Fireplace Insert Recomendations

[mamacha.tea]

Hi all! I hope some of you have a quick second to recommend a fireplace insert brand for my home and family. Here is what I'm looking for:

-Heating the family room/kitchen area of my home from morning to evening (up to 14hrs), about 600 sq ft. with 15 ft ceilings and two ceiling fans
-I will be the main person in charge of the insert as I'm home during the day while my husband is at work. I grew up in North Idaho and my family had an insert when I was a kid, so the technology is familiar to me. However, ease of use and very little hassle (i.e. do not need to replace parts, ease of cleaning, etc) is important to me as I have two little girls that I am busy chasing around.
-Nice looking as the fireplace is the focal point of our family room (which is post and beam construction), and of course, not too expensive

I visited a stove shop in Littleton, MA this weekend and looked at some mid-range inserts:

-Avalon Ranier (no blower)
-QuadraFire 3100 ACT (no blower)
-Enerzone Solution 2.3 (with blower)
-QuadraFire 4100 Cast Front (with blower)

Of the above four that I saw this weekend, I like the looks of the Avalon Ranier. The sales guy at the stove shop said that I didn't need a blower since there were two ceiling fans in the room. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also, I'll be looking at another stove shop in Ashland, MA that has the following brands:

-Pacific Energy
-Enviro
-Napolean
-Hampton
-Country Flame/Magnum
-Nestor Martin
-Archguard

Looks of the stove are important, but only as important as a reliable brand/insert that heats well with not much maintenance, all at a good price (I know, I expect a lot!). Additionally, any thoughts on how much wood should I expect to get if I'm heating from Nov - Apr, 8-14 hrs/day?

Thank you!

 

[fredarm]

I'm sure others will chime in, but the consensus I've seen is that you need a blower with an insert since most of the stove is contained within the fireplace. It would be helpful to know the dimensions of your fireplace. Since you're only heating about 600 sqft and you're home during the day, a smaller insert should work fine for you. For ease of use, it's hard to beat Pacific Energy stoves. Admittedly, I'm biased, but the Vista insert is a great little stove and puts out a lot of heat for its size. It can be dressed up with a gold door and surround trim. Do you have a supply of dry wood for this year?

 

[mamacha.tea]

Thanks for your input! I was thinking the same thing about the blower, that it would help get the heat out of the box, so to speak. We had one on the insert we had when I was a kid. However, that blower was very LOUD. Can you hear the Pacific inserts blowers? A very little noise would probably be fine, similar to the sound of a ceiling fan on high. I'd be pretty annoyed with anything louder.

The dimensions of the fireplace opening are:

front view width: 38 1/2"
front view height: 23 3/4"
rear width: 21"
depth: 22"


I don't have the hearth or mantle height dimensions yet. We are actually scheduled to close on this house this week and we have a (legal) agreement with the sellers that they are required to fix the flue (needs to be rebuilt) and installing an insert is going to be about the same price as fixing it for use as a fireplace, probably less.

I believe the sellers are going to leave their wood, which looks like it is about a cord, maybe less. We aren't expecting to get this done for this winter as the stove shops and chimney guys are booked into December. Maybe we'll get lucky, but we aren't counting on it .

You are steering me toward a smaller insert, but since the room is pretty big with very high ceilings, I was thinking that put me in the mid-size insert. But you are right that I don't need a unit to burn for up to 14 hours continuously, that I can add wood as needed throughout the day. But I'd prefer to only do it a few times.

Another question: can these units be left burning, safely, when no one is home? I don't remember if we left it burning when I was a kid.

Thanks again!

 

[begreen]

Our neighbors have the Rainier. Great insert and a good heater. When it gets cold out, they use the blower.

Running without the blower might be ok during shoulder season burning, but I wouldn't get an insert without one.

 

[mamacha.tea]

I imagine that it gets MUCH colder here in New England than it does in the Puget Sound, so I should probably get a blower. Actually, according to my parents, who live in Alaska and visited me in January during the winter of 2005, they couldn't wait to get back to Alaska where it was "so much warmer"!! That was a pretty bad winter in NE, and thankfully they aren't all like that.

Do you know if the Ranier's blower is loud? Or, recommend an insert with a quiet blower? Or, steer me away from an insert with a loud blower?

