Need ideas for stove/insert in fireplace

[Seth22]

When we (my wife and I) bought our house a few years ago it had an open fireplace on an outside wall. We were given a free Reginald 101 that we put in the fireplace. I knew it wasn't going to be very efficient. Now with the 30% tax credit, we are thinking of upgrading to something more efficient and with a large viewing window. We checked out a Morso 7110 and we both liked the looks of it.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a different type of stove or setup? Fireplace insert? I was hoping this might be a fun brainstorming session for all the "seasoned" (sorry) members here.

Some things to keep in mind:
- This is in small family room, but we plan on knocking a wall down for a more open layout.
- I do plan on putting in a block off plate, but if practical, would like to pull the stove out from the fireplace a little (I wish this wasn't an outside chimney). I included a picture of the current insulation, where I'll be putting the block off plate.
- On the weekdays, my wife and I are both gone from 8am-5pm. Unless it's 5 degrees outside, I doubt I would start many fires in the morning. Probably just fires after work and possibly through the night, and then on weekends.
- We do have a ceiling fan in the room that helps circulate the air from the stove a little.
- Yes, those are full length mirrors on either side of the fireplace.

 

[begreen]

Welcome Seth. It looks like you have the height for a new stove, butto be sure, we need the dimensions of the existing fireplace opening. How much area do you intend to heat with the new stove? A couple things to consider are the mantel clearance to stovetop will be too close without a mantle shield. Also note that hearth in front of the stove should be 18". If those are burn marks in the floor, you know what the intent is.

 

[bambam]

I think that if you intend to pull the stove out from the fireplace opening a little, that I would go with more of a bay window stove so that the fire would reflect off the mirrors on either side. Sometimes astetics help warm the soul which makes you feal warmer.

 

[jmhpsu93]

Your setup is similar to mine (I even had the same color tile in front of the fireplace). We hearth-mounted a Hearthstone Phoenix about 12 inches past the lintel. In order to do this, we had a custom-built hearth extension that extends about 20" past the stove (16" clearance in the manual, extra 4" because I'm a clutz). We then ran 6" flex up the chimney. So far the set up has been great and we've been more or less happy with the performance of the stove. We only have a 2" of play between the lintel and the stove top, so attaching the flue pipe wasn't all that easy.

 

[oconnor]

That would be a great spot for a Jotul Kennebec C450

EXCEPT

you won't get the R/K values you will need for the hearth very easily. It looks like you have 14 inches or so of flush hearth in front of the fireplace, so you will need to extend it - based on that I recommend you look at stoves and inserts that don't need any hearth protection other than a noncombustible floor covering like tile. Also, consider the measurements to your mantle from the likely height of the stove, so to avoid remanufacturing your mantle or installing a heat shield.

The stove that comes to mind is the Jotul F100 Nordic - a small firebox, but so long as you don't mind reloading, would meet your needs. Some will consider it to be too small as a primary heater, but that doesn't sound like your goal.

A stove like that would seem ideal.

As for an Insert, look at the Jotul C350 Winterport - small cousin to the C550.

Or, you could be a crazy man and rip it all out and rebuild it like I did, but I DON'T RECOMMEND THAT. If you want too, you can see my install process in the link below.

Good luck