Hello all I joined here last year and have learned a lot of burning and all that goes with it. When I originally signed up I wanted to get a whole house system to replace my oil furnace but I found out that the ROI would not be there for the amount of time I plan to stay here. 5 years or less. Anyhow I do have a regular fireplace in the home and I have been doing to some research on a wood stove insert for it but I am coming up empty as far as how they preform compared to regular standalone wood stoves as far as heat output goes. The fireplace as it is now sucks. After an all-night fire the brick above the fire is not even warm! Any real world experience would be great. Not looking to spend more than a grand on it so if I am way out of line please tell me. Also not looking to heat the whole house with it just supplement the oil furnace when its real cold, or I forget to fill the tank.
woodstove insert?
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Beer Belly
Minister of Fire
With a $1,000 budget, it'll be tough to do IMO....even if you self install. Ours was $2,800 soup to nuts back in 2007, has payed back after the first year and a half.
clemsonfor
Minister of Fire
You can get a small Drolet or whatever there called at NOrthern tool for about that, then you still need a liner for abour $250 for 15ft. Unless you run a slammer install and dont line it
Beer Belly
Minister of Fire
Not saying it can't be done....but everything would have to fall in place....the right stove (likely used) at the right price.....keep checking local ads and put the word out to family and friends...somebody might know somebody looking to get rid of a stove who is going from Wood to Pellets
clemsonfor
Minister of Fire
Or find someone who bought a house and dont know what they have and want to go back to an open fireplace, cause that insert cant burn this "GREEN" wood hot enough to throw out the heat?
I know nothing about this stuff so I would not really want used and I would want it professionally installed. So I doubt I would be able to find anything in the price range I want to spend. I could spend more but for the amount of time im going to be at this house I don’t believe it’s worth it just like it was not worth getting a wood boiler.
loudog
Member
What do you currently spend annually on heat? That could be a good indicator as to if it's worth the effort and money. I heat with oil so it is very expensive to heat my house. I spent around $2800 on the install of my insert and wood supply the first year. I broke even after 12 months. At this point I've been burning for almost four years and have saved around $7,000. That puts me up about $4,000 in four years.
Others on the forum have much less expensive monthly heating bills so it takes a lot longer to make the money back. Either way you're going to have a hard time getting anything installed for that price. Hope that helps. Good luck.
Others on the forum have much less expensive monthly heating bills so it takes a lot longer to make the money back. Either way you're going to have a hard time getting anything installed for that price. Hope that helps. Good luck.
Only been here one winter and the tanks were full when I moved in and I still filled one 250gal oil tank to the tune of about 800 bucks.So 800x3=2,400 give or take for one winters worth of oil.That’s heating around 3,600sf.But only 1,200sf of that is where the insert would be the rest is in a detached garage. so i guess 2400 would be my break even number huh?
loudog
Member
Well your break even point would be the total cost of the unit, install and wood.
Whatever money you don't spend on oil would be the amount you start earning back. Eventually a wood burning appliance will pay for itself, but if you're only heating a fraction of the space with wood you will only save a fraction on oil.
Sounds like you will save about a tank of oil per year assuming the oil consumption is relative to the square footage. At that rate you will save around $800/ year in oil assuming you get your wood for free. If you're buying wood the savings is less.
I hope this helpful to you and not just confusing. What I'm typing makes sense to me, but may not be as cpear to others. Sorry if that's the case.
Whatever money you don't spend on oil would be the amount you start earning back. Eventually a wood burning appliance will pay for itself, but if you're only heating a fraction of the space with wood you will only save a fraction on oil.
Sounds like you will save about a tank of oil per year assuming the oil consumption is relative to the square footage. At that rate you will save around $800/ year in oil assuming you get your wood for free. If you're buying wood the savings is less.
I hope this helpful to you and not just confusing. What I'm typing makes sense to me, but may not be as cpear to others. Sorry if that's the case.
The wood would be free besides my time and saw gas. However I don’t have a splitter and am not looking to use the old fashioned way so I guess I would have to invest in a log splitter as well and there around 2 grand as well. I guess no matter what its going to be hard to get wood heat into this house for a price I can feel good about for the short time im going to be here.
I did notice there are some cheaper inserts on northern tool. Does anyone have experience with them? Would it be that hard to self-install? Im not worried about the mechanics of it more so the safety since its not something I am familiar with.
HatCityIAFF
Burning Hunk
No expierence with them from Northern, but there good for the price point. The only downside I would see to them is the smaller firebox. less wood, less heat, fast reload time. Is mine too small for me? at 2.5ish?? i think so. I reload every 4-5 hrs when temps are below 30 when i'm home. When i got to bed, i pack it, and wake up at 530 with coals for a restart. 1700sqft raised ranch, with stove on bottom level, bedrooms and stuff upstairs. This keeps downstairs mid 70's, and upstairs low-mid 60's.