Thanks !

 

[begreen]

Do you know if the Ranier's blower is loud? Or, recommend an insert with a quiet blower? Or, steer me away from an insert with a loud blower?

Thanks !

I've only heard the stove blower on low and didn't think it bad, but wasn't paying that much attention. Best to ask the folks that own one.

This is a frequent question and a good one to ask. Maybe do a search here for blower noise or loud blower?

 

[High_Iron]

I have the Hampton and can tell you that the blower is quiet. On low you cant hear it. On high you can hear the air being pushed but the blower itself is quiet. She is prety to look at too, and she puts out alot of heat!

 

[fredarm]

The PE blower is very quiet on low, tolerable on medium and kind of noisy on high. It has a variable speed control so you can find your own balance of amount of output versus amount of noise. We have never felt the need to run it on ore than about half, anyway.

 

[Dix]

You're going to need a blower when it gets cold. I don't even think about mine when it's running. I do notice when it turns off, however. I keep mine on manual when it's on. This shoulder season I have discovered that just running the insert, no blower, will heat the house when it's 35-40 outside. I do have a center chimney, so it radiates heat for quite some time.

You can run the insert when you are not at home, not a problem. You'll be fine. Having said this, you will be alittle paranoid the first time or two. It will quickly go away

How big is the house? You might get more heat out of this than you think.

Welcome to the forums

 

[Retreadsme]

Am I the only one with a Regency insert?! The blower on my I3100 is very quiet on low and about the same as a ceiling fan when it is on high. Blower is a must IMO.

 

[mamacha.tea]

You're going to need a blower when it gets cold. I don't even think about mine when it's running. I do notice when it turns off, however. I keep mine on manual when it's on. This shoulder season I have discovered that just running the insert, no blower, will heat the house when it's 35-40 outside. I do have a center chimney, so it radiates heat for quite some time.

Hmmm. I have an exterior chimney, so I don't know how much that changes anything, other than reaffirming that I need a blower. It sounds like yours makes medium noise, at least, if you notice when it turns off.

You can run the insert when you are not at home, not a problem. You'll be fine. Having said this, you will be alittle paranoid the first time or two. It will quickly go away

Good to know .

How big is the house? You might get more heat out of this than you think.

The first floor is fairly open floor plan of four rooms, about 1600sq ft and the second floor is three rooms, about 1100sq ft. I think I might be able to heat three of the rooms on the first floor, but the fourth (a doorless den) is pretty sequestered so I don't think that will get heated. The stairway to the second floor is off of the family room, but not very open. If I put a ceiling fan above the landing upstairs, I might be able to draw the heat upstairs. I am concerned that if I get the biggest stove my fireplace will fit, it would be a waste because of the floor plan of the house.[/quote]

 

[michaelryba]

I was also concerned about the noise level of the blower. The Quadafire and some other models I checked out had a rheostat that controlled the fan. The rheostat seemed to hum and the only solution was to keep the blower set higher so the wind noise drowned out the buzz noise. Not for me. I went with the Regency I2400 insert partly because it has a simple hi/low blower switch. Reviews on this site also said it was pretty quiet. I'm happy to report that on low it is about as loud as a refrigerator. The person with the Hampton probably has the same blower set-up as me--the same company (Fireplace Products International) makes both. I agree with a previous post that said running the blower is the best way to get heat.

 

[Dix]

You might want to think about a stove. I'm not killing the insert idea, but a tove might suit your needs better here, and heat the whole house. Probably even that den.

A $10 box fan from Wally World might take care of your stair way issues, without calling in an electrician.

I think a floor plan is a good idea here. Something we can see.

Also, think about more wood, now.

