I have spend endless hours researching wood inserts for our house. Back story I would like to be able to reduce our gas bill in the winter we have about a 3,000 square foot house. We use to have a wood burning stove that I LOVE in our old house, this house has a fireplace so an insert seems like the easy option. Yesterday I had someone come in and while I was talking wood, he suggested a gas insert. The sales guys insight was the easy of use and being able to set it at a certain temp and walk away. With little kids I can appreciate that, but I can't wrap my brain around wanting to decrease my gas use by getting a gas insert....can anyone help me with that logic? With how our current fireplace is we need to cut the top vent tubes for a wood insert 6 inch vent, which I have been told once we do this, there is no going backwards and an insert will always have to be in it. But I guess with a direct vent they use 2 3 inch tubes which can fit through the current gaps so if we change our mind or when we sell in 10-15 years the next owners can still convert it. I had my heart set on the joys of a wood burning insert again, but should I realistically consider gas given these factors? I have circled the tubes that are on the back side of this vent that will need to be cut. Thank you for you for sharing any insight.
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Wood or Gas insert
- Thread starter LZfamily
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Both are space heaters rather than full home heaters.
If you leave farther rooms colder when running a gas insert, then it'll likely save you gas as compared to using a furnace.
But doing the same (heat the big room and have farther rooms colder) with a wood insert saves more gas.
If you leave farther rooms colder when running a gas insert, then it'll likely save you gas as compared to using a furnace.
But doing the same (heat the big room and have farther rooms colder) with a wood insert saves more gas.
Heating with wood is big commitment. I like doing it myself and enjoy most parts of the process. That said, if I didn’t, it would feel like a big burden. If you’re anything but excited about wood processing and all the other needed activities with a wood stove (and feel you can dedicate the time to it), I’d go with gas.
I LOVE the idea of getting wood again! We had an wood burner from 2012-2019, of course for the life of me right now I can not remember how often we used it. Some of that time was before kids and some of it was in the thick of newborn life. Because of babies we didn't use it as much as before babies. Now kids are older, but you bring up a really good point. To me there is NOTHING like watching a real wood burn and before kids I did enjoy hunting for wood and splitting it. But the convivence factor is something to weight in, I am SHOCKED that there isnt a big price difference. For a wood insert Regnecy HI2450 enamel finish i was quoted $9,500 and for a Naoplian OAKVILLE SERIES 4 was about $8000. I figured If price was significantly different that would sway me, but they aren't that far off.
Very true, I guess I need to stop pretending that this will heat my whole house and look at them both as space heaters. I just wonder which would heat more of the houes?
Gas inserts have their role, we sell a lot of them. Usually the most important reasons are convenience and/or a backup heat source. The wood insert would most likely be more reliable, would save more gas (trading off the extra work by you, getting and loading wood, essentially paying yourself), and it really sounds like you want a wood insert. I'm of the opinion nothing feels like the warmth of a wood stove, but I do have propane stoves too. I like the option of both, the gas stoves will run if I'm not home to feed my wood stove, or I don't want to run my wood stove. So, plusses for both. Get what works for you, and of course what you want.
It's a space heater whether it's wood or gas, how you move the heat will be the factor.
Gas comes in the pipe and you pay the bill, wood doesn't do that. If you want to burn wood this winter you will be paying a lot for what will be sold to you as dry but will be questionable and expensive. Do you have storage area for a few years worth of wood? How easy is it to haul wood into the room with the fireplace? How willing are you to clean up the mess, wood is messy especially compared to gas.
Gas comes in the pipe and you pay the bill, wood doesn't do that. If you want to burn wood this winter you will be paying a lot for what will be sold to you as dry but will be questionable and expensive. Do you have storage area for a few years worth of wood? How easy is it to haul wood into the room with the fireplace? How willing are you to clean up the mess, wood is messy especially compared to gas.
Definitely sounds like you’d be very into the Wood life. I have the freestanding stove version of the regency 2450 and really really love it. My only small complaint is that it tends to run very hot when running a full load, but I figured out ways to slow down a bit.
I guess I have never had a gas insert, so I am not sure if I will love it like I love wood, there is a huge convivence factor at play for sure. Have you ever had people be on the fence get gas and wish they would have had wood instead? I can see people getting wood and deciding it's too much work if they are not use to wood. But we have been there and done that. While my back wasn't thrilled with wood splitting it was always nice to be outside.
