Flush Wood Burning Insert

[hkassnser]

Hello. I am new to wood burning inserts, but we wanted to get one for our existing fireplace. We need our chimney rebuilt and flu's lined before this can happen, and while that is being done will have one installed. We like the flush wood burning inserts and through my research on my own I have found many brands and options to research and want opinions and advice. A plus is if there is one that exists to have a safety screen over the glass for the young children in our house. The ones I want more information or reviews on are:
Vermont Castings Montpelier
Quadra-Fire Voyageur
Quadra-Fire Voyageur Grand
Enviro Cabello 1700
Regency Alterra
Regency Pro Series
Travis Industries Flush Wood Plus Insert
Supreme Volcano Plus
Pacific Energy NEO 2.5 Insert
Napoleon Oakdale EP13
Hearthstone Clydesdale 8491

Thanks!

 

[weatherguy]

What's the dimensions on your fireplace? That may eliminate some. All those have reviews on the forum if you want to get more info on each.

 

[xman23]

I'm trying to help my daughter and educate myself about selecting an insert, so hopefully the insert people will chime in with the do's and don'ts. Hope I'm not stealing the thread. I'm a seasoned wood stove burner just need to understand what inserts are all about. Questions.
Are inserts as efficient as free standing wood stoves? Are the BTU outputs similar?
Are the flex chimney hard to keep clean? Does the chimney weed to be flex type?

 

[hkassnser]

What's the dimensions on your fireplace? That may eliminate some. All those have reviews on the forum if you want to get more info on each.

Top Width: below the arch on top is 33.5”

Bottom Width: 34”

Left Height: 24”

Right Height: 24”

Depth: 22”

Rear Width: 23”

Rear Height: 21”

Masonry Left: 12”

Masonry Right: 12”

Masonry Up: 28” but the flue knob is 5” above the top of the arch. But if you are ignoring the arch and putting something to block it you have more room. Pictures attached

Hearth Depth: 16.5”

Hearth Height: 1.5”

Hearth Length: 93”

 

[Dmitry]

I got Travis Flush Large Hybrid. It is beautiful and heats well. Freestanding wood stove would be more efficient for obvious reasons ( more exposed surfaces to the room). But since I got internal chimney it works fine for me.

 

[prezes13]

I have a lopi cape cod from travis ind. heats my 1200sf 1994 raised ranch quite well. Insert is beautiful. However you pay for the beauty in practicality. N/S loading requires custom cutting wood, it needs 14" but E/W it will accommodate up to 24" logs. Flush inserts rely on their blower so in case of power outage it's heating potential will be limited. If I knew what I know now I would have had installed a free standing stove downstairs in my rec room. I belive that free standing stoves are more practical. On the other note I installed my stove when my daughter was one year old. I never had any accident with her touching the hot stove.

 

[Dmitry]

. If I knew what I know now I would have had installed a free standing stove downstairs in my rec room

I'm actually thinking about installing freestanding stove in my finished basement and heat upstairs from there. Most likely this is wood burning addiction talking, not the practicality, considering the cost of stove and liner.

 

[prezes13]

I'm actually thinking about installing freestanding stove in my finished basement and heat upstairs from there. Most likely this is wood burning addiction talking, not the practicality, considering the cost of stove and liner.

Funny you said that. That's exactly what I want to do. I am thinking a bk ashford...

 

[Dmitry]

Funny you said that. That's exactly what I want to do. I am thinking a bk ashford...

Haha, I'm thinking BK too. With ashford being the prettiest I think it would be more expensive so I'm thinking about "ugly child" princess . Even called " Deans stoves and spa" in Southington to quote it. Still waiting for call back. It's been 2 weeks.

 

[prezes13]

Last time I was there they had a lot of ashfords. I think for a basic one they were asking $3200

 

[Dmitry]

Last time I was there they had a lot of ashfords. I think for a basic one they were asking $3200

They run ad on TV now about floor model being on sale. May be we should check it out. I don't trust phone quotes anyway. I got quoted one price on a phone , but got my insert for much lower price after asking for discounts and deals being in a store . You have to run into right person , I guess .

 

[Dmitry]

They run ad on TV now about floor model being on sale. May be we should check it out. I don't trust phone quotes anyway. I got quoted one price on a phone , but got my insert for much lower price after asking for discounts and deals being in a store . You have to run into right person , I guess .

We are stealing the thread here. Should have started the separate one. Like: "Don't really need second stove, but while having flush non cat insert , want to try BK freestanding stove and see what the hype is about."

