Looking for a wood burning insert suggestion

[Titan 1]

Hello everyone, this is my first post and this looks like the place to be to get some experience for someone new to wood burning. We purchased this house about 1 year ago and it's out first house with a fireplace. While we love the fire place I know it's not a good source of heat. Unfortunately our house is ALL oil and there is no chance of gas ever coming into our neighborhood. I've noticed pretty much everyone around me burns wood. Our 1st year in this house yielded about 800 gallons of oil for everything. the house is 2300sqft with higher ceilings and so so windows. I'd like to supplement some of the oil with wood burning. I was originally thinking I wanted a pellet insert but I'm not crazy about the long-term use of electronics and moving parts. I can handle the blower on the wood burner.
So what do you guys suggest for an insert for wood. Here is my current setup to give you an idea of what the fireplace and hearth look like. The fireplace doors were closed after the pic for anyone worried about poor pratice. I think based on the size I might want one of the inserts that stick out some. What do you think? Thanks

Chris

 

[Bad LP]

What is the depth of your hearth is a good first question?
Flue size? Budget?

I love my insert.

 

[begreen]

Can we assume this is a full masonry fireplace? If so, where is the fireplace located in the house? Is this area an open floorplan or in a room that is somewhat cut off or independent of the rest of the house? If the fireplace is in an open floorplan then putting in the largest insert that will fit is probably the right plan.

Can you provide full fireplace dimensions at the front and rear of the firebox and the depth of the fireplace, top and bottom too?

 

[Titan 1]

Thanks for the response. The fireplace is in the center of the house. From there the rest of the house is a circle around it but it's only open to the large family room. The ceiling fan is a dual fan that can be directed to push air to either side. The dimensions are as follows. From the front face of the fireplace to the edge of the hearth is 18". The depth from the back of the box to the outside edge of the hearth is 44.5". Its 35" wide at the front face. 29" top to bottom on the front face. The depth from the top rear (close to the flue) to the front face is 19". The flue itself is roughly 6"x26". Hope this makes sense? Budget is 2500 to 3000K with myself probably doing the install. If there is something cheaper that's still good I'd consider it. Just dont want to put all the effort in on something cheap that will need to be replaced sooner than later. Buy once cry once kind of thing...

 

[begreen]

What is the depth of the firebox at the bottom? Sounds like 26", is that correct?

Putting in a 6" insulated liner will eat up $6-800 of the budget and the chimney must be completely clean before installing. However, measure the current clay chimney liner. If it is only 6" deep then a regular liner won't work unless it's ovalized. The Osburn 2400 is probably the lowest price ~3.0 cu ft insert that will fit the budget.

 

[Titan 1]

What is the depth of the firebox at the bottom? Sounds like 26", is that correct?

Putting in a 6" insulated liner will eat up $6-800 of the budget and the chimney must be completely clean before installing. However, measure the current clay chimney liner. If it is only 6" deep then a regular liner won't work unless it's ovalized. The Osburn 2400 is probably the lowest price ~3.0 cu ft insert that will fit the budget.

The 6" is just the flue opening that is rectangular shape. I'm guessing the liner would have to be some kind of flex type that would crush to allow it to go from round to somewhat rectangular shape? Or do they make an adapter piece from a round 6" to a rectangular shape and back to 6"? I can tell it opens up inside the stack but I don't know the exact size right now. and you are correct that the bottom depth of the box is 26" and then it gets shorter as you go up. I figured with 18" of hearth passed the front face of the fireplace I could install a bigger size box and let it stick out some. Thoughts?

 

[spudman99]

Chris, I am not to far away from you and am in the same process as you looking to install an insert this year. Some thoughts:

1. Spend time reading this forum for ideas and knowledge. You have several months to install a unit over this summer.
2. Inspect your chimney flue for size and length. That will determine your probable liner size. It must be insulated.
3. If you truly are gonna do this... CUT wood now. You need at least 3 cords cut, split and stacked in the open to season.
4. CUT wood now. If you cant cut yourself, buy 2 cords NOW and stack covered in the sun. MOST IMPORTANT
5. Determine how you will burn. Low and slow; just weekends when you are there; 24/7 as the main heat source
6. Spend a month reading this forum. Lots of good inserts out there. Go to a dealer an look at their units.

