New Insert Has Exceeded My Expectations!

[longislandcamper]

Got my insert installed last Tuesday and had a decent fire going that day but let it go down before bed.

2:30pm Friday I start another fire and we ran it non stop until Monday night. I put the last log in about 10:30am on Monday morning. Throughout those four days the outdoor temps were about 20 as a low and 35 for a high. Our home heat ran for a grand total of about 5.5 hours for that time period.

I let the fire go out because Monday night into Tuesday was going to be warmer. Tuesday temps had a low of about 37 and a high near 60 degrees so this was far and away much warmer then the previous 4 days when the insert was going. Despite the much warmer temps, our home heat ran for about 5.5 hours on Tuesday! I couldn’t believe my eyes!

When outdoor temps were between 20-37 our home heat averaged about 75 minutes of usage daily with the insert cranking and with outdoor temps from 37-near 60 our home heat was on for over 5 hours.

 

[BrianVA]

Congrats on your insert! What did you get?

 

[longislandcamper]

Congrats on your insert! What did you get?

Thanks, we love it!

FPX Medium Flush

 

[Ctwoodtick]

C

Thanks, we love it!

FPX Medium Flush

Congrats! Now you see why people love their wood heat.

 

[BrianVA]

Thanks, we love it!

FPX Medium Flush

Nice. I've got the large version. I'm super happy with it as well.

 

[longislandcamper]

Nice. I've got the large version. I'm super happy with it as well.

We were going to go with the large but it was a tiny bit too big for our opening so we had to go medium and I have no regrets.

Yesterday the outdoor temps hovered around freezing all day and it was a miserable day of light snow/rain/freezing rain.

I’m ecstatic to report that our heat didn’t turn on once all day! Home thermostat was set to 68 and my Nest thermostat says that the heat never went on!

We saved 100% on our heating bill yesterday by switching to wood.

 

[spudman99]

Tell us about your wood supply. That can be helpful for new burners looking at this thread.

Type, how long it was seasoned, moisture content if you know, purchased or gathered by yourself, etc?

 

[longislandcamper]

Tell us about your wood supply. That can be helpful for new burners looking at this thread.

Type, how long it was seasoned, moisture content if you know, purchased or gathered by yourself, etc?

We moved into our house in May 2019 and had two large trees chopped down in October of 2019. They sat until the fall of 2020 when I was finally able to split them. I was only able to split about 1/4 of my wood. New baby and work prevented me from splitting more plus we didn’t have the insert so we weren’t planning on doing much indoor burning except for ambiance.

So, trees have been down for about 28 months and wood has been split and stacked for about 16 months. Moisture content averages about 15 on any piece I’ve tested.

A friend is a tree trimmer and just dumped a giant trailer full of oak which I’ll be splitting in the coming weeks. He dumped about a week before Christmas so I assume these were cut down in early to mid December so they won’t get burned until late next winter at the earliest since I still have a bunch of my own.

I’m happy to report that we have reached back to back days of our home heat not running even though outdoor temps ranged about 19 at night and 35 by day. House temp did drop to 67 by morning and by the time I got home from work but the coals were still hot enough to light some kindling every time and within 2 hours we got the house back to 69 at the thermostat which is really nowhere near the insert and two rooms have vaulted ceilings before you get to the thermostat.