Fireplace, insert and woodstove

[cheech]

Hi all..

I would like to use my exsisting fireplace to either install an insert or wood stove. The bricks in the fireplace need to be replaced at a cost of 500 $ so I figured a wood stove would make better financial sense. I have a brick mantle with a brick base and feel a woodstove installed thru the exsisting chimmeny makes more economic sense. Can I install the stove myself?..What size stove? Any cleareance issues? Blower ? Room is family to kitchen about 40 by 15 ft which leads to foyer and stairs to bedrooms. Just looking to keep some warmth thruout the day to supplament my oil(yuck) baseboard heat.. Thanks

 

[SteveT]

Welcome to the board. As a new member myself I have found all sorts of help here and I'm sure you will too.

You asked some pretty broad questions.... specific answers are impossible at this stage. But here's a few comments to start the ball rolling while we wait for the other folks on this board to get involved and for you to provide some more information.

First, either an insert or a free standing stove is viable. The repair to the existing chimney is (apparently) going to happen either way and doesn't influence the decision. As a rule an insert is more of a whole-house appliance (it does most of heating by convection and that travels better throughout the house). So yes, a blower is essential for an insert. A woodstove on the other hand is a radiant heater -- very warm in the same room as the stove but less impact on remote parts of the house. Many people use a blower with a stove but it seems to be a far smaller percentage (I used a stove for many tears, heated just a couple of rooms with it, no blower; I was totally satisfied without the blower).

With the same goal as you in mind (i.e. keep the oil delivery guy away as much as possible) I recently bought an insert. In my case the insert decision was also appealing due to the fact that I have an older house with smaller rooms and giving up the space to the stove wasn't something I wanted to do. I like the aesthetics of a free-standing stove and I would have considered it if my circumstances were different.

How big? Well, how big is your house? Stoves are rated on Btu/hour and many tell you it will heat x square feet. But that is not really precise as it depends on insulation, windows, amount of sun etc. The knowledgeble folks on the board might get a better idea of a solution if you were to say something like, "last year I burned XX gallons of oil and this year I want to cut that in half (or do without oil entirely, or whatever). It does seem that going a bit larger than you might think is seldom a bad thing -- you can build a smaller fire. As one of the moderators said awhile back, there are very few complaints from people who bought too big of a stove. There are a lot of people that wish they bought larger.

Can you install it yourself? Sure a whole lot of people do. I didn't, in part because of of the difficulty of the install (steep roof and a strong dislike of being on the roof for any reason) and not wanting to wrestle 500 pounds or so of stove into place. I decided that paying a professional installer was well worth the price but, again, many do it themselves.

You'll get a lot of good information here but in my opinion that is only half the battle. Go visit several local stove shops and see what they have to offer. And, nearly as important as the product is the dealer. Go with someone you are comfortable with, has a good reputation etc. Problems occur. Stove manufacturers use their network of dealers to resolve issues so a good brand from a lackadaisical dealer is not going to work.

Finally -- get moving quickly. if you have been reading these boards at all you know that supply is tight and getting tighter. That comment applies to both the stove AND the wood. GOOD LUCK.

 

[BrotherBart]

Hit us with a picture of the fireplace, the dimensions and the particulars on the chimney (ie: masonry with tile liner, if so inside dimensions of the tiles, height etc.).

And your threshold of pain for total cost.

 

[Corie]

I'm with BrotherBart 100%. Get us that information and we can help with a lot more specific information.

 

[cheech]

Thanks for taking time to help!

Fireplace dimensions..
- 38 inch widt
- 17 1/4 height
- 15 depth

Mantle Base depth- 21 inches
Mantle Height- 37 Inches
Mantle Width- 41 1/2inches

Chimmeny is steel(14 years old always maintained , very clean, ? guessing a pre-fab kit).8 inch fleu

Cost...well hopefully under 2k?

 

[cheech]

Please help!!

 

[Dix]

Hang tight chaluch, it's July, and a Sunday ... I got a sunburn today at an Italian Giglio Festival in Brooklyn

A lay out of the house would help, too.

You're in Jersey, you should have access to wood. Have you gotten any of that yet? If not, better start checking out your options.

Oh, and 1 more piece of advice.... don't believe the ferret "myth"

 

[begreen]

Do you know the brand of prefab fireplace? The low height makes this a challenging one to come up with a solution for.

 

[cheech]

Marten Industries Thanks

 

[begreen]

What say ye gang? I don't find a tiny insert that will work. But would demolishing the hearth, building a new one at floor level and putting a free-standing stove with a liner make it?

 

[fossil]

The dimensions don't make a lot of sense to me, when I compare them to the picture. If you rip out all the sheet metal on the front where the sliding metal curtains are, and you get right down to the brick opening itself...is that what you're saying is 38" wide x 17 1/4" high? It looks a lot more square than that to me. What's the dimension from the hearth surface up to the first course of brick, which should be sitting atop a steel lintel? (brick to brick...forget about the sheet metal facade). Rick

 

[Adios Pantalones]

You might find a freestanding hearth stove that vents through the back to make clearance. It can't bee too big, however, with the size of the slab it would sit on. I bet it's a lot bigger when you take out the sheetmetal stuff.

What is the brick repair for? You may need to think about a liner as well.

 

[begreen]

The dimensions don't make a lot of sense to me, when I compare them to the picture. If you rip out all the sheet metal on the front where the sliding metal curtains are, and you get right down to the brick opening itself...is that what you're saying is 38" wide x 17 1/4" high? It looks a lot more square than that to me. What's the dimension from the hearth surface up to the first course of brick, which should be sitting atop a steel lintel? (brick to brick...forget about the sheet metal facade). Rick

I think this is a metal zc prefab with a brick veneer. If correct, what you see is what you got.

 

[fossil]

...what you see is what you got.

Dang, that ain't a lot of room to work with. :-/ Rick