should I replace wood insert????

[bcompton53]

So here's my setup, just bought a new house (old house....new to us). It has a "earth stove 2800HT" insert installed in a pretty cool limestone surround, made with rock that came off of the property. I came from a quadrafire 3100 freestanding stove. We burn a lot of wood, mostly hedge through the Kansas winter. I am new to inserts, so I am looking for advice. This insert appears to be fairly old. It's in decent shape, however I think it has gotten too hot at some point in it's life. The steel baffle appears to be fairly warped, or the stove is warped around it, because it doesn't sit flat above the secondary tubes like it should. My other observation is that the blower seems pretty dang loud. It is almost too much of a disruption on high, and doesn't move much air on any lower setting. It appears to be all functioning correctly, as far as all of the motors turning freely etc.
I am considering a replacement insert. Listed efficiency is 63% according to the manual, and I can say that it definitely burns more wood than my old quadrafire freestanding did. It doesn't produce near the heat, or at least it doesn't feel like it, but that could be just an insert vs freestanding.
My real question is this.....is a newer insert going to be worth an upgrade in wood saved/heat produced, and noise level?? I've looked at the regency, pacific energy, hearthstone (although hearthstone has the lowest efficiency ratings), jotus, lopi, quadrafire (although they only have a couple models available now), maybe a couple others I can't think of....What do you all have for advice/comments?
Thanks!

 

[begreen]

It's older, but still an EPA stove with secondary burn tubes. Do you know if it is connected to a full liner? Is there a block-off plate? Interior or exterior wall chimney?

 

[bcompton53]

It's older, but still an EPA stove with secondary burn tubes. Do you know if it is connected to a full liner? Is there a block-off plate? Interior or exterior wall chimney?

full liner inside a "heatform" fireplace
So, I looked at a bunch of inserts over the past few days. I liked the regency for the most part, but there were a few things I didn't like. I'm not a fan of their latch and weird handle. I don't like losing the ability to load wood N-S if I want. And price.....

I ended up finding a dealer/installer, who has been selling wood stoves for 40 years. He has been a dealer, at some point, for nearly all of the brands I've seen. Currently sells lopi, kuma, hearthstone, and a handful of others. He had a Kuma Cascade LE that I had done some reading about, and it's apparently a very efficient stove, family build, US built with US materials. He sold me a new unit (his last one) with the surround, and with the optional fan, for $2950. Said the retail price was like $3400 or something along those lines. I haven't installed it yet, but I'm excited. It's a basic looking unit, which is what I wanted. 2.5CF firebox.