How does a wood insert fare in a 48 hour blizzard/power outage?

[WellScituated]

I myself have Googled this a few times, and so I decided to provide some feedback. A few key points:
- My insert (picture attached) is a Regency Alterra CI1150. It is flush mount and compact. I would love a free-standing wood stove, but this was the only option that would work to code with my fireplace box and wooden mantle.
- My house is 900 SF.
- When I burn (for ambience), I use the blower.

Okay, so the storm. I lost power at 5 AM on Monday. Immediately got a pre-assembled fire going in the insert. It stayed around 70 (in my living room where the insert is; rest of the house was definitely chilly). Obviously I couldn’t use the blower, but it definitely still generated heat.

At night, it dropped down to 65 in the living room. I slept on the couch. The outdoor temps were in the 20s. I did have to get up every hour - hour and a half to feed the insert, as it is small. Very sleepless night, but I stayed warm.

Day 2 and Night 2 were pretty much the same. In the morning, I plugged the blower in to a Jackery power bank for 20ish minutes just to get the temp back up, and then kept the fire going all day. It got up to 70 again in the living room.

I didn’t overstuff the fire. I wanted warm temps verus slow burns. Lots of red coals, which I would drag to the front, and then put the new log (one; medium sized at a time; or two smallish ones) to the back.
In short, if you are vigilant with keeping an insert going, have plenty of seasoned wood, and having a small-ish space, you can get by for a few days comfortably in a winter storm outage. I was thankful to have it, but it was a lot of work.

 

[Burnin Since 1991]

Exactly what I did at our family home on the cape, except mine was an NG insert and an Aferiy 2048wh power bank/ solar gen... I have a generator to recharge the power bank. It ran everything I needed for about 20 hours. The fan only used about 20 watts.

 

[WellScituated]

Exactly what I did at our family home on the cape, except mine was an NG insert and an Aferiy 2048wh power bank/ solar gen... I have a generator to recharge the power bank. It ran everything I needed for about 20 hours. The fan only used about 20 watts.

That’s awesome. I know inserts aren’t the most efficient in situations like this, but with planning, there are definitely ways to make do.

 

[begreen]

Welcome back to the world of power.
Flush inserts deliver most of their heat via convection with the blower. It's good to have a backup power supply for the blower. Using it judiciously is a great plan.

 

[WellScituated]

Welcome back to the world of power.
Flush inserts deliver most of their heat via convection with the blower. It's good to have a backup power supply for the blower. Using it judiciously is a great plan.

Thank you!

 

[stovelark]

Glad you managed, analyzed and handled the situation. We all tend to hang onto our wood heaters just for the situation you faced. I like my propane heating stoves, but I still love my wood stove. Recently, we have experienced longer propane deliveries in CT, and reserves have been low for some companies, due to the cold, the snow, lack of being able to get transports in. The company I work for, our reserves were below 30%, the lowest in many years i'm told. Add to that, people not being able to get out and clear a path for delivery guys, all these small issues that grow into big issues and lots of run outs, which create their own problems getting safety checks and re-lights done. And power outages, altho we were lucky in this last one, CT seemed to be hit the least, not so for the folks in Mass, like this OP. Its nice to hear when things do work for you. Good luck.