Wilbursan
Member
gouache23,
I understand your confusion with the terminology. It confused me too, so he's what I learned. Anyone feel free to jump in and correct me.
ZC = Zero Clearance fireplace. These are the non-masonry fireplaces that new houses all seem to come with. They can be gas or wood and some can do both.
Freestanding - A wood stove that sits in the room (what you normally think of when someone says wood stove)
Insert - Basically a wood stove designed to be inserted into a masonry fireplace. I've also seen ZC fireplaces referred to as inserts so watch the context.
I understand your desire for a fireplace. I miss my old one (though not that POS in my last house). I would one day consider another fireplace if it meets these criteria:
1) Big. Those 36" ZC fireplaces just suck. You have to build a small fire with small splits and you're throwing wood in every 20 minutes.
2) Circulating fan. I could get a lot of heat out of my old fireplace with this. Or just leave it off, whatever.
3) Outside air kit to help keep it from sucking so much air out of the house but mainly to be used with ...
4) Glass doors. You can't really use these when the fire is burning, but after it dies down and you've got just coals left that aren't putting out much heat it's nice to be able to shut the doors. It won't stop it from stealing some of the air out of them room, but it will stop most of it, especially if you have the outside air kit. And it keeps you from worrying about embers popping out. I'd try to get ones with gaskets to help seal it up when not in use. I've never felt a draft coming out of mine, but I don't live in Michigan.
The biggest problem with fireplaces is keeping wood in them. Even my old bigger fireplace needed wood every 45 minutes and sometimes tending in between, the last one needed wood every 20. With the wood stove I'm trying to figure out how not to burn the house down with 3 medium sized splits. If I were made out of money I'd have a wood stove on one side of my enormous living room and a fireplace on the other.
I understand your confusion with the terminology. It confused me too, so he's what I learned. Anyone feel free to jump in and correct me.
ZC = Zero Clearance fireplace. These are the non-masonry fireplaces that new houses all seem to come with. They can be gas or wood and some can do both.
Freestanding - A wood stove that sits in the room (what you normally think of when someone says wood stove)
Insert - Basically a wood stove designed to be inserted into a masonry fireplace. I've also seen ZC fireplaces referred to as inserts so watch the context.
I understand your desire for a fireplace. I miss my old one (though not that POS in my last house). I would one day consider another fireplace if it meets these criteria:
1) Big. Those 36" ZC fireplaces just suck. You have to build a small fire with small splits and you're throwing wood in every 20 minutes.
2) Circulating fan. I could get a lot of heat out of my old fireplace with this. Or just leave it off, whatever.
3) Outside air kit to help keep it from sucking so much air out of the house but mainly to be used with ...
4) Glass doors. You can't really use these when the fire is burning, but after it dies down and you've got just coals left that aren't putting out much heat it's nice to be able to shut the doors. It won't stop it from stealing some of the air out of them room, but it will stop most of it, especially if you have the outside air kit. And it keeps you from worrying about embers popping out. I'd try to get ones with gaskets to help seal it up when not in use. I've never felt a draft coming out of mine, but I don't live in Michigan.
The biggest problem with fireplaces is keeping wood in them. Even my old bigger fireplace needed wood every 45 minutes and sometimes tending in between, the last one needed wood every 20. With the wood stove I'm trying to figure out how not to burn the house down with 3 medium sized splits. If I were made out of money I'd have a wood stove on one side of my enormous living room and a fireplace on the other.
