Fire Place Insert?

[Max Goldman]

Hello,
I very much want to lower my fuel costs and have been trying to find a cheaper source of heat. I’ve considered corn, wood pellets, and outdoor wood boilers. But I’m leaning heavily toward a wood burning fireplace insert.

I live in Northwestern Wisconsin. I have a split-level style home, built in 1974, about 2,400 square feet, baseboard water heat, with a fuel oil boiler. The fireplace is in a first floor living room.

I would very much appreciate any information/thoughts/advise, especially on the following:
• Is a wood insert a good way to go?
• How much savings could I expect?
• I have look looked at Lopi, Quadra-fire, and Pacific energy inserts. I like the Lopi Declaration the best because it can burn 24” logs, looks nice, and is flush to the fireplace (my hearth is 13” so I don’t want something that sticks out too much). Is this a good model? Are there other brands I should consider?

Thank you!

 

[Todd]

An insert will definitely lower your fuel costs. You may not be able to heat the entire house like a OWB could, but with an insert you have the benefits of watching the flames, cleaner burn, and less wood usage. 2400 sq ft is a big space to heat with an insert, but it can be done if you have a open floor plan and good air circulation. Expect to cut your heating bills in half or more if you burn 24/7.

Those Declarations and the Fireplace Extraordinaire are nice looking units. Also look at the Jutols, they have some nice looking flush models.

 

[wg_bent]

Hello,
I very much want to lower my fuel costs and have been trying to find a cheaper source of heat. I’ve considered corn, wood pellets, and outdoor wood boilers. But I’m leaning heavily toward a wood burning fireplace insert.

I live in Northwestern Wisconsin. I have a split-level style home, built in 1974, about 2,400 square feet, baseboard water heat, with a fuel oil boiler. The fireplace is in a first floor living room.

I would very much appreciate any information/thoughts/advise, especially on the following:
• Is a wood insert a good way to go?
• How much savings could I expect?
• I have look looked at Lopi, Quadra-fire, and Pacific energy inserts. I like the Lopi Declaration the best because it can burn 24” logs, looks nice, and is flush to the fireplace (my hearth is 13” so I don’t want something that sticks out too much). Is this a good model? Are there other brands I should consider?

Thank you!

Hi Max. Welcome. I've been where you are 2 years ago. 2400 sqft is a lot to heat with a single stove, I do about 2200 with an Osburn 1800i, but I loose ground on days lower than about 10 degrees. I'd say you can cut your usage in half or more. You still do hot water with your boiler? Well, if so, you'll quickly figure out just how much you use to heat water that goes into the septic system.

What are you installing it in? How big is the fireplace it's going into? Largely your choices will be dictated by the size of your opening. You'll need a hearth pad to protect the floor below the insert anyway so include that in your plans.

A Declaration is cool since it doesn't stick out much if at all, but many people do like the fact that some of the stove sticks out some. If you can fit one, Look at the Pacific Energy Summit, Osburn 2400, Englander, Lopi Freedom, or a Country Stoves Canyon. All these are very large stoves and you'll be happy you bought big.

This all presumes that you can fit one of them.

 

[Oregon Fire]

I have just gone through the decision making process myself...

I noticed that you said your hearth is 13" - code is typically 16" - so you will have to extend it or buy an extender - basically a tile assembly that you lay down to provide the protection. So your criteria for having something that doesn't protrude that far really doesn't matter - you will have to extend it (unless the hearth is "up off the floor"... Given this - if I were going for heat, durability - pacific energy summit insert. For looks - the vc winterwarm (cat) or jotul kennebec c450 (non-cat) are both cast fronts, etc. The jotul has a very good reputation here, the pacific energy seems to be a favorite as well...

jeff

 

[MrGriz]

Welcome to Hearth.com Max!

I just finished burning my first season with my Osburn insert and I loved it. Mine is in the lower level of a tri-level and keeps the lower level and main level nice and toasty. There are a lot of good choices out there, but a bit more information on your set up would be helpful.

Can you give us a description of the layout of your home and where the fireplace is?

Also, what are the dimensions of the firebox in your fireplace?

