Quick question starting out

[frastick]

Have read a fair bit here, and learned a lot. Decided to sign up.

We would like to put a fireplace insert in our living room. There is an existing, lined chimney, approx 16ft (inside height) and it sits in the center of the house. The chimney is in good shape with clay liner, but this will get an insulated pipe put in. (and seal the flue)

The house is about 2800 sq ft and we have a small wood stove in another section. The room the insert will go in is about 550 sq ft, with large windows and glass doors along the long side. It gets drafty and chilly in the winter (MA).

We like the enviro Boston 1700. However, the existing fireplace opening is almost 60" wide. (the existing glass doors on the fireplace are 60"wide by 39" high). Depth of the fireplace is approx 20" and from the back to the front of the hearth is about 38"

It seems the Boston trim panels will not cover the opening.

Any thoughts on whether I should add brick to reduce the opening, or consider a different model (designed for a larger opening)? Obviously brick work is more complicated but not entirely out of the question.

To be honest budget isnt a huge issue (within reason.. whatever that means), since it is something we will live with for many years and its part of the house.

Feel free to ask any questions I know I missed a lot but feel like I need to get started in the right general direction before digging into lots of details.

 

[bholler]

Have read a fair bit here, and learned a lot. Decided to sign up.

We would like to put a fireplace insert in our living room. There is an existing, lined chimney, approx 16ft (inside height) and it sits in the center of the house. The chimney is in good shape with clay liner, but this will get an insulated pipe put in. (and seal the flue)

The house is about 2800 sq ft and we have a small wood stove in another section. The room the insert will go in is about 550 sq ft, with large windows and glass doors along the long side. It gets drafty and chilly in the winter (MA).

We like the enviro Boston 1700. However, the existing fireplace opening is almost 60" wide. (the existing glass doors on the fireplace are 60"wide by 39" high). Depth of the fireplace is approx 20" and from the back to the front of the hearth is about 38"

It seems the Boston trim panels will not cover the opening.

Any thoughts on whether I should add brick to reduce the opening, or consider a different model (designed for a larger opening)? Obviously brick work is more complicated but not entirely out of the question.

To be honest budget isnt a huge issue (within reason.. whatever that means), since it is something we will live with for many years and its part of the house.

Feel free to ask any questions I know I missed a lot but feel like I need to get started in the right general direction before digging into lots of details.

I would put a freestanding stove in a fireplace that big it will be the cheapest and easiest solution. And will perform well. I like the look of it to

 

[frastick]

Yes free standing is an option and exactly what we did in the other area. But this one we want the look of an insert.

 

[bholler]

Yes free standing is an option and exactly what we did in the other area. But this one we want the look of an insert.

In that case you are going to have allot of work to do rebuilding the face of the firplace.

 

[begreen]

60" x 39" is a big opening. One of the larger surrounds is for the Hearthstone Clydesdale at 59" x 36" with extensions. A good installer could make up that small gap on the sides. The height gap of at least 3" is a bit of a challenge. Perhaps the fireplace floor could be raised 4" and a bottom skirt could be fabricated to fill a bottom gap?

Another option might be to install the smaller 49.25” x 30.75” Boston with fabricated panel extensions, maybe even recessed to create a shadow box effect? This is just process thinking. There may be better alternatives, and I also would consider a freestander in there.

 

[frastick]

Many thanks to this site, the reference section, and all the great insight and information.

Did purchase an Enviro Boston, and was able to install it at the end of November. My fireplace opening had to be rebuilt which I did with slate tile. It came out fine.

This has transformed our living environment and opened up another large area of the house to spend time in. Big success.

Am especially impressed by how easy it is to start a fire, and how well this unit burns. From a roar, to a low simmer. And since early Dec we have only went 2 days when we let the fire go out - the hot coals will burn overnight with ease so rarely do we need to restart.

Also it accomodates larger logs than our woodburner.

Very pleased with this unit.

Two small nits in the interest of feedback: 1), the fan has some vibrations that make it louder than it could be. I will fix this - it is mounting and/or sheet metal vibration. Not a big deal but this is a TV room so we want background noise as low as possible. Then 2) The pin that the handle mounts and pivots on, has a tendency to fall out. This is especially a pain to get back in when the fire is hot. I put a little cement on each end of it when doing the slate and since it hasnt fallen out.

A pic from last night of the finished system in operation.