I finished installing my Hampton woodburning insert last Friday evening and have been burning pretty much non-stop since then.
I absolutely couldn't be happier with it. It looks great (brown porcelain) and burns wonderfully. I've been heating my entire 2000 sq ft house. I keep my furnace fan on constant circulate so that helps spread the heat.
The self-install went fairly easily. I opted for a full SS liner in my chimney but without the insulation. It's an interior chimney in good condition and my dealer said they usually don't insulate. I'm getting a superb draft so I'm happy with my decision. Haven't had a single puff of smoke or ash into the house even when opening the door suddenly. The only smell has been the break-in, and even that was very mild.
Here are a few highlights:
- Used a 6 inch liner because the owner's manual said so. My chimney flue is 6.25 inches in the narrow dimension. Turns out after I finally got in touch with the manufacturer they said 5.5 inch was fine. Too bad I had already ordered it.
- I could have ordered the 6 inch ovalized but figured I would do it myself and save some money. How hard could it be with a thin, flexible liner ? Well, that stuff is incredibly strong. I made a jig with 8 foot 2x4s and every bar clamp I own and could just barely squeeze it down about 1/4 inch. Couldn't figure out what to do until I noticed my log splitter. Then I simply sandwiched the liner between the 2x4s and used the 20 ton ram (gently) to flatten it down a bit. Worked great but I wouldn't recommend since the potential for destroying a $400 liner is high.
- I also fashioned a little shaped wooden nose cone to help it go down.
- Used a small air-powered grinder with cutoff wheel to saw a chunk out of my damper to fit the pipe through. Took about 15 minutes.
- I installed a full sheet metal block off plate at the bottom of the damper and sealed around the edges
I'm really thrilled with the stove. It's not the cheapest around but I love the looks and it burns great. I've already spent hours just watching the flames dance around the inside of the fire box. It's fascinating to watch the secondary combustion at work. And there is virtually no smoke coming out of the chimney. Certainly not like the stoves we had when I was a kid.
I do get some dirt on the glass after a long, overnight burn but it's a simple matter to clean.
I’ll hold off on posting pictures for a month or two since I plan to redo the entire mantel and hearth. The stove came in much earlier than expected (imagine that) so I decided to plop it in for the remainder of the heating season and then pull it to finish the work next month.
I absolutely couldn't be happier with it. It looks great (brown porcelain) and burns wonderfully. I've been heating my entire 2000 sq ft house. I keep my furnace fan on constant circulate so that helps spread the heat.
The self-install went fairly easily. I opted for a full SS liner in my chimney but without the insulation. It's an interior chimney in good condition and my dealer said they usually don't insulate. I'm getting a superb draft so I'm happy with my decision. Haven't had a single puff of smoke or ash into the house even when opening the door suddenly. The only smell has been the break-in, and even that was very mild.
Here are a few highlights:
- Used a 6 inch liner because the owner's manual said so. My chimney flue is 6.25 inches in the narrow dimension. Turns out after I finally got in touch with the manufacturer they said 5.5 inch was fine. Too bad I had already ordered it.
- I could have ordered the 6 inch ovalized but figured I would do it myself and save some money. How hard could it be with a thin, flexible liner ? Well, that stuff is incredibly strong. I made a jig with 8 foot 2x4s and every bar clamp I own and could just barely squeeze it down about 1/4 inch. Couldn't figure out what to do until I noticed my log splitter. Then I simply sandwiched the liner between the 2x4s and used the 20 ton ram (gently) to flatten it down a bit. Worked great but I wouldn't recommend since the potential for destroying a $400 liner is high.
- I also fashioned a little shaped wooden nose cone to help it go down.
- Used a small air-powered grinder with cutoff wheel to saw a chunk out of my damper to fit the pipe through. Took about 15 minutes.
- I installed a full sheet metal block off plate at the bottom of the damper and sealed around the edges
I'm really thrilled with the stove. It's not the cheapest around but I love the looks and it burns great. I've already spent hours just watching the flames dance around the inside of the fire box. It's fascinating to watch the secondary combustion at work. And there is virtually no smoke coming out of the chimney. Certainly not like the stoves we had when I was a kid.
I do get some dirt on the glass after a long, overnight burn but it's a simple matter to clean.
I’ll hold off on posting pictures for a month or two since I plan to redo the entire mantel and hearth. The stove came in much earlier than expected (imagine that) so I decided to plop it in for the remainder of the heating season and then pull it to finish the work next month.
