Hello all. I'm a born again newbie, having been raised in homes with wood burning stoves, but living in without a stove for more than 15 years. After trolling here a while, I realized there's a lot of good advice to be found, (along with some possible bad advice as with any internet resource) so I'm hoping to get the community's input on my current situation. I went to my first fireplace dealer this past weekend and while helpful, the sales rep seemed to be surprised at some of my questions, not really showing confidence in some answers he provided.
I live in New England, and we moved into a larger home with oil heat, forced air, last summer. Even though the winter was ~20% warmer than usual, we went through more than 1200 gallons of heating oil. I was beside myself. I've done some easy things to help: automatic thermostats, weather sealed the doors, etc. But I'm here for a reason and I'm looking at buy a fireplace insert for our family room in hopes of reducing oil consumption by 40% or more. I've also provided a rough layout of our home.
Facts:
Home was built in the 90s, fully insulated (R30 in the attic, not R38)
Double pane windows
Open floor plan
Total square footage is a bit over 3,500
Chimney is exterior, brick
Main entry are and family room have 17 foot high ceilings and I have a bi-directional ceiling fan in the family room. The family room has very tall windows on each side of the fire place that reach as high as 14 feet, I believe.
In the layout, I've shown details of the 1st floor. Second floor bedrooms and hallways are featured with shading:
The shaded green area denotes a room above on the 2nd floor that we would like to get some heat from the insert. I've labeled these areas with room names on both the 1st and 2nd floor so you can see what the second floor rooms are above.
The red shading denotes open-air catwalk area on the second floor that connects to the 2nd floor hallway.
The light blue shading denotes the 2nd floor hallway (which actually runs all the way to the left to the stairway next to the garage.
There are 2 staircase - 1 between the kitchen and garage, 1 in the main entry area.
1st floor square footage is about 1700 sq ft
2nd floor, excluding the guest area (far left) is about 1400 sq ft
Layout here:
![[Hearth.com] Sizing a Fireplace Insert for more than 3,000 square feet](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/68/68097-72e00bf18ef35f042da00049adf845da.jpg?hash=Lm2D5esTP3 "[Hearth.com] Sizing a Fireplace Insert for more than 3,000 square feet")
Assumptions:
I would have 1 insert in the family room burning 7 days per week.
Ideal temp for all rooms would be 72, but it's understood that distribution would depend on proximity to fireplace.
Guest room upstairs would almost always be closed off.
If it were up to me, I'd get a wood stove, but I respect the misses and her wishes and she wants to keep it flush as possible, hence an insert is at play.
So far, I have zeroed in on a Jotul Rockland or a Regency I3100. I know I would need a large insert, large firebox.
Questions:
Based on your experience, especially if you have an open floor plan of this size or more, and knowing a little about my home:
Is it feasible to expect I can get heat to each room upstairs and down?
Do BTUs really matter, or is it all about firebox size or sq ft rating? One thing the sales rep could not answer: Regency I2400 vs. I3100 - rated at 75,000 and 80,000 BTUs respectively, yet the I2400 is rated for up to 2,000 sq ft while the I3100 up to 3,000 sq ft. The math does not add up - an additional 5,000 BTUs pushes the sq footage rating up another 1,000 sq ft?? Huh??
What about a pellet stove? I can't seem to find any rated large enough to compete with the Jotul or Regency wood burning inserts. If you know any that can generate enough heat, that are relatively flush like the Regency I3100 wood burning, I'm listening.
Is my goal of > 40% reduction in heating oil way off or am I in the ballpark?
I live in New England, and we moved into a larger home with oil heat, forced air, last summer. Even though the winter was ~20% warmer than usual, we went through more than 1200 gallons of heating oil. I was beside myself. I've done some easy things to help: automatic thermostats, weather sealed the doors, etc. But I'm here for a reason and I'm looking at buy a fireplace insert for our family room in hopes of reducing oil consumption by 40% or more. I've also provided a rough layout of our home.
Facts:
Home was built in the 90s, fully insulated (R30 in the attic, not R38)
Double pane windows
Open floor plan
Total square footage is a bit over 3,500
Chimney is exterior, brick
Main entry are and family room have 17 foot high ceilings and I have a bi-directional ceiling fan in the family room. The family room has very tall windows on each side of the fire place that reach as high as 14 feet, I believe.
In the layout, I've shown details of the 1st floor. Second floor bedrooms and hallways are featured with shading:
The shaded green area denotes a room above on the 2nd floor that we would like to get some heat from the insert. I've labeled these areas with room names on both the 1st and 2nd floor so you can see what the second floor rooms are above.
The red shading denotes open-air catwalk area on the second floor that connects to the 2nd floor hallway.
The light blue shading denotes the 2nd floor hallway (which actually runs all the way to the left to the stairway next to the garage.
There are 2 staircase - 1 between the kitchen and garage, 1 in the main entry area.
1st floor square footage is about 1700 sq ft
2nd floor, excluding the guest area (far left) is about 1400 sq ft
Layout here:
Assumptions:
I would have 1 insert in the family room burning 7 days per week.
Ideal temp for all rooms would be 72, but it's understood that distribution would depend on proximity to fireplace.
Guest room upstairs would almost always be closed off.
If it were up to me, I'd get a wood stove, but I respect the misses and her wishes and she wants to keep it flush as possible, hence an insert is at play.
So far, I have zeroed in on a Jotul Rockland or a Regency I3100. I know I would need a large insert, large firebox.
Questions:
Based on your experience, especially if you have an open floor plan of this size or more, and knowing a little about my home:
Is it feasible to expect I can get heat to each room upstairs and down?
Do BTUs really matter, or is it all about firebox size or sq ft rating? One thing the sales rep could not answer: Regency I2400 vs. I3100 - rated at 75,000 and 80,000 BTUs respectively, yet the I2400 is rated for up to 2,000 sq ft while the I3100 up to 3,000 sq ft. The math does not add up - an additional 5,000 BTUs pushes the sq footage rating up another 1,000 sq ft?? Huh??
What about a pellet stove? I can't seem to find any rated large enough to compete with the Jotul or Regency wood burning inserts. If you know any that can generate enough heat, that are relatively flush like the Regency I3100 wood burning, I'm listening.
Is my goal of > 40% reduction in heating oil way off or am I in the ballpark?
![[Hearth.com] Sizing a Fireplace Insert for more than 3,000 square feet](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/68/68434-e1c2323792427bee2c99ece76083a902.jpg?hash=DZKgdgMNx1 "[Hearth.com] Sizing a Fireplace Insert for more than 3,000 square feet")