Is the chimney on an exterior or interior wall and approximately how tall is it?

 

[Max Goldman]

Thank you for all your replies. This website has been great!

Here is more info:

description of the layout of your home and where the fireplace is? It’s a split level home, the fireplace is in the basement, on an interior wall, with a living room/area on each side of it. Above this area is another living room, a dining room, and the kitchen. It is not a very open floor plan, the only access to the upstairs is via the main entry, split level, stairs which is about 10 feet from the fire place. On the side of the hose opposite of the fireplace, in the basement, are two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a mudroom. On the side opposite of the fireplace in the upstairs are two bedrooms and a bathroom. I have three heating zones: 1. entire basement 2. upstairs bedrooms 3. upstairs kitchen/living room/dining room. I'm thinking and hoping that the fireplace would heat the basement and rooms above it while the boiler would be used to primarily heat the upstairs bedrooms zone. I hope this description makes sense.

what are the dimensions of the firebox in your fireplace? width in back is 24", width in front 32", 21" deep, and 24" high.

Is the chimney on an exterior or interior wall and approximately how tall is it? Interior wall and I'd guess it’s about 24’ high (two floors, plus the roof).

If any more info would be helpful, I'd be glad to provide it. Thanks again!

 

[eba1225]

Max, Welcome.

I recently purchased the Lopi Declaration. We purchased it because of it's flush design, as we will be living with it for many, many years. I will be extending my hearth to meet the manufacturers requirements of 17 1/2 using the non-combustionable pad material sold at the stove stores. It is something that I will use when the stove is operation.

Beware that you probably will need a permit for the installation of your insert as well as a liner for your existing flue.

I have a 2 story colonial, 2700 sqft, and my intent is to strategically place fans to help move the warm air around the house, ie out of the great room and up the stairs to the bed rooms.
My intent is to to offset my oil usage by 1/3 ~ $500/yr (at todays rate).

One benefit of burning wood is the fitness workout you get cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking the wood.

Erik

 

[Gooserider]

Wood is certainly the low price champ if you do it right. Buying cut and split cordwood is the most expensive option, but the least work. Scrounging is the lowest cost for the wood, but will run the most in "background costs" for equipment, and is the most work. I mostly take an intermediate level, and purchase truckloads of "log length" wood, which is basically the tree as it comes from the woods, full length (~20 foot) logs, requiring you to cut and split it yourself - A truckload of log length will run about $3-400 and contain between 5-7 cords when cut and split.

You will probably want a storage area for your wood, you can get by with just tarping over the piles, but many will reccomend building a woodshed of some sort.

Unless you only do cut and splt you will need a chainsaw (pro-grade, the home owner models don't hold up that well) and protective gear, plus splitting equipment either hand (more work, less cost) or power (more expensive, less work) and probably some assorted other stuff to move the wood around with.

If you plan on scrounging, you will need all the above, plus a scrounging vehicle - typically a full size pickup ("beater grade" - wood hauling is hard on a vehicle's appearance) and maybe a trailer. Some add winches or other stuff to make getting the wood onto the truck easier.

From your house description, sounds like you should be able to heat most of it with an insert, especially if you add some strategically placed fans. I would suggest getting the largest firebox size that will fit in your existing fireplace opening. You will probably also need to put a full length liner in your chimney, which increases safety, will improve the performance of the insert, and makes cleaning the chimney much easier. Some places might try to sell you on a shorter liner, but this technique is a bit of a hack, most folks that have gone that route have regretted it.

The hearth does sound like a bit of a minor problem, as current codes call for AT LEAST a 16" fireproof surface (in the US, 18" in Canada) in front of the opening. It doesn't all have to be on the same level though, and you say the fireplace is in the basement, so I'd suspect that your floor is concrete? If so, all you might need to do is pull up a foot or so of whatever floor covering is in front of the hearth and replace it with a strip of tiles or other fireproof material - fairly cheap, not much extra work, and will make you a lot safer.

As others have mentioned, you probably also should check with your local gov't types to find out what permitting / inspection requirements they have, and while you are at it, do the same with your homeowners insurance co.

Gooserider