Hello there!
About a year ago I had a new Pacific Energy Super insert installed. Honestly, I had almost no idea what I was doing other than the fact that I love fire, fireplaces, stoves etc and my father has an older (late 90s something) Vermont Castings catalytic stove insert which he loves!
I grew up with a fireplace and was always helping my dad with splitting/stacking wood, starting fires, tending the fireplace, but the room where the fireplace was, never really got warm. A friend of his had a stove insert and my dad went out and picked up the VC. I was young, but the only thing I remember that frustrated him was getting the draft started. I remember a room full of smoke and my dad cussing up a storm a few times, then the company who installed it told him to blow a hot hair dryer up there for a minute and that solved that problem. Other than that, he loves the stove and the heat it provides the room.
Fast forward 25 years and here I am with the same problem. An open fireplace in a small room next to a large 4 season room that is very cold and drafty in the winter. I tried a few fires in the 9 years I lived in the home, but they always made the house VERY cold. So I went out looking for an insert like my dad had. The only recommendation was "get a cast iron stove, they're better and last longer."
I shopped around and landed on the Pacific Energy Super, mostly because I really liked the fireplace dealer/store employees, and that is one of the brands they sell. Very reputable dealer who I trusted. Other dealers around sold other stoves, but I didn't get a great "feel" from them (the dealers, not the stoves). Unfortunately, I hadn't heard of this site before I bought the stove, but I don't think it would have changed my choice. I just wanted something that provided lots of heat.
I picked out the insert in the spring of 2021 and it was installed November, right in time for the cold weather. I had no wood. I thought I could just have a cord or two delivered to my driveway like my dad did growing up. I didn't know that he got his wood from a local golf course that actually splits, stacks, and seasons the wood for an entire year or more before they sell it. Everywhere around me only had slightly seasoned wood. So I finally found a source of good clean, almost completely seasoned wood (about 20-25%) bought a bunch of that and sawdust blocks to supplement.
All that said, I love the insert! Even with wet wood. I learned a lot over last season, then I discovered this site about a month or two ago and have been learning A LOT more. I learned that any issue I was having, was due to the wet wood. On really cold days I was having a problem with HUGE coal beds, several people on here shared what they do and I'm looking forward to trying some of those techniques.
Due to the wet wood, I was never able to really pack the stove full and do a long hot burn until this year, and it worked great when I did it last week!! Last year, I mainly loaded small, flash fire loads, like 3-5 splits loosely stacked so they would dry out and take off fast. I usually burned everything on medium and never really tried turning it down much past that with the wet wood. Sometimes I would be able to close it down further if I had a sawdust brick or two in there on top of the splits. The biggest thing I learned about this stove, is burn HOT fires. It's not impossible to do with wet(ish) wood, you just can't turn it down. I would always burn on medium or medium high keeping stove temp around 400-500. Burned more wood that way, but when I had the chimney swept this summer the guy said there was almost no creosote up there.
Overall I really enjoy the stove and learning how to use it has been enjoyable as well. One more suggestion for any newbie out there... check out www.woodheat.org I wish I would have read this website in its entirety BEFORE I tried to use the stove, but it was fun to try to figure it out by myself, and fortunately I didn't ruin anything or overfire in the process.
Hope my experience is helpful to someone out there!
About a year ago I had a new Pacific Energy Super insert installed. Honestly, I had almost no idea what I was doing other than the fact that I love fire, fireplaces, stoves etc and my father has an older (late 90s something) Vermont Castings catalytic stove insert which he loves!
I grew up with a fireplace and was always helping my dad with splitting/stacking wood, starting fires, tending the fireplace, but the room where the fireplace was, never really got warm. A friend of his had a stove insert and my dad went out and picked up the VC. I was young, but the only thing I remember that frustrated him was getting the draft started. I remember a room full of smoke and my dad cussing up a storm a few times, then the company who installed it told him to blow a hot hair dryer up there for a minute and that solved that problem. Other than that, he loves the stove and the heat it provides the room.
Fast forward 25 years and here I am with the same problem. An open fireplace in a small room next to a large 4 season room that is very cold and drafty in the winter. I tried a few fires in the 9 years I lived in the home, but they always made the house VERY cold. So I went out looking for an insert like my dad had. The only recommendation was "get a cast iron stove, they're better and last longer."
I shopped around and landed on the Pacific Energy Super, mostly because I really liked the fireplace dealer/store employees, and that is one of the brands they sell. Very reputable dealer who I trusted. Other dealers around sold other stoves, but I didn't get a great "feel" from them (the dealers, not the stoves). Unfortunately, I hadn't heard of this site before I bought the stove, but I don't think it would have changed my choice. I just wanted something that provided lots of heat.
I picked out the insert in the spring of 2021 and it was installed November, right in time for the cold weather. I had no wood. I thought I could just have a cord or two delivered to my driveway like my dad did growing up. I didn't know that he got his wood from a local golf course that actually splits, stacks, and seasons the wood for an entire year or more before they sell it. Everywhere around me only had slightly seasoned wood. So I finally found a source of good clean, almost completely seasoned wood (about 20-25%) bought a bunch of that and sawdust blocks to supplement.
All that said, I love the insert! Even with wet wood. I learned a lot over last season, then I discovered this site about a month or two ago and have been learning A LOT more. I learned that any issue I was having, was due to the wet wood. On really cold days I was having a problem with HUGE coal beds, several people on here shared what they do and I'm looking forward to trying some of those techniques.
Due to the wet wood, I was never able to really pack the stove full and do a long hot burn until this year, and it worked great when I did it last week!! Last year, I mainly loaded small, flash fire loads, like 3-5 splits loosely stacked so they would dry out and take off fast. I usually burned everything on medium and never really tried turning it down much past that with the wet wood. Sometimes I would be able to close it down further if I had a sawdust brick or two in there on top of the splits. The biggest thing I learned about this stove, is burn HOT fires. It's not impossible to do with wet(ish) wood, you just can't turn it down. I would always burn on medium or medium high keeping stove temp around 400-500. Burned more wood that way, but when I had the chimney swept this summer the guy said there was almost no creosote up there.
Overall I really enjoy the stove and learning how to use it has been enjoyable as well. One more suggestion for any newbie out there... check out www.woodheat.org I wish I would have read this website in its entirety BEFORE I tried to use the stove, but it was fun to try to figure it out by myself, and fortunately I didn't ruin anything or overfire in the process.
Hope my experience is helpful to someone out there!
