I am looking for information, actually personal experience, on the pros and cons of three inserts. Sales people in my area have not been much help as they only know their products and some don't even know their products...
I currently have a Napoleon 1101. We burn 24/7. House size is 1800sq.ft. Area we heat is smaller due to the configuration of our house (Even with a blower heat doesn't make it to the back of our house which is okay because the rooms are just bedrooms). I would guess the area we heat with our insert is about 900 to 1000 sq.ft. I burn mixed hard woods and red oak. On cold days, below 32 degrees, the temp. stays at about 70 degrees.
I am wondering if I go to a different insert if I can get a bit more heat for our cold days. I'd like to get to 72-74 degree range. With the Napoleon it takes several hours to boost the temp.
I do not load it at night. Last logs usually go on around 8 or 9 p.m. depending on room temp. During the night I let the coals burn down.
When I bought the Napoleon I knew nothing. The salesman sold me on it by telling me that the unit was the easiest to maintain as the blower was on the side therefore easy to change if we ever had any problems with it. He also said that the blowers rarely if ever have problems. Silly me, I believed him. One year later blower began to give us problems and I found out that the store I bought it from was worthless when it came to providing service. I finally found someone who knew what he was doing who got me a new blower and installed it. It was an easy job that I could have done except that the blower was not located on the side of the unit...it was on the back requiring the whole unit to be pulled out in order to install it.
I am looking now at models of inserts with blowers located in the front where they are easy to clean out with a vacuum. The inserts that I have been looking at are the Jotul c450, the Regency Homstead and a Quadra-fire 400 (their cast iron insert). I was excited about the Jotul after reading about it on line but when I went and actually looked at it I was surprised to see how small the fire box was and how much space the baffle/air wash system took up. It is a fire box that is smaller than the one in my Napoleon. I did like that the surround was cast iron and that the blowers were located on the front. Fire box just looked awkward as to how much wood I can actually fill it with to produce more heat than my Napoleon. The Regency was bigger than my Napoleon but the baffles/air tubes on the top seemed really cheaply made and easy to knock out of place. I have also read that the blowers are noisy. I have not looked at a Quadra-fire yet as the store that sells them is some distance from my house. Decided I'd ask here for help before going any further.
One other thing. How easy are these models to clean when my chimney sweep cleans my chimney. Napoleon is a breeze as it doesn't have to be moved to do the job.
Thanks for any input. Hopefully I will become less confused and my choice will be made with more knowledge than my first purchase.
I currently have a Napoleon 1101. We burn 24/7. House size is 1800sq.ft. Area we heat is smaller due to the configuration of our house (Even with a blower heat doesn't make it to the back of our house which is okay because the rooms are just bedrooms). I would guess the area we heat with our insert is about 900 to 1000 sq.ft. I burn mixed hard woods and red oak. On cold days, below 32 degrees, the temp. stays at about 70 degrees.
I am wondering if I go to a different insert if I can get a bit more heat for our cold days. I'd like to get to 72-74 degree range. With the Napoleon it takes several hours to boost the temp.
I do not load it at night. Last logs usually go on around 8 or 9 p.m. depending on room temp. During the night I let the coals burn down.
When I bought the Napoleon I knew nothing. The salesman sold me on it by telling me that the unit was the easiest to maintain as the blower was on the side therefore easy to change if we ever had any problems with it. He also said that the blowers rarely if ever have problems. Silly me, I believed him. One year later blower began to give us problems and I found out that the store I bought it from was worthless when it came to providing service. I finally found someone who knew what he was doing who got me a new blower and installed it. It was an easy job that I could have done except that the blower was not located on the side of the unit...it was on the back requiring the whole unit to be pulled out in order to install it.
I am looking now at models of inserts with blowers located in the front where they are easy to clean out with a vacuum. The inserts that I have been looking at are the Jotul c450, the Regency Homstead and a Quadra-fire 400 (their cast iron insert). I was excited about the Jotul after reading about it on line but when I went and actually looked at it I was surprised to see how small the fire box was and how much space the baffle/air wash system took up. It is a fire box that is smaller than the one in my Napoleon. I did like that the surround was cast iron and that the blowers were located on the front. Fire box just looked awkward as to how much wood I can actually fill it with to produce more heat than my Napoleon. The Regency was bigger than my Napoleon but the baffles/air tubes on the top seemed really cheaply made and easy to knock out of place. I have also read that the blowers are noisy. I have not looked at a Quadra-fire yet as the store that sells them is some distance from my house. Decided I'd ask here for help before going any further.
One other thing. How easy are these models to clean when my chimney sweep cleans my chimney. Napoleon is a breeze as it doesn't have to be moved to do the job.
Thanks for any input. Hopefully I will become less confused and my choice will be made with more knowledge than my first purchase.