Maybe this is another post, but we got our last wood stove in 2012 and yes seasoned wood was important, but it seems like that is a HUGE focus on chats now. Are inserts made different from 2012? We never tested the moisture of our wood back in 2012, we just got it and burned it, never stored it for years etc. Has the inserts changed or just knowledge of knowing how much better seasoned wood is and the technology to test the wood? I love the questions, we have space to store wood,but would have to build something to store the wood, I saw someone post use bricks and 2x4 than get a non tarp cover. We have a slider from the outside directly into the room that has the fireplace, but great point with the mess the wood leaves as you are bringing it in. My tired Mom brain says gas would be better for this season of life, but my heart still loves wood. Thanks for the great questions!
Older kids are great, they can help processing wood and loading stoves. My father had me splitting wood and keeping the stove running by the time I was 10 years old. Gas inserts make no real sense to me if you have access to free wood or even buying wood if you get a good price.
Seasoned wood has always been important, regardless of the stove age. This was as true for a 1979 Vermont Casting stove as it is today.
Just reading over your posts here, it really does sound as though you love wood heat. Given that and the fact that you're looking to lower your gas bill, I would definitely go with a wood insert over a gas insert. In our house, the kids love to gather around the wood stove as they did around the inserts in our previous two homes. Yes, you do need seasoned wood and there is more work involved, but you already know about that. Now that your kids are getting older, it's a great way to spend some family time together. My husband and I spend a lot of weekends processing wood in the fall, but our kids will now help us split or stack or move loads from the long rows to the house rack, that sort of thing.
I think with your large house and your concerns about the gas bill, you would see less benefit from a gas insert than you would from a wood insert because you'd be conscious while you were running it that you're burning gas. Especially if you're able to gather wood from your own property, you wouldn't be worried about running the wood insert, I assume.
I don't know if this has been mentioned before in this thread or in your other, but since this is a house new to you, make sure that you've considered whether you would benefit from upgrading your insulation or air sealing. Do you know if you local utility company offers energy audits? Even if you have to hire a private contractor, it can be a good thing to have done if it helps you understand how to keep the heat in your house in winter and out of it in summer.
I think with your large house and your concerns about the gas bill, you would see less benefit from a gas insert than you would from a wood insert because you'd be conscious while you were running it that you're burning gas. Especially if you're able to gather wood from your own property, you wouldn't be worried about running the wood insert, I assume.
I don't know if this has been mentioned before in this thread or in your other, but since this is a house new to you, make sure that you've considered whether you would benefit from upgrading your insulation or air sealing. Do you know if you local utility company offers energy audits? Even if you have to hire a private contractor, it can be a good thing to have done if it helps you understand how to keep the heat in your house in winter and out of it in summer.
I hate gas. We had gas fireplaces in our previous houses and hardly ever used them. They just feel so blah. Nothing compares to the heat from a wood fire.
In our current house, we installed a free standing wood stove and absolutely love it. We don't use it for full-time heating, but when we do use it, we turn the heat way down so the HVAC doesn't come on. It keeps our main living area nice and toasty. We don't overnight burn but the heat does not end up coming on until early morning as the stove continues to radiate heat overnight. We live in NC so our winters aren't terribly cold.
We keep a small wood rack on the deck right outside the sliding door near the stove and use a log-carrying bag to bring the wood inside. Yes, there is some mess, but a quick vacuum takes care of it. I'll bring in the wood, load and set up the stove, vacuum, and then light it. If we're expecting bad weather or a really cold snap, I'll bring in extra wood and keep it in a tote next to the stove.
We don't have a lot of room for wood storage because we're on a mountain with mostly sloped land. Fortunately, we have a flat area behind the garage, so we bought covered wood racks for storage.
In the nine years we've lived here, we haven't had to pay for wood. We had trees come down during ice storms our first few years, so we processed those. Yes, processing your own wood is work! In the beginning, everything was split with an axe, which my husband had to do because I just couldn't wield one. Most of our wood is oak, and it is so hard.
After Hurricane Helene came through and we had so many downed trees, I finally ordered an electric wood splitter. It made things so much easier, and I wish we'd bought one years earlier. My son and I were able to do all the splitting ourselves with it.
