Hi all. New member here. Looks like a good site and having been a member of numerous fourms, what I appreciate the most is that you keep it friendly here...no petty bickering...at least none I've seen yet 
I apoligize if this gets a little lengthy.
Here's the deal....I've toyed with buying an insert for our fireplace for years, but with the price of oil the way it is and the fact that I have an ample supply of wood available from maintenance of our 34 acres, I can't justify not having one any longer. It's really just a matter of me picking up the wood piles I have laying about and maybe cutting some standing dead oak for this season...too late to drop anything green. I have a front end loader on my tractor and a husky 136 (no i don't like it) and a 55 rancher already. I used to heat with the fireplace in spring and fall, pretty much using it as a wood disposal unit, but with the heavy draft from it we tend to get a little puff from the furnace when it kicks on for the domestic hot water and wifey would give me grief every time, so i stopped using it and gave all my wood to my next door neighbor, just keeping an emergency supply on hand on the front porch.
I guess things have changed a bit since i last looked into inserts....I see they now recommend a full stainless steel liner. Is that really necessary? We have a 1 1/2 story 1600 sq foot farmhouse cape with the fireplace located on the outside living room wall. The flue looks to be about 10 inch by 12 inch...can't really reach up that high. I've gotten as far as removing the damper door and a visual inspection from the fireplace...all looks good but it could use a cleaning which I have always done in the past myself. Can I just run the pipe up to the flue and seal the annual space betweent the pipe and flue?
As far as other questions...does the entire damper unit come out or do I just run the pipe up the damper door opening? It seems to be set in there pretty well...I couldn't budge it. It's a shade under 6 inches though so I guess I'd have to go to an oval liner to get though it...sorry but I really don't know much about this stuff. I was reading that a blocking plate is recommended as well, and that may be necessary in my case because I don't see how the front plates would seal against by brick facing due to the mortar joints.
As far as stoves go: The Drolet Escape 1400-I which is made by Stove Builder International can be had at Northern Tool for $1,000 plus shipping. It looks like it would fit the bill although the firebox is pretty short at 10 inches tall and they don't tend to carry the highest quality stuff from my experience. I've looked at the Regency line at our local dealer in the past but they weren't exactly cutting deals on them then and I doubt they are now. Something tells me you're all gonna tell me to bite the bullet and go for the regency, lol.
Well, in the interest of brevity I'll leave it at that for now....any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Darryl
I apoligize if this gets a little lengthy. Here's the deal....I've toyed with buying an insert for our fireplace for years, but with the price of oil the way it is and the fact that I have an ample supply of wood available from maintenance of our 34 acres, I can't justify not having one any longer. It's really just a matter of me picking up the wood piles I have laying about and maybe cutting some standing dead oak for this season...too late to drop anything green. I have a front end loader on my tractor and a husky 136 (no i don't like it) and a 55 rancher already. I used to heat with the fireplace in spring and fall, pretty much using it as a wood disposal unit, but with the heavy draft from it we tend to get a little puff from the furnace when it kicks on for the domestic hot water and wifey would give me grief every time, so i stopped using it and gave all my wood to my next door neighbor, just keeping an emergency supply on hand on the front porch.
I guess things have changed a bit since i last looked into inserts....I see they now recommend a full stainless steel liner. Is that really necessary? We have a 1 1/2 story 1600 sq foot farmhouse cape with the fireplace located on the outside living room wall. The flue looks to be about 10 inch by 12 inch...can't really reach up that high. I've gotten as far as removing the damper door and a visual inspection from the fireplace...all looks good but it could use a cleaning which I have always done in the past myself. Can I just run the pipe up to the flue and seal the annual space betweent the pipe and flue?
As far as other questions...does the entire damper unit come out or do I just run the pipe up the damper door opening? It seems to be set in there pretty well...I couldn't budge it. It's a shade under 6 inches though so I guess I'd have to go to an oval liner to get though it...sorry but I really don't know much about this stuff. I was reading that a blocking plate is recommended as well, and that may be necessary in my case because I don't see how the front plates would seal against by brick facing due to the mortar joints.
As far as stoves go: The Drolet Escape 1400-I which is made by Stove Builder International can be had at Northern Tool for $1,000 plus shipping. It looks like it would fit the bill although the firebox is pretty short at 10 inches tall and they don't tend to carry the highest quality stuff from my experience. I've looked at the Regency line at our local dealer in the past but they weren't exactly cutting deals on them then and I doubt they are now. Something tells me you're all gonna tell me to bite the bullet and go for the regency, lol.
Well, in the interest of brevity I'll leave it at that for now....any comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Darryl
