wood burning insert advice/ suggestions

[bsb]

hello folks.
i'm looking to get a fireplace insert for the house. I'm wanting to cut my electric bill down abit and have back up if we have power outages this winter. 1800 is a ruff square footage of the house.

ive been to several places and got different opinions, with reasons they need to install and why i need this or that. Ive got a masonry fireplace. specs seem big enough for pretty much any inserts(27"h x 28"d x 43"w)

i looked at lopi freedom, but not wanting to spend 4k on an insert.
i'm not looking for anything flashy, just a good insert that sticks out from the fireplace. non cat
you guys got any suggestions? im kind of on a budget and plan to install myself.

thx bsb

 

[prezes13]

I have a flushed insert that heats 1200sf of fairly well insulated house. If I knew what I know now I would have went with a BK princess insert. My insert does the job no problem it's just the burn times of BK stoves are very long so if you plan on depending on heating your house with wood their stoves are hard to beat. They are good quality stoves and as anything good they are quite expensive. Tell us a bit more, what kind a house, floor plan, insulation, what is your budget, what do you expect from your stove, how tall is the chimney etc. there is a lot of good stoves out there. They all will require at least chimney liner and well seasoned wood.

 

[begreen]

In TN I'm wondering if you can work with a 2.0 cu ft insert. How large and area will the insert be heating? Is this area open to the rest of the house? Any confounding factors like cathedral ceilings or small doorways on the stove room?

 

[Starstuff]

An insert that sticks out from fireplace isn't going to be much different (in terms of heat output) from one that is flush because all inserts have blowers that are driving the real heat output, but maybe you want one that protrudes for other reasons?

Make sure you get an insert that is designed to operate without the blower, otherwise it will be useless if the power goes out, and that negates a main reason you wanted to buy it. Pacific Energy inserts are rated for non-blower use, but I'm sure a lot of others are as well.

I like my PE Super insert and it would be a great heater for your home as well (meets all your criteria), but I am biased, and it's not a low-budget insert. If I had been on a budget, I would have just got the cheapest I could find, and it still probably would have been pretty good.

One tip I wish I'd known about was ordering the chimney liner kit online and not from the dealer. Cheapest prices I've found are on Amazon. Several hundred less than dealers, and you can get exact size you need. I had to pay for 5 extra feet because dealer said that's all he had.

 

[begreen]

Inserts that stick out from the fireplaces convect better with the fan off than flush units. This can be important if power outages are a common occurrence. PE inserts are made this way.

 

[bsb]

not a clue about floor plan. around a 15' chimney. ok insulated house.
living room connets to the kitchen and hallway leading to the bedrooms. the main purpose will be saving on electric and emergency heat. cathedral ceiling in the living room.
budget= less than 3k total
Last year we were without power 7 days and the warmest we got the house was 52*f with the fireplace blazing and a kerosene heater going nonstop.
I looked at the grate heaters and there pretty much a waste. going by the advice ive read on here for months a insert is the way to go.
I'm wanting 1 that comes out from the fireplace some so i can heat stuff up on it.
looking to heat 1600sf to 3000sf, if the powers out we all hang out in the living room.
i dont need anything fancy, black is 1 of my favorite colors, just a good wood burning insert with a blower


thx for the replies

 

[begreen]

1600 sq ft to 3000 sq ft is almost a doubling of heated space. Is there more than just the main floor?
With the high ceiling it sounds like you will need a large insert. That will up the price. Take a look at the Osburn 2400 insert for starters. It runs about $2000.
http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Wood-...-Over-2000-sqft/Osburn-2400-Wood-Stove-Insert
The Regency i3100 is another one to check out. In catalytic there is the High Valley 2500 but to tell you the truth I know little about that insert and have only seen it on the show floor.

 

[bsb]

no just a single floor. i wouldnt mind having a bigger than needed insert if the price was right, thats why i put up to 3ksf.
the places ive visited havent had a lot of display models, their geared towards gas:/

 

[begreen]

With a ceiling fan a 2 cu ft stove would do the job if cost is the issue. There are some decent units in the ~$1K range. Don't forget to budget for a full insulated, stainless steel liner for the insert.

 

[bsb]

http://www.amazon.com/Fireside-Chim..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=099HF9PF7DY2EQ9TAH3X
something like this? then wrap it with the insulation? it seems this might work with the damper opening if i squeeze it a little. what are some decent units in the ~$1K range?

thanks for the help folks. going to climb on the roof tomorrow if its not raining to get better measurements after a little deer hunting.