Feel free to post questions, you will get lots of advice without judgement. Next winter you will likely be warm and use less oil.
BTW, get your wood cut and stacked. You will need all summer to at least help season that wood. Will make a huge difference.

 

[Titan 1]

Chris, I am not to far away from you and am in the same process as you looking to install an insert this year. Some thoughts:

1. Spend time reading this forum for ideas and knowledge. You have several months to install a unit over this summer.
2. Inspect your chimney flue for size and length. That will determine your probable liner size. It must be insulated.
3. If you truly are gonna do this... CUT wood now. You need at least 3 cords cut, split and stacked in the open to season.
4. CUT wood now. If you cant cut yourself, buy 2 cords NOW and stack covered in the sun. MOST IMPORTANT
5. Determine how you will burn. Low and slow; just weekends when you are there; 24/7 as the main heat source
6. Spend a month reading this forum. Lots of good inserts out there. Go to a dealer an look at their units.

Feel free to post questions, you will get lots of advice without judgement. Next winter you will likely be warm and use less oil.
BTW, get your wood cut and stacked. You will need all summer to at least help season that wood. Will make a huge difference.

Ok cool. Thanks for the tips. I'm very serious about doing this which is why I'm here to soak up as my advise as possible. We got very lucky that Peco came through our neighborhood and marked trees that were a risk to take down power lines. Well I had two large ash trees that they took down for free! left me with 18-24" pieces to cut up. So I have my work "cutout" for me in that regard. I'm looking for advise on everything but more importantly what units are good and what is junk. I'm guessing there is a lot of info here about how to burn, what to burn and whether you will burn all day or not. I do intend to burn slow during the day eventually once I get comfortable with my setup. The weekends will be full blaze all day and night. Really looking forward to it. Nothing like a freezing cold night or snow fall with a fire going! Like I said I originally had myself convinced I wanted a pellet stove insert but I really like the natural fire look and sounds.

 

[Ludlow]

I do love an open fireplace. Too bad they suck....literally.
You will love an insert.

 

[Bad LP]

I do love an open fireplace. Too bad they suck....literally.
You will love an insert.

So did we but I was always a little uneasy with an open fire burning in the living room. I don't even think about it using an insert.

 

[Dima1973]

1. You will get a great fire show and heat output, but the only sound you will get is from the blower.
2. Do not split 24" long logs before trimming them to correct size for your future insert. It's much easier to do when it is in rounds.

 

[Titan 1]

You will get a great fire show and heat output, but the only sound you will get is from the blower

That's fine. It has to be better than what a pellet stove sounds like.

 

[Titan 1]

So anymore suggestions as to which brand wood stove insert to stick with? Which ones to definitely avoid?

 

[Dima1973]

I love my osburn 2200i and I have zero problems with it after 2.5 seasons.

 

[begreen]

The 6" is just the flue opening that is rectangular shape. I'm guessing the liner would have to be some kind of flex type that would crush to allow it to go from round to somewhat rectangular shape? Or do they make an adapter piece from a round 6" to a rectangular shape and back to 6"? I can tell it opens up inside the stack but I don't know the exact size right now. and you are correct that the bottom depth of the box is 26" and then it gets shorter as you go up. I figured with 18" of hearth passed the front face of the fireplace I could install a bigger size box and let it stick out some. Thoughts?

If 6" x 26" is the damper slot, no worries. An opening to pass the liner can be cut or the damper can be removed. More important is what the actual chimney liner dimensions are.

 

[Grateful11]

We're still completely satisfied with our Century insert but it may not be big enough for your home.
(broken link removed to https://www.century-heating.com/en/products/inserts/)