Buck insert 18b

[johng]

Well I finally went and looked at some stoves today. I thought I had my mind made up. I was pretty sure I wanted a Jotul f500. But, my wife asked the guy about an insert and if it would fit in our prefab fire place and he said they have put 3 in this past week. He said the Buck 18b would fit without any problem. I did not know you could put one in a prefab fire place. So this may be an option for us. I am not sure if it would put out enough heat for us. We live in Florida so we do not have the really cold temps some of you do. Our house is 2400sq ft open floor plan. It would be a lot cheaper than the f500 because he said we could use our existing chimney. And the install would be easier also.

Do any of you guys have this small insert? How do you like it?

One more Question?

If I take out my prefab fire place can I put an insert in its place? If this can be done I can go up in size on the insert to the Buck 81 and I am sure it would do what we would want.

I know there is a huge difference between the buck 18 and the f500 the only reason I am even thinking about it is because of price and ease of instillation. My prefab is in a corner now on a diagonal wall and I will have to take out the diagonal wall and sheet rock the corner that is behind the fireplace now. And replace the chimney.

the price to the buck 18 is 2115.90 with everything needed to hook it up.
the f500 is 3743.65 with single wall pipe to the ceiling and insulated double SS up to the top with cap and everything to hook it up. Installation is not included in either price. I am planning on doing it myself.

Any thoughts or recomendations welcome. Thanks John

 

[wannago]

Yes I installed my buck stove in my pre-fabed fireplace myself in about 2 hours. I had to settle for the small stove myself. It does a good job my house is about 1550 sq. ft. You wont be able to heat your whole house but it might be enough for your type winters. Ther are not to many people that use the Buck stove on this website, they are more used in the South than anywhere else. But I love my stove, it does a great job. You have to cut your wood a little smaler 16" or smaller and you can't get a lot of wood in it. It keeps my house around 70 to 75 degrees. Oh by the way I live in Midland North Carolina (right outside of Charlotte) Good luck, and stay warm

 

[southland]

I don't know anything about the model 18, but we're happy with our model 51 insert. The only other Buck stove that I've used is my parent's model 91. They've burnt it hard for 8 or 9 years with no problems. Buck stoves seem to be well build, dependable stoves. The benefit of an insert to me is that it doesn't take up as much floor space.