used are similar and both Blaze Kings. However, the bottom insert is "slammed" and is not directly connected to the flue, as I am able to move it in and out of the fireplace by hand and the terracotta is cracked in that flue as well.
The main floor insert is connected to non-insulated stove pipe being run through the flue.
We currently have baseboard and a mini-split for heating . The mini-split works really well in extreme cold, it worked down to -25 before it shut off this winter. However, I am concerned with only having electrical sources for heat in the winter and it could be a major problem if the power were to go out and I would like to have a back up source of heat. I am just seeing what peoples recommendations on this forum would be.
For the main floor I was planning on replacing it with a new insert (either a lopi or a pacific enegery super) and lined stainless steel pipe, the quote was around $8,000. For the basement I was planning on eventually doing gas, however, we are currently not connected to NG, but the main line is next the driveway, but would cost about $2,000 for them to run the line and meter next to the house, so that is something that would have to wait another year or two. I was wondering if it would be possible to put a gas stove in and run like a 100 lb tank of LPG outside and have a line run into the house and to the insert until I can get NG pluming setup and done.
Another issue as well is that we live near a canyon and can get extremely strong winds in the winter and was not sure what is the best way to address the caps for the chimneys to make sure smoke is not getting blown back down. The first quote we got the company said they could put a sheetmetal cap over the entire chimney, but it was $1,500.
Is the main level insert okay to use safely with noninsulated stove pipe attached? Do I need insulated stainless steel flue for both inserts?
I know this is a lot of information, but I am just trying to see what the best approach is and what I should focus my efforts on. The basement and first floor are ~ 1,500 sqft each and I've included images as well.
Anyways I really appreciate any recommendations or feedback,
Bob
![[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/327/327082-0010a85f75f81b9c166fc41a974e06f7.jpg?hash=2BrbePZRT5 "[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.")
![[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/327/327083-5ff7e0efe836e059bcf44dd20bbe26a0.jpg?hash=Hn1EAKqeRU "[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.")
![[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/327/327084-88769b071d47c6f755fb1cbbf072124c.jpg?hash=W4O_fw4VGv "[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.")
![[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/327/327085-bc12e042928d0015afb623dd0ecd8c5b.jpg?hash=ordfXqe4rk "[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.")
This may be a long post, but I am a new member and have gone through this website and forums for a few years now reading and researching. Anyways, I live in Montana and we bought our house a while ago right around before COVID. The place needed quite a bit of work and one of the areas that needed work were the chimney and fireplaces. Since we have bought the house we have not used them, but the previous owner did. However, the chimney inspector strongly recommended to not use them due to safety concerns. The chimney itself is actually concrete block and runs from the basement up to the roof and a second fireplace on the first floor. Due to the area I live in and many new houses being built it took almost 3 years to get a mason to come out to fix the top of the chimney above the roof which was stone.
Anyways the inserts that were used are similar and both Blaze Kings. However, the bottom insert is "slammed" and is not directly connected to the flue, as I am able to move it in and out of the fireplace by hand and the terracotta is cracked in that flue as well.
The main floor insert is connected to non-insulated stove pipe being run through the flue.
We currently have baseboard and a mini-split for heating . The mini-split works really well in extreme cold, it worked down to -25 before it shut off this winter. However, I am concerned with only having electrical sources for heat in the winter and it could be a major problem if the power were to go out and I would like to have a back up source of heat. I am just seeing what peoples recommendations on this forum would be.
For the main floor I was planning on replacing it with a new insert (either a lopi or a pacific enegery super) and lined stainless steel pipe, the quote was around $8,000. For the basement I was planning on eventually doing gas, however, we are currently not connected to NG, but the main line is next the driveway, but would cost about $2,000 for them to run the line and meter next to the house, so that is something that would have to wait another year or two. I was wondering if it would be possible to put a gas stove in and run like a 100 lb tank of LPG outside and have a line run into the house and to the insert until I can get NG pluming setup and done.
Another issue as well is that we live near a canyon and can get extremely strong winds in the winter and was not sure what is the best way to address the caps for the chimneys to make sure smoke is not getting blown back down. The first quote we got the company said they could put a sheetmetal cap over the entire chimney, but it was $1,500.
Is the main level insert okay to use safely with noninsulated stove pipe attached? Do I need insulated stainless steel flue for both inserts?
I know this is a lot of information, but I am just trying to see what the best approach is and what I should focus my efforts on. The basement and first floor are ~ 1,500 sqft each and I've included images as well.
Anyways I really appreciate any recommendations or feedback,
Bob
![[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/327/327113-59622f02f6d07d68524eb249f2e955c2.jpg?hash=OKFT1EssBE "[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.")
![[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/327/327114-33f0da4680a0461a98ea01f94f7f3f57.jpg?hash=F6cTaE2wr9 "[Hearth.com] Advice on current fireplace insert safety and upgrading.")
