To Demo a PreFeb - BIS Ultima competitors?

[pamK]

Thank you Hearth Rm for so much good research info in these forums!

I have concluded there are two options for us to install zc wood burning unit in our home - wood stove or fireplace unit. Hubby likes the idea of demo'ing the bump out wall of existing Martin PreFab to obtain more real estate to our fam rm and install a wood stove - likes the Jotul/ Answer/ Regency units (small ones) I like the look of a fp and I think I found the BIS Ultima to be the smallest fp? We don't want to be cooked out of our rm.

We are located in SE PA and local stove shop mentioned we could save $1K by demo'ing/removing prefeb ourselves. Anyone have nightmares or warnings/prepwork before deciding to do this?

Anyone have other rec. of fp units same size as BIS Ultima or smaller? I saw Napoleon NZ26 is similar to this unit, I haven't gone in to rec'v a price on this unit yet.

For the minority BIS members, any pros/cons you have about your purchase? only compliant I read was the loud fan, but I read that on a lot other units, so do I conclude noisy fans on any fp unit is normal? how noisy is it, can I listen to an AM radio, is it like sitting next to the dryer? will people hear it if I'm on the phone (R U in a machine shop?)

Lastly any other victim of a prefeb fp demo theirs to something like what we're projecting to do?- Thanks for any replies, solutions, sympathy, or advice..

 

['bert]

Thanks for posting your questions about BIS ZC fireplaces. There are not a lot of people on this Forum that have them so that would be most of the reason for the lack of replies. I think you will really enjoy having a BIS if you go that route. Lots of heat and nice finish product.

The fan is not that noisy that it would affect phone conversations, but you will have to turn your TV up a click or two if in the same room. You may want to get the variable speed control for the fans.

Let us know what you decide & welcome to the BIS group (if you go that route).

 

[mranum]

Well we opted for the Ultima primarily because it was the smallest fp we could find. RSF makes one the same size too. We weren't looking for 100% heat but just to offset the heating some. It has served us very well so far in this first burning season and I have no regrets buying it. The only time it won't keep up heating the whole house is when the temps get well below zero with stiff winds. We heat 1300 sqft in a single level ranch with an open floor plan and its not overly hot anywhere except a couple feet in front of the unit. Since October we have used 5% in our 500 gallon LP tank, not bad at all.

If you choose this one I feel you will be satisfied.

 

[begreen]

Personally, I'd go for the freestanding stove with a nice fire view. It will heat the space better and will be quieter. You also will have more options for size. There are some very beautiful stoves out there that will look nice year round. And some have a screen option if you want a crackly open fire to take off a night chill in the spring/fall.

If you decide to go this route, let us know more about the size of the room, the size of the house and how open the floorplan is. These factors will affect stove size choice.

 

[pamK]

I read here (or another forum) on RSF but the nearest dealers is showing up a good distance (50 mi.) away from us. they were rec some rsf models that "didn't cook you out of the room".

Our home is a "carriage house" (duplex - two houses squished together) built w/'89 technology at 2340 sq ft. Fam:19x13' faces mainly north (NE) with a new gliding door. Its the coldest rm of the house, besides my daughters rm which is above, and sadly, we have heat pump. Fam rm wall is against garage, which faces NW. We're planning to install ceiling fan in fam rm, which would circulate heat from fp around 1st floor, not looking to burn 24/7, but during these cold snaps anything below 10 degrees the hp struggles, so would probably burn mid-afternoon - evening, esp with the cold weather front we're forecast to get in PA this upcoming week.

The fp just "anchors" the look of the rm, its drywall,stud framing - no brick/stone work. The BIS Ultimia would probably be the only choice for going fp way, unless the Napoleon came in less$.

Wood stove was something new, someone posted they did a replacement of their prefab to wood stove and after viewing the photo gallery of wood stoves and looking at the large box bump out this prefab has done to the rm we wonder how it would work. Was looking a the Jotul FC3B, Quadrafire, Harmen. Those are available to dealers near to us, further out there is Avalon or Lopi.

as I type this, I realize I have not obtained a quote on install of a wood stove, but I am thinking the BIS would pricier. Okay based on our house situation, any comments, suggestions, criticisms, other heating devices?

