Which inserts have bypasses? (long post)

[imiller1974]

I need to replace the old POS woodstove insert I have now. My wife and I bought this house last Oct. that came with an old woodstove. (says Grant Stove on the doors) The first time I fired it up I realized the top had a crack in it. I then realized that stove was just shoved into the fireplace with a cover glued to the face and no vent in it what so ever. It just exits out the top of the stove into the fireplace with no liner... I didn't know at the time (2 Months ago) that that was not correct. So, now I have a lot of creasote built up and have decided NOT TO FIRE THE STOVE ANYMORE UNTIL I INSTALL AN INSULATED LINER TO THE TOP OF THE CHIMNEY, with a block off plate, or I'm going to risk a chimney fire. I've already welded up the crack in the 1/4" plate steel inside and out. Ideally we would like to replace this stove with a new one. I've already burned a cord of wood this year, which is a bit much for this area, (SC) I only fire it up when it's below 45 outside.
I'm looking for wood stove inserts that have a bypass on them. The only ones I've seen so far are the Travis Ind. stoves (Lopi and Avalon) I like the idea of a bypass so I can get it fired up and to open it while loading. My wife and I went to a retailer this past Sat. to look at the Lopi Declaration. My jaw hit the floor when the lady quoted me $3000 just for the stove, out the door, uninstalled. I really think it's a great stove, but dang it... All the other stoves I've looked at don't have bypasses on them, I wonder how one doesn't get a face full of smoke when opening the door. They all seem to vent toward the front, past the air tubes, and then over the baffle/firebrick, then toward the back, up and out the 6" liner. I've been looking and looking online but, I'm either blind or just not having any luck.
Thanks for reading...
Isaac

 

[jtp10181]

All the units we sell have fixed secondary combustion baffles with the SS tubes. If good wood is being burned and the chimney is lined correctly you get zero smoke out of the door when opening it. The only unit we sell with a bypass handle is the Isle Royal stove and it only has this feature so you can use the top loading door.

 

[Stevebass4]

i never get any smoke from my insert when i am loading and i am using an older Quadrafire 2100i with a direct connect and block off plate

 

[tw40x81]

No smoke from my Englander insert either.

 

[imiller1974]

Ok, thanks guys...

 

[marky_mark896]

I'm running Lopi Freedom Bay. It has the bypass, but even when I forget to use it, when I open the door I get no smoke. Evidently I have a good draft.

 

[EddyKilowatt]

I'm running an Avalon Pendleton, which doesn't have a bypass, and I DO get smoke and fly ash out the door.

The stove vents into 12' of insulated stainless flex liner and has plenty of draft for burning; in most situations with an established fire I run the air control 90-95% closed, get great secondary burn, etc. In fact when the stove's hot there's enough draft to pull the door shut with a thunk. It just doesn't have enough draft to make the smoke from the firebox "turn the corner" around the front of the baffle and go back up the flue... instead it rolls out into the room. 12' is admittedly a little on the short side, but is "all the chimney I got".

I don't think a bypass is absolutely necessary for smoke-free operation, nor do I think that having one guarantees smoke-free operation. But I DO think you are right to be asking hard-nosed questions about smoke-free performance from whatever stove you buy, especially if you are buying new from a dealer.

Eddy

 

[imiller1974]

Thanks. That's another concern for me as well. My chimney is only 12' also. I may have to purchase one of those extenders. Geez, it just keeps adding up. I did notice that the liner depot(can't remember the name) has a Drolet insert for about $1600, and they run specials where you can get the liner kit for free. That seems to be a fantastic deal in my book...I believe they have a Napoleon as well. I just need to make sure I find an insert with at least a 2.0 cu ft fire box along with a blower attached since I'm heating a 1400 sq ft ranch with the chimney on one far side of the house.

 

[whphel]

I need to replace the old POS woodstove insert I have now. My wife and I bought this house last Oct. that came with an old woodstove. (says Grant Stove on the doors) The first time I fired it up I realized the top had a crack in it. I then realized that stove was just shoved into the fireplace with a cover glued to the face and no vent in it what so ever. It just exits out the top of the stove into the fireplace with no liner... I didn't know at the time (2 Months ago) that that was not correct. So, now I have a lot of creasote built up and have decided NOT TO FIRE THE STOVE ANYMORE UNTIL I INSTALL AN INSULATED LINER TO THE TOP OF THE CHIMNEY, with a block off plate, or I'm going to risk a chimney fire. I've already welded up the crack in the 1/4" plate steel inside and out. Ideally we would like to replace this stove with a new one. I've already burned a cord of wood this year, which is a bit much for this area, (SC) I only fire it up when it's below 45 outside.
I'm looking for wood stove inserts that have a bypass on them. The only ones I've seen so far are the Travis Ind. stoves (Lopi and Avalon) I like the idea of a bypass so I can get it fired up and to open it while loading. My wife and I went to a retailer this past Sat. to look at the Lopi Declaration. My jaw hit the floor when the lady quoted me $3000 just for the stove, out the door, uninstalled. I really think it's a great stove, but dang it... All the other stoves I've looked at don't have bypasses on them, I wonder how one doesn't get a face full of smoke when opening the door. They all seem to vent toward the front, past the air tubes, and then over the baffle/firebrick, then toward the back, up and out the 6" liner. I've been looking and looking online but, I'm either blind or just not having any luck.
Thanks for reading...
Isaac

Just FYI I bought my house from my Grandfather and he had a country stove in it installed exactly described as yours. If I were you I would stop burning in that thing ASAP unless you would like the guys in the red truck to come for a visit. Trust me on this. You should at least have a liner installed up past the first chimny tile if there is one and a block of plate(plus have the existing masonry cleaned up. I am glad I was home when I noticed 7' flames coming out of mine. All of the creosote built up after the damper before the chimny liners and was buring like hell, took the guys 1/2 hour to contain it all, after I had allready tossed in a quart of water and shut down the vents. In the end they had pulled the stove told me what was wrong with the whole set up. Now I have a properly installed Avalon with liner and block off plate.

