Fireplace Inserts

[Gomez]

I want to get a fireplace insert to help curtail heating costs. I've heard Vermont Castings is good. My sister has a Lopi she is happy with. Any other brands I should look at?
Also, is a Catalytic Converter worth it?

Thanks

 

[W5FL]

Realizing that fireplaces are of limited functionality in a house that is also centrally heated and are not very efficient, a wood stove is the only way to go. They may be catalytic or non-catalytic, but those of recent manufacturing dates are very clean burning and very efficient. A wood stove in a fireplace using the fireplace chimney, which is essentially what vermont castings makes, should work very well. A pamplet from the US Printing Office called "Up the Chimney" showing dollar bills coming out the chimney with the smoke and defined most fireplaces as most efficient when they were not lit. However many fireplace inserts can be fitted with outside air kits and closely fitting front glass doors and do a fair job from an efficiency standpoing.

My dad has a good fireplace insert that is much more efficient that a standard fireplace, but it still burns 3 times as much wood as a good airless wood stove.

As I remember my house when I was in the 3rd grade, a fireplace and the kitchen stove were the only sources of heat. The fact the fireplace pulled in 20 degree air through the windows did not matter because the temperature in the bedrooms was below freezing anyway. I remember a glass of water freezing beside the bed.

 

[Von]

A good option is a zero clearance fireplace.
This is a wood stove that looks like a fireplace. The one that I have is rated at 52K BTU's and is 93% efficient with the catalytic converter, and it just about heats the whole house which is 2600sqft. I burn about 8 face cords of slab wood a season and save quite a bit on the heat bill. Look into these fireplaces, I think you will be pleased with their looks and function.

Von

 

[Mryan]

Have you considered gas (either natural gas or propane)? A friend of mine heats his vacation home in New Hampshire with a propane stove. It is a beautiful unit and with a 100lb tank outside, he goes the whole winter on one tank. Some of the gas units have remote controls to turn the stove on and off...very nice. If you want to stay with wood, a stove, as Wen, said will likely be the most efficient method. I have seen a set up for a fireplace, I think it is called a Heatalator, that works well to offset heating costs. It is a simple heat exchanger that pulls in cool room air and passes it through tubes over the flames and then blows it back into the room. There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a system. What to burn...wood, gas, coal, or pellets. How much heating do you want to do with it. Is it a supplement or a primary source. Do you want to see the fire for ambiance. Once you have answered thes types of questions, chosing a manufacturer should be easy. Personally, I prefer propane. I have the tanks for my stove and dryer anyway. It is cleaner and more efficient than wood. You can turn it off and leave the house without fear of comming home to a pile of ashes. Eventually I am going to get a propane set up in my house. They make inserts that are pretty good for heat and actually use ceramic logs to give the ambiance of a fire. Good luck...let us know what you chose.

Regards, Mike.

 

[W5FL]

Guess it depends on where you live.

In North Texas on the Tri-County Co-Ops for electricity, the most efficient heat is a heat pump. Wood is almost the same cost and about 50% of the cost of propane (before the recent price increases). My heating is heat pump with propane back up. The Wood Stove is used for most really cold weather and costs very little to operate as it consumes so little fuel.

The most efficient use I have found for propane heat is the really efficient gas furnaces. They are so efficient that the exhause is hardly over room temperature. They cost too much to be practical in our mild climate, though. Propane is a very dangerous gas and really needs to be used with great care. It is heavier than air and tends to collect around fireplaces and slabs or pool decks and can lead to great explosions. Natural gas is far better (and cheaper here) but is not available outside of the cities.

Our 6 burner commercial stove, 2 furnaces (back up heat), dryer, 2 water heaters, 2 Dearborn Heaters in barn and water heater in barn are all on propane heat from a 500 gallon tank located about 150 feet from house and barn.

 

[Gomez]

Gas is not an option. Natural is not available and I don't want to get propane (Not trying to start a "flame" war, here). I'd be home when I'm using the stove so it will not be left unattended.

 

[MarkV]

Gomez- A couple of years ago we did a lot of looking at woodstoves for the weekend home we have been building. The two brands we considered the most were, Vermont Castings and Jotal. Ended up with a Jotal, Swedish if I remember right, because of clearances required. I believe both brands make fireplace inserts that would be worth looking at. From what we found, these are two of the top brands on the market and you pay for the quality. Ours will about run you out of the place, until you get the touch of regulating your fire, and will burn for 10 - 12 hours with a full load of wood. We have been very happy.

I understood catalytic converters were added to stoves to meet new pollution regulations. Our unit has one and no problems so far. Our dealer told us there were about 200 brands of woodstoves made in the U.S. before the new regulations and 8 after the new regulation. I am sure there are more now and I see that many of the new stoves and inserts are meeting the regs without catalytic converter.

 

[W5FL]

I checked and my stove is a Vermont Castings Dutchwest Federal. It takes standard 24 inch fireplace wood. Works very well. I would think that a stove like the Lopi without a catalytic converter would be nice as the catalytic converters have a limited life of 3 to 5 years.

I can't belive it is 104 degrees outside and we are talking about heaters! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[bcarter]

I had a similar problem and looked for a similar solution... I ended up with an Avalon woodstove that was setup as an insert (remove the feet and add a panel around the unit to cover the gap between the unit and the fireplace itself). Had a brass trimmed glass door so you could see the fire and an optional fan unit that helped circulate the heat. I could heat a 1000 sq ft house to 75F with no problem (20F outside) if I used a window fan in the hallway to help get the heat to the far end of the house. Used it mainly on the weekends so that I wouldn't have to run the oil burner. Worked great.

Also looked at VT Castings but they were big $. This stove was thinner guage metal (although still quite thick) with a firebrick lining. The fire bricks were replaceable so that when/if they eventually wore out they could be replaced. This stove had a secondary air feed in the upper part of the stove which helped to completely burn any unburned gasses (I guess that's considered a catalytic converter?). From what the dealer told me all wood stoves around here (MA) now have to have that feature because of clean air standards.

 

[jyoutz]

Gomez, I live in mountain country at high elevation. We heat about 7-8 months of the year. About 6 years ago, I bought a Lopi fireplace insert with blower and all of the goodies. I heat my house exclusively with this, except when I'm away (then I fire up the costly propane furnice). The Lopi is the best unit I have ever used, and I'm very familiar with wood heat (I'm a forester and "wood is good" to me). My advice: do not go with a catelytic stove-too much hassel, get a large state of the art technology woodstove insert (Lopi), do not just shove it in your fireplace-install it with stainless steel single-wall pipe inside of your chimney and run the cap outside of the chimney-cover chimney with a sheet metal roof jack and cover the pipe with a stove cap. By installing this way, it will cost more, but you'll never have to replace the stainless pipe, the stove will draft and heat much better, and cleaning the pipe with a brush is extremely fast and easy. The new stoves will hold a fire an incredibly long time without refilling and heat very well, and they burn very clean to boot. I have a tri-level home and I heat the whole house by a little trick I discovered. My air intake vent for my furnice is in the same room as the woodstove. I just turn the furnice fan on (without any heat) and let the fan run all night. This way the warm air from the woodstove is moved to every room in the house. I suspect that this trick would also work even if the air intake is in another room-I bet the trick is simply to have air circulation. Good luck.