 

[canboy]

....back to the original post, regarding various inserts being considered:

I have the VC Montpelier insert. I really enjoy this stove. It looks like a built in fireplace because it is flush. The fires are speculator to watch thru the large glass viewing area. It generates a good amount of heat, burns very clean and is reasonably quiet to operate (fully variable speed fan). It is a medium sized insert, so if you are trying heat an entire house, in very cold climate, it may not be big enough. You need to use very dry wood and run it quite hot, in order to keep the glass reasonably clean. Pacific Energy Neo would be a good alternative.

If I was having to rebuild my chimneys before installing an insert, I would seriously think about tearing out the chimney, the whole fireplace and replacing it with a wood stove or a built in air tight fireplace that could gravity feed heat to other areas of the house. The inserts are almost useless in the event of a power failure. You will get radiant heat off of the glass but without the fans running, little other heat comes out of the stove. If the fireplace is located on interior walls of the house, there might be some thermal mass that would collect and distribute the heat. I believe that a wood stove will add more heat to your home than an insert and its performance is unaffected in the event of a power failure.

 

[bholler]

If I was having to rebuild my chimneys before installing an insert, I would seriously think about tearing out the chimney, the whole fireplace and replacing it with a wood stove or a built in air tight fireplace that could gravity feed heat to other areas of the house.

That is a huge undertaking. Completly removing a masonry fireplace is a very big project.
I agree that flush inserts do not heat all that well with out power but ones that project a little are better or you could always put a stove inside or in front of the fireplace. It would cast way less that removing the whole fireplace and it works well.

 

[iamlucky13]

As far as I can tell, my Lopi Declaration Plus is the same as their Flush Wood Plush, and only cosmetically different from the Cape Cod. We would have had to extend the hearth in order to use a non-flush insert, and the layout of the room meant that would have started to significantly affect the utility of the rest of the space.

I've used it during several power outages. It's performance is reduced quite a bit by not running the blower, but it does provide some heat without the blower. The blower is a bit louder than I hoped for, but not unreasonable.

It does not do overnight burns. Lopi is really pushing the truth with that claim, and I'm not sure how many non-cat stoves really do anyways. Learning to control the air to minimize smoke at different stages in the burn and prevent soot from collecting on the glass took a bit of practice.

On the whole, I'm satisfied with it, but I think it could be better.

 

[bholler]

I'm not sure how many non-cat stoves really do anyways.

Most medium to large not cats easily burn overnight with hardwood. What wood are you burning and at what moisture content?

 

[iamlucky13]

Most medium to large not cats easily burn overnight with hardwood. What wood are you burning and at what moisture content?

Good point. Mine is a mix of softwoods and lower quality hardwoods, the best of which is soft maple, but most is cottonwood and poplar. Moisture content has not been measured, but it's seasoned two summers or more and is top-covered with a tarp, but the sides left mostly open. I do usually get a few glowing coals in the morning if I load an oversized split half an hour before going to bed and close down the primary air most of the way on my way to bed (which is too early, as this stove much prefers to be closed down in stages), but no meaningful heat.

 

[bholler]

Good point. Mine is a mix of softwoods and lower quality hardwoods, the best of which is soft maple, but most is cottonwood and poplar. Moisture content has not been measured, but it's seasoned two summers or more and is top-covered for three seasons.

In that case it is probably pretty good as far as moisture content. But honestly i wont even bother cutting poplar for firewood. I guess we are spoiled by living in good hardwood forests.

 

[iamlucky13]

In that case it is probably pretty good as far as moisture content. But honestly i wont even bother cutting poplar for firewood. I guess we are spoiled by living in good hardwood forests.

Since I don't burn for my primary heat, it's not too much hassle, especially since this came from a neighbor having some poplars taken down. That was convenient enough to be worthwhile. So far, my wood comes from a mix of cleanup of my own small property, trees my employer cleared for a new building, and from friends who had trees taken down in town and wanted it gone.

If I weren't collecting it from so close by or as a favor, I'd be far more inclined to hold out for douglas fir or maple.

 

[begreen]

That is a huge undertaking. Completly removing a masonry fireplace is a very big project.
I agree that flush inserts do not heat all that well with out power but ones that project a little are better or you could always put a stove inside or in front of the fireplace. It would cast way less that removing the whole fireplace and it works well.

It's a project, but not that bad. My son and I did it in a couple days. Ours had an old, unlined chimney and the mortar was getting crumbly. It actually came apart pretty quickly. Of course that is not the end of it. The roof hole needs to be patched (we had a pro do that) and the large hole in the floor where the hearth was needs to be patched too. We were installing new flooring so this was the time to do it. Now we have a freestanding stove and it's so much better for evenly heating the house.