It seems as my dream of setting a nice free standing stove in front of my fireplace opening is just that, a dream. The wife won the battle over living space. It appears that extending the hearth to accommodate the stove I wanted is a no go. It was only a proposed 8 " extension too. Oh well. Admittedly, I'm looking forward to not spending the money for all that work. We have to have the top 6 feet of our chimney rebuilt anyway this spring. 
Having said that, we are now in the market for inserts, even though we both hate the drone of a blower...go figure. The PE Alderlea T5 is top of the list, followed by the Regency HI2450. As far as I can tell they're fairly similar in operation and size. The PE has a SS baffle, while the Regency uses some type of fiberboard or something (I think I read that somewhere). I just can't find burn times for the PE anywhere.
My house size is 1550 sq ft. But the areas I expect to heat are 1200 sq ft. Two upstairs bedrooms heat easily as the stove sits in the living room and we have cathedral ceilings. Its a cabin, so its kind of a loft area in the hallway on the 2nd floor. They heat EASILY. Obviously, the living room will be heated, as well as a fairly open floor plan to the dining/kitchen area.
Given my floor plan and square footage of 1500, how well will these two inserts heat for us? Is one superior over the other? Everywhere I've read they seem really similar. You have any thoughts between them?
1. The insert has to set on the hearth a good bit, I want as much radiated heat as I can get for minimal blower use.
2. Blowers: we need the quietest they make. We have a house of crazy and loud boys. We RELISH the quiet.
3. And we do not like any of the steel models...so yeah, I think there's only two options.
4. Don't mention the BK Princess insert. My wife let out a resounding HELL no to it.
It appears as though there aren't many options since the 2020 EPA regulations, especially for inserts. I wish I could find out where that Enviro 1700 was for sale.. they're gorgeous. Its too bad they're not made anymore. Such seems to be my findings. And I would consider quite a drive to get it.
PS. I realize that when the temperatures dip into the teens, we will require the use of the blower if we want to really utilize this thing. We understand that, but we don't have to like it.
Having said that, we are now in the market for inserts, even though we both hate the drone of a blower...go figure. The PE Alderlea T5 is top of the list, followed by the Regency HI2450. As far as I can tell they're fairly similar in operation and size. The PE has a SS baffle, while the Regency uses some type of fiberboard or something (I think I read that somewhere). I just can't find burn times for the PE anywhere.
My house size is 1550 sq ft. But the areas I expect to heat are 1200 sq ft. Two upstairs bedrooms heat easily as the stove sits in the living room and we have cathedral ceilings. Its a cabin, so its kind of a loft area in the hallway on the 2nd floor. They heat EASILY. Obviously, the living room will be heated, as well as a fairly open floor plan to the dining/kitchen area.
Given my floor plan and square footage of 1500, how well will these two inserts heat for us? Is one superior over the other? Everywhere I've read they seem really similar. You have any thoughts between them?
1. The insert has to set on the hearth a good bit, I want as much radiated heat as I can get for minimal blower use.
2. Blowers: we need the quietest they make. We have a house of crazy and loud boys. We RELISH the quiet.
3. And we do not like any of the steel models...so yeah, I think there's only two options.
4. Don't mention the BK Princess insert. My wife let out a resounding HELL no to it.
It appears as though there aren't many options since the 2020 EPA regulations, especially for inserts. I wish I could find out where that Enviro 1700 was for sale.. they're gorgeous. Its too bad they're not made anymore. Such seems to be my findings. And I would consider quite a drive to get it.
PS. I realize that when the temperatures dip into the teens, we will require the use of the blower if we want to really utilize this thing. We understand that, but we don't have to like it.
