Finally got my new Hybrid Fyre insert installed

[HybridFyre]

Hello everyone,

After weeks of wait we finally had our Fireplace Xtrordinair Large Hybrid Fyre flushmount installed. We were literally nail biting as the installers put it in as we knew going into it that it would be a very tight fit. We heard from the company we purchased from that anyone within an inch of manufacturer's minimum specs for height were very tight because it left little room to fit hands in to connect the liner and install the cover plate. Below are some pics.



First impressions.....so far I love it. Once it gets going it puts out some serious heat with the blower on high. I'm a little annoyed because the 'really well seasoned wood' I got from a supplier down the road is really around 23-27% on the moisture meter. Luckily I only bought a face cord. I'll have to find a new guy for the rest of the year. Next year i'll have my own wood ready. The only question I have so far is if there are any good areas to mount a thermostat to. I would like to use one of the magnetic ones just for the remainder of this season as my wife and I get used to it, but since it's a flush mount i'm not really sure where to mount to. I have no access to the liner and the door face doesn't seem to get ridiculously hot. Curious if I need to use a lower temp range on the door itself which would be relative to what an inside temp would be. I also have an IR thermostat gun, but not sure if I need to open the fireplace to get a reading or if firing through the glass is good enough. Thanks! I've been reading the site religiously over the last few weeks. So much to learn...

 

[begreen]

That looks great. Good to hear it's heating well. How is the blower noise on high?

Order next year's wood soon if not now and try to get it as seasoned as possible. Oak is going to want 2 yrs to season after being split and stacked.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

Can you stick the thermo in the vent out put where the air blows from? I won't be accurate with the fan on but you can switch off. Others may have this insert and will chime...

 

[trguitar]

This is the insert version of the Lopi Cape Cod freestanding hybrid, right? How many square feet are you heating here? Are you using this as a primary heat source, or supplementary?

 

[HybridFyre]

Thanks. Working on getting ahead on the wood. I live on 2.5 acres and there are a few hundred acres behind me of farmland. Already lots of trees that came down last year during Hurricane Sandy and i'm working on splitting and stacking. They're red oak so since they fell a year ago i'm hoping another year split and stacked may be passable but I realize they may need another year after that. I'll be sure to test with a moisture meter. I'll also be working on an outdoor woodshed too.

It was crazy, we have a 2,500 sq foot open concept house. The fireplace is in the great room which has a 20' ceiling. We were burning through a full tank of oil a month and the house was still cold. Now it's high 60/low 70's with the insert running full bore. Couldn't be happier.

 

[Nick Mystic]

Since you already have an IR thermometer I would use that to shoot temperatures off various spots on the front of the stove to find the hottest spot big enough for your magnetic thermometer to attach. I haven't heard of using an IR thermometer to shoot temperatures of the actual fire burning inside the stove, so I'm not sure what sort of temperature readings you'd be looking for in there. My IR thermometer only goes up to 600 F, so whenever it gets near my glass doors it just shows that the temperature is beyond the thermometer.

 

[cableman]

Looks great! My buddy has the non arched glass one. He had his cover plate cut down so it just covered the opening! I thought it was a good idea, but his is granite then stone so he had to cut it.
He said it sucks up a lot of wood maybe cause its a big box idk. I think he's getting pretty good burn times.

 

[HybridFyre]

Yeah my burn times are pretty good too but nowhere near the reported burn times. However, i've only had it a few days and i'm still feeling it out. I choked it all the way down one night after stuffing it at 11pm and there were still hot coals at 7am the next day but the glass had turned fairly black so I think I choked it down too much. If I leave it much more open it won't make it till morning. Manufacturer's burn time is 12 hours....but from what i've read on here it seems normal to not hit the manufacturer's burn time ratings.

 

[prezes13]

Very nice insert I was tempted to get that one too but my dealer said it would be over kill for my 1200 sf, so I got cape cod instead. Check my thread about taking temp reading I am in the same boat. For two years I didn't take a reading I just watched what was going on in the fire box. I don't think that with wood which is not well seasoned you will over fire your stove.

 

[Justin]

About how much does this insert go for?

 

[KBart]

I have the same stove but last year's model they made a couple changes. I am very happy with the stove. It heats my house 2000 Sq ft ranch great. This year I installed the catalyst thermometer. I think it helps I was not shutting damper soon enough. The catalyst was falling apart at the end of one season. It was covered under warranty so when I installed thermometer I changed cat and also put in a block off plate. It seems to be burning better and using less wood .The stove burns a lot better with a couple inches of ash on bottom it holds the heat longer and starts up easier. I get about 8-9 her burn times over night with easy start up.

 

[cableman]

About how much does this insert go for?

We drove to vt to pick my buddies up and i believe he paid $3300 or $3400

 

[HybridFyre]

We drove to vt to pick my buddies up and i believe he paid $3300 or $3400

Yup that's about right. I paid about $5k total with install. Unit was around $3,400. They threw in the cover plate for free then install and stainless liner and cap and whatever else came to about $1,600 more with taxes and everything else.

The only thing that bugs me is they didn't do a block off plate but they did shove a bunch of fiberglass insulation above the liner base where the block off plate would be. I asked them about it and they said they've always done it that way with a seal plate at the top where the liner meets the cap and it insulates the chimney well.

 

[velvetfoot]

Looks nice! Can you load it Front/Back?

 

[dave_376]

Looks good! Where in CT are you? The black glass is from incomplete burn, your woods not dry enough to maintain clean burn at low temps. Try getting it the stove hot before you shut it down at night, Maybe reload on a hot bed of coals and in theory it should extend your burn times without getting the stove too hot

 

[HybridFyre]

I'm in North Stonington about a stones throw from Rhode Island.

I suppose you could load N/S but you'd have to use short splits. It's only about a foot deep. There are two large prong things in the front to keep a log roll from hitting the glass. So once you set logs behind that N/S there isn't a ton of room. E/W is huge though. I would for 24", maybe even 26".

 

[jeffesonm]

I had good luck on my Matrix flush insert using an IR thermometer to shoot the top of the stove through the vent where the blower air comes out.

 

[HybridFyre]

I had good luck on my Matrix flush insert using an IR thermometer to shoot the top of the stove through the vent where the blower air comes out.

Thanks. What kind of temp reading is a good safe number versus too high when targeting that zone? I've seen people mention measuring stovetop temps vs stove pipe temps and the ranges associated, but not sure where that one would fall. Thanks!

 

[jeffesonm]

On the Matrix at least you are able to target the top of the firebox, so I used the stovetop temp range... 400-650 is cruising along nicely...

 

[HybridFyre]

Awesome thank you.