 

[fossil]

We have a Lopi Liberty freestanding stove...a not-too-distant cousin of the Avalon insert you mentioned. IF, (and I don't know the answer, but it would seem likely to be a yes) the blower technology is the same or similar on the two units, then by all means, I'd recommend installing it with the factory blower already installed. Our blower can be continuously adjusted in speed (thus noise) from "Off" to its max speed. In the low end of that range, it's really pretty nice and quiet. At the highest speed, it makes some noise (mostly air movement, really), but we only ramp it up there when we don't care about the noise and just want to push the heat around the best we can. I'll never have another freestanding stove without a blower...and I wouldn't even consider buying an insert without one. You can always turn it off, but if it isn't there, you most certainly can't turn it on. Rick

ETA: Neither our blower motor nor the controller make any significant noise at all. The controller's silent, the moter whisper-quiet...the noise we hear is from air moving. The larger the mass flow rate of air we ask of the blower, the more noise we hear. If you're going to take any significant amount of air into an air mover of any sort and push it out through channels between a stove and its heat shields back into the living space, there's going to be noise associated with that, the volume of which is directly proportional to the volume of air you're wanting to move per unit time. ("volume" here very cleverly used in one sentence in two of its normal connotations).

 

[k9mtn]

We have a Hampton HI300, which we bought becuase it was beautiful (still is) and we installed it in a formal space. But we are constantly disappointed in the heat output - especially compared with the Jotul woodstove we had in a different house. I did a lot of research on this site before purchasing and I don't think it's stated clearly enough- inserts, even with blowers, do not heat as well.

 

[bjkjoseph]

i agree with k9mtn 100%

 

[Hogwildz]

I have a Summit insert that heats 2600 sf just fine.
That said, a blower on an insert is a must. If your going this route, consider this: Some inserts come with the blower, others it is an option you must pay usually a couple hundred bucks extra.
I looked at Quads, blower extra, Regency/Hampton, blower extra, although they had a deal at the time where they threw in a free blower. gee that was nice of them to offer.
PE comes with the blower in the selling price. I am not sure of some of the others.

 

[mamacha.tea]

We'd have to extend the hearth for a stove, and if we were looking to heat the whole house, we'd consider it.

Thanks for all your input!

 

[Roxy]

Hi
I highly recommend the Hampton HI 300 in the Enamel Brown finish for both looks and great heat output.
You need blowers (MUST BUY PURCHASE) with any insert to move the hot air from the firebox into the room with an insert.
I find this Hampton model very easy to operate with hardly any maintenance (except for cleaning the ashs every so often).
I burn 14 to 18 hrs a day with this unit as my primary source for heat.....approximatly 2200 square foot house.
My entire two story home is warm (anywhere from 68 to 75 degrees) with the exception of the three bedrooms on the second floor. If I were to put a fan to move the static warm air from the second floor landing into one or two of the rooms,it would do the job, however I like it cool when I sleep.

Good Luck.
Roxy

 

[k9mtn]

We also have the Hampton and I agree it is beautiful and puts out “lots” of heat, but it does not come close to the heat output of a woodstove. Anyone disagree? In our case, we had a choice between a stove and insert and in our research, we never read that there was such a remarkable (or any) difference in heat output. Had we known, we would have made a different choice.

 

[EJL923]

Definately get a blower. Also make sure it is variable speed. My Rockland can adjust from whisper quiet to blizzard winds. I dont think you'll be happy without them. A box fan would only grab the heat from the face of the stove, while the blowers take the REAL heat from within. Plus it is all in one tidy package. In the grand scheme of things, the blowers are only a fraction of the whole stove setup if you include the stove liner and labor.

 

[rwm001]

You will need a blower on an insert. I have a Buck 74 which has a loud variable blower. Also, does not produce the most heat. I have learned alot on this site and would not make the same purchase again. The input from various individuals is valuable information.

 

[cycloxer]

I'd get a free standing stove if at all possible. If this won't work then get an insert w/ a blower. Inserts do not throw a lot of heat w/o a blower as it gets trapped in your fireplace and the heat rises right up the chimney and out of the house.

 

[Chargerman]

I would agree that a blower is a must with any insert. My Country Flame BBF insert will radiate some heat out without the fan but, if needed, it will roast you out with the blower going. The older BBF insert has a 3 speed fan and I usually use the medium setting.

I just got my newer freestanding BBF stove with a variable speed fan. It is not installed yet but I am curious to see how it compares to the same stove used as an insert.

 

[saxman]

I have run an insert in my fireplace for the last 10 years, this will be the first winter for my new Lennox Canyon C310 insert. It has a variable speed blower that is much quieter than my old insert. I think anyone with an insert should be equipped with a blower for really cold times, even if you don't need it but a few times to warm the house quickly it will be well worth the money for something that will last 20+ years.

Steve