 

[mranum]

Well in our situation we had 2 options for a fireplace in this area. One was the RSF and the other BIS. For performance I honestly think you could flip a coin and be just as well off between the two models. I would have rather had the RSF strictly for cosmetic reasons, I thought it would have looked better in our case. The RSF came in at almost $1000 higher than the BIS but that had more to do with dealer markup than the cost of the stove IMO.

Just to give you an idea for cost, here is what we had.

I did the site prep. Meaning that I removed the flooring, trim etc. and built the platform.

The dealer came in and set the unit and ran all the venting(outside air, chimney, flashing etc.) and did the wiring for the blower.

I did the finish work. Framed the wall, sheeting, stone work and flooring.

My total bill for install and materials to finish came to just over $3800. Bear in mind that the chimney is 14' and is the packed stainless chimney. That chimney is very expensive and depending on the height you can change the cost dramatically. I had just over $400 invested in sheeting, studs, cement board, tile, stone etc. and paid the dealer the rest.

 

[Islander08]

We have the new BIS Nova / Lennox Ladera. Its a couple inches smaller than the Ultima and also a few hundred bucks cheaper.

Its a great stove. Like the louverless design. Plain simple design, no frills. Nice firebox size and view. Controls work very well.

Puts out more heat than we expected. Heats our whole 1800 sf house if above zero. Will not overpower that room, ours is about the same and it stays in the low 70's with a moderate burn. I think the combination radiant / convective (with blower) mode of the stoves is very effective at moving usable heat.

Look for BIS distributors that sell a lot of the chimney pipe (HVAC suppliers). It is used for furnaces too, so some volume suppliers out there. I found much better pricing going this route.

There is a minor issue with the blower on the early units...it turns off when the unit is hot. The factory has been great helping me on this. If you get one, make sure it has the new blower design.

 

[pamK]

I was searching for a similar post on my next ?? but have not come across one:
What are some suggestions on how to compare fp to woodstoves? efficiency? BTUs? am I comparing apples to oranges?

I obtained some pricing on woodstoves and I am coming up it's about a $500 diff between the BIS Ultima (best fp for us) and a Jotul F400 Castine.
Both have 55K BTU/ heat up to 1500-1600 sq ft/ emissions: 3.7 grams/ Jotul lists 73% efficiency and I assume BIS is comparable (no facts posted)
I am researching Jotul (F3/Castine), Quadrafire(2100/3100), Lopi (Answer)

Why are iron stoves ratings lower than steel in efficiency?
(noted esp. between Jotul and Quadrafire)

Any comments on maintenance between BIS FP/woodstoves ? (other than the obvious of cleaning both out)
I'm trying to come up with a pro/con list on both to make this easier on making our decision.

Someone posted an inquiry about pricing nowadays, in my area (SE PA) discounts have gone down ~$200 off reg price. Both stove shops I went to mentioned they expect "deep discounts" for Mar/Apr time frame.

 

[mranum]

Woodstoves vs fireplaces. The free standing wood stove will I believe give you more heat as it generates heat from all around where the fireplace has to send it out the front unless you opt for the heat ducts to distribute the heat to other areas. In your area, I think no matter what you get it will keep your house a fine temp. It will basically come down to style and what suits your eye more. That and check with your insurance, with mine a free standing wood stove would make my rates go up where a fp does not. My value is going to jump about $10,000 next time the appraiser comes around too so think about that. Fireplaces with definately add value to your home.

 

[pamK]

Our homeowner's insurance is w/Erie and I was informed there is no rate increase for either FP or woodstove. They require if it was to be a wood stove to present the bill of sale indicating the make/model and plan of installation (safe chimney liner, clearances, etc) and a maintenance contract that it is being cleaned, ie cleaning bill from chimney sweep, etc. I believe this would be the same paperwork for our twp in obtaining the permit.
The replacement of the fp does not add to the real estate value of the home, its only value is enjoyment to the owner.

...so I'm back to FP or wood stove...I'll think and read some more (so many options!)

 

[mranum]

I forgot you already had a fp, sorry for the confusion.

 

[pamK]

On the contrary Thank you- for the reminding me to call the insurance co. I was going to post I hadn't called them and realized the time- so I called pushing the question "are you sure about no rate increase?" . Evidently they have received a lot of calls of other policy holders installing pellet stoves/other stoves in our area due to the "energy crisis" of this past year. Your suggestion on "the look", in which if it was a wood stove we like the look of Jotul (which makes me question the efficiency of the compared Quadrafire) .........so maybe I am at Jotul vs BIS?