I have since then read everything I can about installs and have much more to learn but have talked with much of my family about ther set ups and adivsed them about there set ups. My unkle for one burns 24/7 and has old black pipe non SS all the way up and has rotting issues. I told him of the risk of non ss and the fact that his is very old and is a major risk. This site is a wealth of great info and a life saver I with I would have found it prior to my chimny fire which I thank God wis contained, no one hurt and all was well could have gone the other way had I not been home.

Best of luck
John G.

 

[imiller1974]

I guess you didn't read where I typed in capital letters, eh?

 

[begreen]

What ever you do be sure to get that chimney thoroughly cleaned before the liner is installed. What is the chimney made of? Can it be built up another couple feet? I think you'll do fine with a Napoleon insert and it will help you stay on budget. With a full liner it is going to draft better than you are currently used to.

 

[imiller1974]

My chimney is kinda weird. Well I've never seen it before. It has 2 openings on top. One is 8x13 terra cotta (I guess that's what you call it), the other is 8x8 butted up right beside it. Smoke comes out of the 8x13, but it feels like air is being pulled down into the 8x8. There was a large brick on top of the 8x8 blocking the air flow. When I removed it one day, the wood stove actually ran worse, so I put a stainless steel plate back on top of it to block the flow. Since both openings touched each other (couldn't clamp a cover down)and I couldn't find a cover at one of the big box stores, I built my own that measures 21x8. Seems to work well enough, at least birds can't fly in it anymore and keeps the rain out. But the house is brick as well as the chimney, has 8x13 brick stacked on top of each other as the liner, but I don't know what's in between the chimney brick and the outside brick. Beats me, maybe cement, insulation, just mortar... Heck, I don't even know how to word it correctly.

 

[begreen]

It sounds like the other flue was for a furnace or boiler? Is there a basement? If yes, look down below for the other end of this chimney.

 

[imiller1974]

Nope, there's nothing else. No basement. I don't see "new brick" anywhere covering an old opening. The 8x8 goes down into the chimney about 2 feet, then angles to the side a bit, beats me where it goes. It's on a hip roof, so it doesn't go in the attic anywhere. Maybe it's some sort of fireplace bypass.

 

[begreen]

The way it is behaving is almost sounds like an outside air supply for the fireplace. Wierd.

 

[whphel]

I guess you didn't read where I typed in capital letters, eh?

And then after that you state you have burned a cord so far and now only use it when it gets below 45.

 

[imiller1974]

I burned it before I realized how it was installed. I guess I should have typed it different. Listen, no offence, but I'm not lookin for someone to tell me me stuff I've already stated and know about. I'm looking for stoves with bypasses or someone who does or doesn't have problems with their non bypass equiped stove. So, how bout staying out of my thread?? Thanks.

 

[Chardler]

I installed the Avalon Olympic insert last Oct. It has a bypass that works great. Be sure to get the optional blower and see some real heat pump out of it. Mine was a bit pricey, $3800 for all including the SS liner and installation. The good part is that it's already paying for itself. I kind of think of it as "laying out" the money rather than spending it since I'm not giving the oil man thousands each year any longer, just hundreds.

 

[imiller1974]

Thanks for your info. You know, I can see where it will pay for itself, it's just that it'll take longer down here in the south. When I was burning the stove, my gas bill was 60-70 dollars a month. The gas heat was only running while at work. Now that I'm not burning it, cost per month will at least triple. I see some of you guys up north are saving thousands a year, for me, that's just not going to happen. I figure I'll save around $600 a year burning a GOOD stove cutting my own wood. If I can find an insert that will give me decent burn times, so I can load it in the morning and head to work, I may be able to turn off the gas pack all together. So far I'm looking at $600-$700 for an insulated flex 6" liner kit and $1600 for a decent stove without a bypass. I'm also looking for one with a blower, esp. since it'll be an insert on one end of a ranch house. The woodstove I was using had a blower, plus I used the ceiling fan and 2 fans to push the hot air down the hall into the back 2 bedrooms.

 

[Chardler]

I did a lot of research before purchasing and the Olympic was a clear winner. I wanted something with a long burn time for overnights and with the 3.1 cu ft firebox fully loaded and the air lowered down it can burn for hours. Avalon has a unit slightly smaller that may work for you, but it may not have the bypass. It may be more affordable and do the job in a house your size. I had to get the Olympic to do the job in my house as I am trying to heat about 2800 sq ft. I have to say it does the job and keeps the thermostat from calling for heat, and that's set at 68.

 

[imiller1974]

Yeah, I like the Olympic. The Perfect fit is the next size down, which to me is perfect. It's the same as the Lopi Declaration, which the local shop quoted me at $3000... Just a bit much for me right now. The Declaration had a bypass, so the Avalon should also. Man that sucker was sweet.... The lady showed me another stove that was cheaper, (I don't remember the brand), it was $1110, but was made out of 3/16 and 1/8 steel. I don't think that'll cut it long term. The Declaration is made from 1/4 and 5/16, plus it's just about a blush mount. My hearth is only 18"... If only I could find a direct internet merchant for the Avalon/Lopi, I bet I could snag it for less that $2300...