And do you REALLY NEED a splitter now? Essential? Gotta weight the cost. I split about 4 cords with a x27 in feb-march to be burned this winter. And have been at splitting since julyish here and there to get '13/14 ready, and i'm about 3 cords into that. So 7 cords split this year by hand,and thats not even hustling to get it done.
I did the self install. Wicked easy. put 25ft (however high yours is) of stainless 6inch liner down your chimney, have a buddy help you lift stove onto/into hearth, and connect liner. done.
And do you REALLY NEED a splitter now? Essential? Gotta weight the cost. I split about 4 cords with a x27 in feb-march to be burned this winter. And have been at splitting since julyish here and there to get '13/14 ready, and i'm about 3 cords into that. So 7 cords split this year by hand,and thats not even hustling to get it done.
I did the self install. Wicked easy. put 25ft (however high yours is) of stainless 6inch liner down your chimney, have a buddy help you lift stove onto/into hearth, and connect liner. done.
clemsonfor
Minister of Fire
If you split a little at the time by hand its not that bad, or you can rent a splitter, pile all the rounds up rent it for the weekend for say $100 and your done for the year!
I have a freestander vogelzang i got from nothern. the heat out put is not great but i think those small Drolet inserts would do great on about 1200ft. Thats a more name brand and a decent yet small insert at say 2cuft-ish?? Self install is not hard, get a freind or 2 and you can muscle it into place with a hand truck and muscle. The liner kit bought for say a 20ft chimney would be about $300ish from chimney liner depot. and there super easy to install unless you think you will need to bust out your smokeshelf brick to get it down. You just drop it down the chimney or use the pull cone. Then hook up is just push it into the stove collor and use a few screws and put up trim.
For example my stove was bought at a dealer as a used one i paid $900 for it with a 1 yr warenty. The liner kit is about $350, and i can heat 2000ish sqft easy with it. the stove is a $2500 stove new. Stove looked new when i got it, minus a few ashes on the top inside that i cleaned out. It was freshly repainted as well.
I have a freestander vogelzang i got from nothern. the heat out put is not great but i think those small Drolet inserts would do great on about 1200ft. Thats a more name brand and a decent yet small insert at say 2cuft-ish?? Self install is not hard, get a freind or 2 and you can muscle it into place with a hand truck and muscle. The liner kit bought for say a 20ft chimney would be about $300ish from chimney liner depot. and there super easy to install unless you think you will need to bust out your smokeshelf brick to get it down. You just drop it down the chimney or use the pull cone. Then hook up is just push it into the stove collor and use a few screws and put up trim.
For example my stove was bought at a dealer as a used one i paid $900 for it with a 1 yr warenty. The liner kit is about $350, and i can heat 2000ish sqft easy with it. the stove is a $2500 stove new. Stove looked new when i got it, minus a few ashes on the top inside that i cleaned out. It was freshly repainted as well.
num1hitter
Member
Just my 2 cents. I found my first insert on craigslist, Dutchwest 2500 for $400 and 25ft of new liner for $150. I did the install myself. It was fairly straightforward. The insert was small and I always kept an eye out for another one for a good deal on CL. It heated my house fairly well, downstairs was great but upstairs only slowly crept up. Sizing is definitely important. I recently found a Quad 4100i for $500 in great shape, came with a hearth pad extension as well. I sold the DW for $500 and the hearth pad for $70. I just upgraded with a profit. I couldn't be happier, finally burning truly seasoned wood and heating the entire house.
So if you are actively looking for deals on CL or local ads, it can be done at a price point under $1000, but this time of year might be tough. Late winter/early spring is a great time to look. Also keep in mind your money will not disappear, you will have the insert you can always sell if you are moving. These things are very easy to sell and they go quick if you find a good deal.
The hardest part of getting an insert up and running this year, IMO, will be finding seasoned wood to burn, if you do not have any right now. That is the most important piece of information I have learned. It makes your life so much easier. This forum will also be a great source of info/advice. Good luck with the search. It will likely become a great source of pride and accomplishment if you end up burning wood.
So if you are actively looking for deals on CL or local ads, it can be done at a price point under $1000, but this time of year might be tough. Late winter/early spring is a great time to look. Also keep in mind your money will not disappear, you will have the insert you can always sell if you are moving. These things are very easy to sell and they go quick if you find a good deal.
The hardest part of getting an insert up and running this year, IMO, will be finding seasoned wood to burn, if you do not have any right now. That is the most important piece of information I have learned. It makes your life so much easier. This forum will also be a great source of info/advice. Good luck with the search. It will likely become a great source of pride and accomplishment if you end up burning wood.
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