And dry wood is extremely important. Our first year, we actually got properly seasoned wood from a friend of my husband's because we didn't have enough dry wood of our own. You definitely have to stay ahead of your wood supply so you always have dry wood ready for the following season.
I was really glad to have the wood stove last winter. We were expected to have a horrible freezing rain storm with 3/4 inch of freezing rain. There was no way the heat pump defrost cycle would be able to handle that much ice. We didn't want our units to get damaged so we turned them off, covered them with tarps and stoked up the woodstove. I stayed up to feed it through the night and it kept our main level warm.
With all that said...I would always choose a wood burner over gas. The ambiance is so much nicer than gas and the heat from it is so much nicer than gas.
I included pictures of our wood area and our rack outside our slider just to give you ideas.
In our current house, we installed a free standing wood stove and absolutely love it. We don't use it for full-time heating, but when we do use it, we turn the heat way down so the HVAC doesn't come on. It keeps our main living area nice and toasty. We don't overnight burn but the heat does not end up coming on until early morning as the stove continues to radiate heat overnight. We live in NC so our winters aren't terribly cold.
We keep a small wood rack on the deck right outside the sliding door near the stove and use a log-carrying bag to bring the wood inside. Yes, there is some mess, but a quick vacuum takes care of it. I'll bring in the wood, load and set up the stove, vacuum, and then light it. If we're expecting bad weather or a really cold snap, I'll bring in extra wood and keep it in a tote next to the stove.
We don't have a lot of room for wood storage because we're on a mountain with mostly sloped land. Fortunately, we have a flat area behind the garage, so we bought covered wood racks for storage.
In the nine years we've lived here, we haven't had to pay for wood. We had trees come down during ice storms our first few years, so we processed those. Yes, processing your own wood is work! In the beginning, everything was split with an axe, which my husband had to do because I just couldn't wield one. Most of our wood is oak, and it is so hard.
After Hurricane Helene came through and we had so many downed trees, I finally ordered an electric wood splitter. It made things so much easier, and I wish we'd bought one years earlier. My son and I were able to do all the splitting ourselves with it.
And dry wood is extremely important. Our first year, we actually got properly seasoned wood from a friend of my husband's because we didn't have enough dry wood of our own. You definitely have to stay ahead of your wood supply so you always have dry wood ready for the following season.
I was really glad to have the wood stove last winter. We were expected to have a horrible freezing rain storm with 3/4 inch of freezing rain. There was no way the heat pump defrost cycle would be able to handle that much ice. We didn't want our units to get damaged so we turned them off, covered them with tarps and stoked up the woodstove. I stayed up to feed it through the night and it kept our main level warm.
With all that said...I would always choose a wood burner over gas. The ambiance is so much nicer than gas and the heat from it is so much nicer than gas.
I included pictures of our wood area and our rack outside our slider just to give you ideas.
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I would guess the increased chatter about the importance of dry Wood these days probably has to do with how easy information flows these days over the Internet. Back in the day, I’m sure a lot of people only had to go off of what info was passed down to them and word-of mouth. I’ve only owned wood stoves since 2013, so I don’t know about older stoves, but a lot of people feel that older stoves were more leaky and dealt with wet wood a little better than newer stoves with either catalytic converters or secondary air tubes. I’m sure that older stoves created creosote, just like a newer stove would do ran with wet wood frequently. Definitely the difference between even marginally wet wood, and good dry stuff is very clear at least in my secondary burn stoves.
I wouldn’t be too worried about wanting to convert the fireplace back to an open fireplace later on. Open fireplaces are very inefficient compared to an insert. If you get an insert with a big viewing area you can get the same ambiance with a lot more heat output so there’d never really be a reason to go back.
It’s a good point. My wife liked the ambiance of the open fireplace as well and still likes ambiance of the non cat wood insert. Nothing loss, only gained in usable heat ( much).
Your outside looks like our dream location! I used to rent a splitter when we would have a lot of wood to split....made me question if I actually saved any money doing it that way, but my husband appreciated me not nagging him to split the wood.
We love where we live. Nice views, trees and neighbors not on top of each other.
I have no idea how much it costs to rent a splitter but the splitter we bought was $260 which I didn't think was too bad. We have used the heck out of it and its still going strong. We put some big rounds on it and I thought for sure it wouldn't get them split but sure enough it did. There is no way all the wood we needed to split was going to get done with an axe.
So did you decide on gas or wood?
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