Largest wood burning inserts

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deluge21

New Member
Jan 24, 2019
21
CT
I'm in the market for a wood burning insert to help heat a 3000 square foot home. I've done a good amount of research (both online and talking to local professionals) and am thinking of settling on the Osburn Horizon. Before I pull the trigger, I have a couple questions that I was hoping to get some help answering.

1. Does anyone here have experience with this insert? If so what are your thoughts? Reviews are almost impossible to find online (only found a couple youtube videos). Also, I wasn't able to find a rating on this forum's rating page for this model.

2. What other inserts have comparable or betters features (better being larger firebox volume/higher heating output)? I was hoping to find a website that allowed for sorting based on firebox volume/heating output so I could find some other options, but that doesn't seem to exist.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Wow. 4.28cf...that is a big one.
 
Kuma Sequoia don't know anything about it except exists
 
I have a Sequoia insert. Very nice stove. Big issue with inserts is controlling draft, if your chimney is tall this will be an issue with the EPA stoves.
 
The Sequoia has a few owners here, and they don't seem to have anything bad so say about it. I almost bought one myself- it looks like a great stove.

Lots of Sequoia insert discussion in this thread.
 
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Damn that's a huge box for an insert.
 
Most find it more beneficial to put a rear venting freestanding stove in front of the fireplace. You might also look into a wood furnace and hooking into your duct work with that much sq footage.

Another larger insert is the: Buck Stove model 91

The fireplace is on an interior wall. The front is facing a 500 square foot room with a 15 foot ceiling, and the back is against the main part of the house. Advice we got from local professionals was to have it blow forward into the great room, and then we could buy something called a "distribution kit" which would allow us to blow air back into the rest of the house (basically a separate vent that runs out of the back of the fireplace into the main part of the house). Idea being we would be able to get in both directions.

We have forced air running throughout the house, and asked about the wood furnace. Response we got was that you lose a LOT of heat through the vents and it would be a lot more efficient to use an insert on the main floor.

And thanks for pointing out the Buck Stove Model 91. Right in line with what we are looking for, a much cheaper than the horizon.
 
Just had the osburn 1800 insert installed myself. The viewing glass is what drew my wife and I to it.
 

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I have a Buck 91, I think it should have been taller , hard to double stack wood once you get coals in it, I wish I would have looked a little more.
 
Buck Stove Model 91.
I like it but it's only about 3 cu.ft. usable space. They must have taken out the heat shield and the cat housing before they measured the box. ;hm
With 30' of stack, I would plan ahead to install a flue damper...attach a rod and have it come out through the surround, or whatever you can figure out. That chimney is gonna pull like a Hoover on steroids. _g
 
Chimney is about 30 feet. Hopefully that won't be an issue.
Tall chimneys may or may not be an issue with a freestanding stove or insert. That is not an insert specific issue, and I don't know why the OP is making it seem that way. 27' of rigid double wall insulated liner here and while I have a good draft, it is not an issue.

One other note, not sure if you realize or not, but the Horizon is a fireplace, not an insert.
 
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I have a Buck 91, I think it should have been taller , hard to double stack wood once you get coals in it, I wish I would have looked a little more.

My biggest concern right now with the Buck and the Kuma Sequoia is the size. They both have smaller fireboxes than the Horizon, and their overall dimensions are much smaller (which may look strange in a larger room).

That being said, the Horizon efficiency ratings seem to be a little low, so the additional size may not actually put out any more heat, if I'm understanding that metric correctly.
 
I like it but it's only about 3 cu.ft. usable space. They must have taken out the heat shield and the cat housing before they measured the box. ;hm
With 30' of stack, I would plan ahead to install a flue damper...attach a rod and have it come out through the surround, or whatever you can figure out. That chimney is gonna pull like a Hoover on steroids. _g

Very helpful comment, odd they would include unusable space.

And I'll bring up the issue with some of the local professionals I'm speaking with. I'll see what they recommend.
 
Tall chimneys may or may not be an issue with a freestanding stove or insert. That is not an insert specific issue, and I don't know why the OP is making it seem that way. 27' of rigid double wall insulated liner here and while I have a good draft, it is not an issue.

One other note, not sure if you realize or not, but the Horizon is a fireplace, not an insert.

Thanks for clarifying that chimney size impacts more than inserts.

Also, the house I'm in was built with a prefab back in the mid 90's. Most places around here won't put any type of stove/insert in a prefab fireplace, and given that we need something large, we made the decision to remove the prefab. So yes, we will be replacing the fireplace, and the goal is to replace it with something that produces a LOT of heat.

Perhaps the correct question would have been "What are some of the largest fireplaces/fireplace inserts on the market?".

Have only been researching this for a couple weeks, so still learning.
 
Thanks for clarifying that chimney size impacts more than inserts.

Also, the house I'm in was built with a prefab back in the mid 90's. Most places around here won't put any type of stove/insert in a prefab fireplace, and given that we need something large, we made the decision to remove the prefab. So yes, we will be replacing the fireplace, and the goal is to replace it with something that produces a LOT of heat.

Perhaps the correct question would have been "What are some of the largest fireplaces/fireplace inserts on the market?".

Have only been researching this for a couple weeks, so still learning.
In that case the whole discussion about inserts is a moot point due to the fact that you don't have a suitable fireplace to put one in
 
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I know it's a fireplace, but I'm not crazy about the molded refractory-that can't be cheap to replace, even if it's still made 10 years down the road.
Also, the interior is shaped like a trapezoid, so I feel there's wasted space. Even if it is 17+ inches deep as the specs say, its only in the middle section.
There's no way you'd pack it to 4.28 ft3.
Plus, it's an 8" flue. Doesn't that seem large?
Maybe looks better than it works?
 
I know it's a fireplace, but I'm not crazy about the molded refractory-that can't be cheap to replace, even if it's still made 10 years down the road.
Also, the interior is shaped like a trapezoid, so I feel there's wasted space. Even if it is 17+ inches deep as the specs say, its only in the middle section.
There's no way you'd pack it to 4.28 ft3.
Plus, it's an 8" flue. Doesn't that seem large?
Maybe looks better than it works?

I do have a concern with the refractory panels. Our current prefab has cracked refractory panels, and we were told it would be about $700 to replace. It's $550 to buy new refractory panels for the Horizon. I don't know how long they are supposed to last, but if it's not a VERY long time, then I'd prefer to get something without those panels.

Good point on the interior shape, that never crossed my mind.

Not sure if an 8" flue is normal or not.

And at this point, I have no idea how well it heats. Hoping to find someone on here who owns this.
 
we made the decision to remove the prefab.

if you're pulling the prefab out then you can't install an insert. you don't have a fireplace in which to insert it. you can't place an insert into a framed alcove. you could put a freestanding stove in an alcove, or a high efficacy fire place in and get yourself more options.