Wood insert help

[officeromega]

Hello,
I have a pre-fabricated fireplace that I want to change into a wood fireplace insert. The reasoning is I have a heat pump and live in KY where winters can get to the teens easily. My heatpump cant keep up and putting on emergency heat is ridiculously expensive. I have a massive amount of firewood so that isn't an issue for at least a year or two. My fireplace is pretty small but I have found inserts for it. My dimensions are 29.5W, 16.5D, and 20H (all in inches obviously). The problem I am having is finding ones that aren't extremely expensive. I've been quoted around 3k for most of the ones I have found. I see all of these ones online for medium sized fireplaces that are like 1.2k-1.5k. Any recommendation to look for them cheaper? I've looked at lowes, home depot, amazon, and a few other dealers as well.

Also I have a friend who stated he could install an insert for me most likely. I know this is a tricky thing to do but is this something where only an expert can do it or could most people do it if they're mechanically savvy?

Thanks

 

[terwin1]

used on c-list. most of the inserts made by SBI seem to get good reviews and some are in that 1k-1.5k range new. I just picked up a drolet escape 1800i. wouldn't fit in your fireplace, but maybe a 1400i would. I know to install an insert into a pre-fab you need to look at the manuals for the inserts. some are specifically designed for zero clearance prefab install. some can be installed into ZC prefab, but require special installation details. Somebody else on here should be able to point you in the right direction for the insert designed specifically for prefab ZC applications. I cant remember what they were.

 

[mellow]

What model/brand pre-fab fireplace do you have?