Wood Insert that Boils Water - Quadrafire 5100i?

[cpgrim]

Hi Everyone,

I want a wood insert that works with the room and the fireplace opening, that heats the house when the power goes out, and can boil water for cooking if there's no electricity.

Qualifications:

- Our living room is narrow, and we don't have much of a hearth, so we'll need a hearth extension for anything that isn't flush, which is fine. But we don't want something that sticks out super far.

- Our fireplace opening is 51" wide x 33" high. It's 24" deep at the bottom and 18" deep at the top. The current hearth is 17.5".

- Our house is a colonial (basement and two floors) that is 2600 sq. ft. The insert will be on the main (middle) floor.

I've zoned in on the Quadrafire 5100i ((broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/5100i-Wood-Insert.aspx?page=Downloads)) because it has a ledge on which you could set a cast iron pot to heat water, it has a decent amount of viewing space (windows), and it will produce a lot of heat. Also, it's fairly big and won't look ridiculously small in in our large fireplace opening.

Questions:

- Will the Quadrafire 5100i boil water if you place a pot on the ledge? (It's about 7 5/8" deep.) If not, I'm back to the drawing board.

- Because our house is multiple levels (probably 833 sq. ft. on each level), will we be okay with the 5100i which is supposed to cover 1200 to 3100 sq. ft.? Or will it be too hot? I'm assuming we can open windows to draw heat upstairs. The upstairs and main floor are close to 1700 sq. ft. together.

I'm really hoping we can make the Quadrafire 5100i work, but my biggest concern is whether we'll be able to boil water and cook on it. The ledge is deep, but it's not advertised to be a cooktop. Boiling water would be enough.

Thanks in advance for any insights!

 

[stovelark]

5100I is a huge insert and would probably readily boil water on top of it. It has the upper ledge which sits in place on top of the stove body (a trapezoidal piece that can be removed). Its a big stove with big heat output. You sound like you have enough room to support having one. You can run it at a lower level and maintain clean burning. Man that is one big, attractive fireplace.

 

[cpgrim]

5100I is a huge insert and would probably readily boil water on top of it. It has the upper ledge which sits in place on top of the stove body (a trapezoidal piece that can be removed). Its a big stove with big heat output. You sound like you have enough room to support having one. You can run it at a lower level and maintain clean burning. Man that is one big, attractive fireplace.

Thank you! That's encouraging to hear!

 

[jotulguy]

Your fireplace is both beautiful and huge! Have you considered hearth mounting a free standing stove instead of an insert? You would fix a couple of your concerns,i.e. A big enough surface to both cook and boil water on top.

 

[Rearscreen]

I've never been able to boil water on any woodstove myself. If water reaches the boiling point, I'd be worried that my stove is overheating.

 

[cpgrim]

Your fireplace is both beautiful and huge! Have you considered hearth mounting a free standing stove instead of an insert? You would fix a couple of your concerns,i.e. A big enough surface to both cook and boil water on top.

Thanks for writing. Yes, we thought about it, but the dimensions inside of the fire place actually don't allow for a stove that would provide the heat output we're looking for. It's wide, but it's 33" tall and only 18" deep at the top. (The back is angled going up.) We want to be able to put a cast iron pot on it to create humidity in the room, so we need a ledge that is outside of the opening. And, we'd like to be able to cook on it if we had to. Our hearth is not deep (17.5"), and our living room is fairly narrow. So, we don't have much room to work with. With the insert, we can just put down a temporary hearth extension when we use it, and that extension doesn't have to be very deep. We've learned that there are lots of clearance restrictions/codes that limit our options.

 

[cpgrim]

I've never been able to boil water on any woodstove myself. If water reaches the boiling point, I'd be worried that my stove is overheating.

Maybe boiling is beyond what's needed. We want to be able to heat water enough to create humidity in the room and also to provide hot water to use with emergency food if we need it.

 

[bholler]

I've never been able to boil water on any woodstove myself. If water reaches the boiling point, I'd be worried that my stove is overheating.

really? As long as you dont have a convective top on your stove you should easliy be able to boil water without over firing. Most run in the 600 degree range which is more than enough to biol water.

 

[kennyp2339]

I've never been able to boil water on any woodstove myself. If water reaches the boiling point, I'd be worried that my stove is overheating.

