Insert vs. Wood Stove

[etiger2007]

76 in here with the insert, like Green said my Osburn sits out on the hearth so it radiates heat well. If I did lose power im sure I could keep warm without the fan. If I could choose Id probably install a free stander but the wife wont budge from the insert.

 

[BrotherBart]

And then some people just stick a big honkin steel stove half in and half out of the fireplace...

 

[Setter Fan]

Thanks again, this has been extremely helpful.

First a statement from the Jotul website, then a general take-away from this group’s discussion and of course one last question. Sorry, don’t mean to belabor this…. But I will!


Statement from website

The Jotul F600 Firelight is “rated” at heating 2,500 square feet and 81,500 BTU’s

The Jotul C550 Rockland is “rated” at heating 1,800 square feet and 65,000 BTU’s

Both have a three cubic foot firebox (measured by members on this forum), not on Jotuls website


My takeaways stove vs. insert (please correct me if I am wrong)

1. Both units are rated in ideal circumstances; properly dried wood, proper burning methods & open floor plan etc. Meaning the square footage heated and BTU rating is ideal or max rating and not always realistic to every situation.

2. Generally most heat from the wood stove will be radiated out into the existing room, while the flush insert will mostly rely on the fan to move the heat out from the fire box into the room. So assume a certain amount of heat will escape up the chimney outpacing the fan.


When the square footage is measured on the wood stove do you believe Jotul is taking into account an a chimney that is exposed to the room? Meaning a stove that sits in the middle of a room with a single or double wall chimney that is not surrounded by a masonry fireplace.

If I ever put a wood stove in my house that sat completely outside the masonry fireplace but the chimney went up the existing masonry fireplace, would I lose some of the F600 rated BTU’s? Hope this makes sense and I am not picking the fly chit out of the pepper… as my father used to say.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

My parents have the 550 insert. Without the blower blowing it puts almost no heat into the room.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Statement from website

The Jotul F600 Firelight is “rated” at heating 2,500 square feet and 81,500 BTU’s

The Jotul C550 Rockland is “rated” at heating 1,800 square feet and 65,000 BTU’s

Both have a three cubic foot firebox (measured by members on this forum), not on Jotuls website

.

If they both have 3 cubic ft fireboxes, that right there tells you how much less efficient inserts are than free standing stoves. Right from the companies own mouth.
And yes, those BTU rating would be burning at max BTU output, which just isn't going to happen unless you stand and feed the stove 24/7.

My stove is rated at 75,000 BTU output, room size 2,200 sq ft (company specs), and I heat my 1,500 sq ft two story home quite comfortably with it, but wouldn't be happy with anything smaller.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

As my dad often points out the 550 firebox might be 3.00 CF but it is wide and shallow. I can't help but wonder if a boxier firebox would change the character of the stove.

 

[mainewoodburning]

I was not sure what path to take insert of free standing. I went with freestanding Jotul TL 50 with a blower. It's in the finished basement set in front of my fireplace. The Basement is about 1000 sq ft and the main level another 2000. except for the days under 0 I can heat all the house with the wood stove. On warmer days I run without the blower and its just right. The picture is before I lined the chimney.

 

[MofoG23]

Just for the record my Quad 4100i heats ok without the blower being on. Sure, it puts out more heat with the blower running, but enough of it sticks out to radiate heat just fine.

27 outside with the blower basically off most of today and the main part of our house is 73....room with the insert of course is much higher.

 

[Makers Mark]

Power being on or off had no bearing on my purchase. Get what you like.

 

[mainewoodburning]

I can see the up side of the Insert in saving room space!

 

[mstoelton]

I went with insert because I wanted the larger glass window they offer. Part of the burning experience is enjoying the view of the fire and I can sit and watch the fire dance. My wife bought me some green pine cones at Christmas that turns the flames blue. Those are cool too! Especially when you put them into a hot stove that has secondary burning going on.