ZC Fireplace Insert Confusion

[speaste]

Ok,

So here's my situation. I am looking at buying a ZC insert to go into my heatilator cold air machine.
I live in the Northern Virginia Area. I call up several dealers who tell me there is basically nothing I can do with a ZC fireplace other than board it up. (Never even looked at my setup)
I am persistant searching the internet and researching on my own and find this site along with several manufacturers I had not known about and along comes a retailer who agrees to come up and look at my setup and tell me what I can do.
So the guy is a great guy and very knowledgable. Spends an hour talking to my wife and I and measuring our ZC fireplace. Tells me he has three ZC inserts that will fit:

Country C160
Qudra 2700i
Country Flame O2

He tells me I have the standard 1700 degree 8" prefab chminey (I would estimate it's about 30 ft tall) and that I don't HAVE to but I could line it with insulated 6" liner for 2100 degree. It will draft better this way and is easier to clean instead of sticking a transition up into the 8" I already have but that in all honesty he could do either. He basically said if we stay in the house for a while, do the liner otherwise, skip it.

As I mentioned, the guy seems knowledgeable and earnest. We were both pretty happy about the meeting and were leaning towards the C160. I have a 3000 sq ft house however I am not expecting it to heat the whole thing. Maybe just help out a bunch with the downstairs. I have zoned heat the upstairs will take care of itself. So now comes my big question.
I have spent a lot of time looking around this site. I see people talk prices and such. Perhaps it is my area however I am concerned because the guy told me the following pretty close ballpark prices:

For the O2 - $4400 installed with the gold trim
For the other two - $3000 base installed and several hundred extra for the gold trim
PLUS if I do the liner he said it would add on between 1400 and 1800 bucks.

Now perhaps it's me but this seems high by quite a bit compared to others I have seen on here. As I said, I am really conflicted here because the guy seems to have sound knowledge and doing this for a long time. We both are comfortable with him. I am not trying to be cheap either but I am seeing what appears to be thousands of dollars difference between others posting on the same stove inserts.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

the quad is approved for ZC's, im sure the others are too, but i dont know that for a fact. The chimney HAS to be lined and insulated to get it up to the 2100* rating that the inserts require.
The 2700I retails for around $1500 including front and surround, but can be as expensive as $1700 with gold trim. Im going of memory, im at home today, but thats within 10% of being accurate. Liners can cost $1000-$2000 installed. Liner material with insualtion is around $30/ft.
The install seems a little high, but thats ok. THe insert is WAY off.

 

[velvetfoot]

I have the Quadrafire 2700i. We like it pretty well. It doesn't intrude on the hearth much so there's likely no hearth work required. It might be possible to get a larger firebox with another brand, which would be great, but there might be more intrusion. I have the receipt at home if you're interested. Our installer did not put in any insulation with the liner to the 8" pipe that came with the original Heatilator. The installer in our last house didn't put any insulation in either when he installed the liner with a similar setup.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

the insulation is only required to bring it up to the proper temp rating for the chimney. Its not a 100% legit installation without it, but MOST are installed with out insulation because its a real pain to get a 6" liner with insulation down a 8" chimney.

 

[speaste]

Yes, I would definately be interested in the pricing b/c something seems off.

I am trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt since he was very knowledagable and seemed like he did a good job. We WANT to do the liner install. He said basically the same thing about it bringing them temp limits up to where they SHOULD be. He also said the same thing about 90% of the installs choose NOT to have the liner because it costs so much (the 1400-1800 surcharge to the install).
I am also trying to decide if I should do this now or wait until towards the end of summer. Since it does not seem like there are price breaks to be had for being so close to the "off season". It is basically going to get installed and then sit for 6 months.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

prices go up 5%-10% every spring. I would shop around for insert from a dealer, and get a sub to install it. Line it period, the insert will work much more efficiently, and you will be leagle. If the installer uses a 1/4" wrap of insualtion its not to hard. if Its the 1/2" stuff thats a pain. Open the phone books and start calling sweeps. Tell them what you want, dont ask them what you need. You have already established what you need, all you need is a price.
Good luck.

 

[Neostover]

The Country Flame 02 is a very solidly built stove, and should retail for about $3000 with gold. It is approved for zero clearance fireplaces. I would agree that you should go with the liner.

Neo

 

[velvetfoot]

I looked at my receipt. The 2700i cost $2700 to install this past spring.

 

[wg_bent]

If your looking at the Quad 2700, then look at the Lopi Revere and the Osburn 1800i. Please check dimensions!

The Revere is a 2.2 cuft firebox (from memory) the Osburn is 1.8, both bigger than the Quad and will fit smaller ZC fireplaces.

My Liner was about 400 bucks and took about 2 hours to install. Worth the time? So total was about 1900.00 vs 4400 ??? well, you decide.

 

[Neostover]

Country Flame, Quad and Lopi are all good stoves, the Osburn isn't as well built. You get what you pay for....and you will get back what you put into it. The question is really what is the best value, not what is the best price. You should be thinkng long term if you are planning to stay in the house for a while. If not then it doesn't really matter so much unless you want to take the insert with you.

Neo

 

[oaksmoke2]

I installed the model O2 by country flame 3 years ago in my zero clearance fireplace(martin sc36) . wonderful little heater, and fits 20" wood easily in the firebox and even longer wood if you go corner to corner. heats about 1700 sq ft very confortably(78deg f) when the low's are in the teens highs in 20's. nice long burn times. I actually load mine at nite before i go to bed and just add wood in the morning. I bought my insert for about 1900.00 with black trim. my 6" ss liner was 300.00 for 25'. but i think you can do better than that on ebay. I would include a picture but my photo size is just over the maximum allowable size to send over this site. if you are interested in pictures email me at [email protected] i have alot of them.

good luck,

Mike