LOL - you just bought up and old memory...ask my dad about boiling water on the woodstove, I bet my mom will still elbow him in the ribs, had a little instant coffee issue during an ice storm power outage there.

 

[cpgrim]

LOL - you just bought up and old memory...ask my dad about boiling water on the woodstove, I bet my mom will still elbow him in the ribs, had a little instant coffee issue during an ice storm power outage there.

Did it get too hot?

 

[mol1jb]

My old nc30 boiled water every time I ran it

 

[bholler]

The problem with inserts is many of them have a convective top meaning the air from the blower comes out under the top which cools it. You may have trouble boiling water on one like that. I think the 5100 has a convective top but I am not sure

 

[kennyp2339]

Did it get too hot?

They have a 2006 country wood insert, the top sticks out of the fireplace about 15" I think its a 2.5 cu fire box, the thing is a beast, with secondary reburn tubes, brick baffle with insulation on top and blower (who ever designed that stove got it right) ...but yeah back on topic, instant coffee smells horrible when burning off the top of the stove, and it will foam after a boiling a certain amount of time.

 

[Rearscreen]

Oh heating water to the point where it humidify s is EZ no problem. And cooking chili? No problem.

 

[cpgrim]

The problem with inserts is many of them have a convective top meaning the air from the blower comes out under the top which cools it. You may have trouble boiling water on one like that. I think the 5100 has a convective top but I am not sure

Good thought. I think the blower is on the bottom. Take a look. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct...tvbVn4g8tSCR-YYw&ust=1475630871381004&cad=rjt

 

[bholler]

Good thought. I think the blower is on the bottom. Take a look

yes and it blows in around the outside of the firebox and usually out under the top

 

[cpgrim]

yes and it blows in around the outside of the firebox and usually out under the top

Thanks, I'll have to ask about that.

 

[begreen]

What about the Regency 3100i?

 

[cpgrim]

Oh heating water to the point where it humidify s is EZ no problem. And cooking chili? No problem.

Do you have a Quadra Fire 5100i?

 

[cpgrim]

What about the Regency 3100i?

I need to go back and look at it in the store. I really want a large window and am looking at the Vermont Castings Merrimack online. But, I will look at the Regency again. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[Tom123]

Here is the ledge on my Napoleon 1402. I have boiled water in a teapot no problem. The cast iron pot on it is on a trivit so it just gets warm and slowly evaporates. Be very careful with water around a stove. I wouldn't want to splash the hot glass.

 

[begreen]

I need to go back and look at it in the store. I really want a large window and am looking at the Vermont Castings Merrimack online. But, I will look at the Regency again. Thank you for the suggestion.

The Merrimack has a convective top. Not sure if it can be removed for cooking.

 

[cpgrim]

Here is the ledge on my Napoleon 1402. I have boiled water in a teapot no problem. The cast iron pot on it is on a trivit so it just gets warm and slowly evaporates. Be very careful with water around a stove. I wouldn't want to splash the hot glass. View attachment 186549

That looks great. How deep is the ledge?

 

[DuaeGuttae]

I'm not the expert that many of the folk here are (I've hung around and read for education and entertainment for years), but your question caught my attention because your considerations were so similar to what our family thought about years ago.

First, I'll say that if you really only want to boil water when you have no electricity, I don't think your insert's blower would be running anyway.

Our family owns a Lopi Revere, and we have used it for water and soup and hot cocoa during power outages. Our fireplace opening was smaller than yours, so it's probably not what you're wanting aesthetically. We use it in a large walk-out basement. We bought it first just to heat the basement (if we used the furnace to keep the upstairs not too cold, the basement was too cold). Now it has become our main source of heat for the entire 2,500 square foot house (a ranch that is well air sealed and insulated), and our children love to spend time in the basement in the winter because they want to be warm and toasty and watching the fire.

I know Lopi had a larger insert than what would fit in our opening, so maybe that's worth checking out. You also might want to think again about some that you had already considered and ask about boiling water when the blower is not running.

I really only have experience with my insert (which we chose because it did have the cooktop) so can't give you a wide range of suggestions but did want to mention my thoughts.

 

[cpgrim]

Thank you for the advice! I actually just looked up Lopi. I'll investigate further!