Help me heat this place / I hate my Harman 300i

[sth5591]

I have a 1900 sq ft ranch with a large stone fireplace/hearth at one end of the house. I'm having issues heating the whole place with my Harman 300i insert, mainly getting the heat back the hallway into the bedrooms. This means I end up running the electric baseboards to supplement the insert when its below 25 degrees or so (most of the winter), which leads to a huge electric bill. I did add a small duct with a blower in it from the living room to the hallway, which helped, but not enough. My brother had the insert installed about 8 years ago when he lived here, and even he says that he wishes they had gone with a freestanding stove out on the hearth. I also have issues EVERY YEAR with the blowers on the Harman, having to disassemble and clean them, and usually end up replacing at least one every year to the tune of $200. To get any sort of heat out of this thing I have to run it very hot with the blowers turned all the way up 24/7.

I am strongly considering getting a freestanding stove to place out on the hearth, but in order for it to work it would have to be a rear exit flue with the top of the flue pipe under 28 inches. I don't want to cut a hole through the stone for the flue to exit, so it has to clear the top of the fireplace opening. My main contender so far has been the Hearthstone Manchester with about 1" trimmed off the legs. Can anyone offer some guidance on some other big stoves that would fit this criteria?

I've included a crude drawing of the floorplan and a picture of the fireplace with the Harman insert (excuse the Xmas decos).

 

[jetsam]

I don't know anything about your stove, but using floor fans to push cold air from cold rooms into the stove room is pretty effective.

My bedroom is upstairs from my stove. It runs maybe 15°F cooler than the stove room normally, and maybe 5°F cooler with a floor fan on low blowing down the steps. I was surprised at how effective it was the first time I tried it.

If you have to flog your insert like a rented mule all the time just to break even, some fans AND a new stove may be in order.

I would also try reversing the fan in your duct setup so it blows cold air into the stove room (hopefully the duct on the other side is low to the ground).

 

[sth5591]

I don't know anything about your stove, but using floor fans to push cold air from cold rooms into the stove room is pretty effective.

My bedroom is upstairs from my stove. It runs maybe 15°F cooler than the stove room normally, and maybe 5°F cooler with a floor fan on low blowing down the steps. I was surprised at how effective it was the first time I tried it.

If you have to flog your insert like a rented mule all the time just to break even, some fans AND a new stove may be in order.

I'll have to give that a shot, I have a fan mounted up high at the kitchen end of the hallway, but it doesn't seem to bring much heat back. Maybe I'll put it on the floor blowing the cold air back out towards the stove.

 

[bholler]

I have a 1900 sq ft ranch with a large stone fireplace/hearth at one end of the house. I'm having issues heating the whole place with my Harman 300i insert, mainly getting the heat back the hallway into the bedrooms. This means I end up running the electric baseboards to supplement the insert when its below 25 degrees or so (most of the winter), which leads to a huge electric bill. I did add a small duct with a blower in it from the living room to the hallway, which helped, but not enough. My brother had the insert installed about 8 years ago when he lived here, and even he says that he wishes they had gone with a freestanding stove out on the hearth. I also have issues EVERY YEAR with the blowers on the Harman, having to disassemble and clean them, and usually end up replacing at least one every year to the tune of $200. To get any sort of heat out of this thing I have to run it very hot with the blowers turned all the way up 24/7.

I am strongly considering getting a freestanding stove to place out on the hearth, but in order for it to work it would have to be a rear exit flue with the top of the flue pipe under 28 inches. I don't want to cut a hole through the stone for the flue to exit, so it has to clear the top of the fireplace opening. My main contender so far has been the Hearthstone Manchester with about 1" trimmed off the legs. Can anyone offer some guidance on some other big stoves that would fit this criteria?

I've included a crude drawing of the floorplan and a picture of the fireplace with the Harman insert (excuse the Xmas decos).

View attachment 219852 View attachment 219851

Do you have a block off plate above the stove keeping heat from going up the flue around the liner? Is there insulation behind the insert? Is the liner insulated? When was the last time the combustion chamber was taken out and cleaned?

 

[sth5591]

Do you have a block off plate above the stove keeping heat from going up the flue around the liner? Is there insulation behind the insert? Is the liner insulated? When was the last time the combustion chamber was taken out and cleaned?

There is a block off plate installed. I don't think there is any insulation behind it. I have never pulled the whole stove out to remove the combustion chamber from the rear, but I do remove all of the firebrick and clean it from the front side every year. The stove gets very hot up close, it just doesn't put much heat out more than about 5 feet in front of it. The electric baseboards even kick on in the room that the stove is in. I feel like most of the heat is lost into the stone of the fireplace and mantle.