Wood fireplace suggestions

[Ajax03]

Unsure of excact heat loss number but total heating load came out to 60,000 btu

I would think I would want to over size the fireplace well past that number so that I can run as little with as possible on a regular basis rather than always stuffing it full

 

[Ajax03]

In the main area where the fireplace is average ceiling height is 16’ with not many windows

 

[begreen]

That helps. Cathedral ceilings add a lot of cubic footage. 16 ft doubles the volume of an 8 ft ceiling room. In that case, a larger fireplace makes better sense visually. It can work, albeit with greater wood consumption. Ceiling fans will help a lot with recirculating hot air trapped up at the ceiling. Run them in reverse during the winter.

The Valcourt Waterloo II (or Osburn Stratford II or Horizon), Heatilator Constitution, FPX 44 Elite, are worth looking at.

 

[Ajax03]

Thank you. I’m going to try to price these out. What is your opinion on the acucraft unit?

 

[begreen]

Thank you. I’m going to try to price these out. What is your opinion on the acucraft unit?

Big and heavy, built like a classic smoke dragon. Basically a simple baffled fireplace design with no take-offs to duct to remote rooms. Definitely a step above the average contractor grade fireplace, but more for show than heating 24/7.

 

[J67Broz]

Right now I have been in contact with someone through woodland direct fireplaces and also acucraft.
The acucraft is a 9 cubic foot firebox with no secondary tubes reburn process and no catalytic converter. Firebox made with 1/4” steel and it is a 750 lb fireplace. It is the 30” model that takes 26” logs and it is the smaller model they make. And says they have average 10 hour burn times. Has manual damper for combustion air and for flue pipe

Woodland direct has pointed me towards the Osburn Stratford 2 and the Val court Waterloo.

I am wondering if anyone has any good or bad things to say about these two company’s and or these fireplaces. I am going to be relying on them for 24/7 burn heating the house for 4 months

I would avoid the SBI (Osburn & Valcourt) ZC fireplaces. I currently have the Valcourt Lafayette II and absolutely hate it - so much that I am removing it and replacing it with a Blaze King stove.

The burn time and heat output of the unit are grossly overestimated. It does well if the outside temperature is 30F or higher. 20F-30F it performs so-so. Once below 20F, it really struggles to produce decent heat unless you want to reload every two hours. SBI advertises an 8-hour burn time, which I was rarely able to achieve even with it choked down all the way. 4-6 hours is more realistic for max burn time.

These units also use a double squirrel cage fan to distribute heated air. Aside from "normal" fan noise, this fan sucks up ash and gets thrown out of balance - which results in the most annoying sound of vibrating fan parts.

I too had the forced air kit which sends heated air through a duct to another area of the house. The SBI controller has temperature setpoints that you select for the fan to kick on. If you choose a lower set point, I've found that the fireplace gets cooled to the point it doesn't heat the room it is located in. If you choose a higher set point in colder weather, the unit never reaches the higher temperature necessary to send the excess heat out through the duct.

Perhaps the most annoying aspect is how the unit is loaded. SBI suggest you lay a "Reverse V" of two small splits and then E/W load larger splits on top. This allows intake air to flow underneath the splits. This is the only way you can use standard 16" splits. This gets difficult if you burn 24/7 because you have to remove ash more frequently to allow room for the Reverse V. I've found that the unit loves being loaded N/S, and it burns amazing when done so. However, SBI engineered this unit with a ridiculous andiron to introduce combustion air, allowing only 13" of depth to the box. Thus, if you want to N/S load, you must cut your splits at 12" lengths.

As I said, I despise this unit so much I've already ordered a BK to replace it. Just typing about my experience with the Valcourt Lafayette II here is getting my blood boiling...