A few Enviro Venice insert questions

[Horace]

My family lived in a house with a woodstove, a chainsaw, and some forested land last winter and I caught the wood-burning bug. Now I’m trying to find an attractive stove or insert that can safely work in our living room fireplace, which has wood trim inconveniently close to the opening. The Enviro Venice 1200 is one promising possibility for this fireplace, but I still have some questions I couldn’t answer with the manuals.

1. The standard and oversize surrounds are both too wide for my fireplace, so I think I would have to use the optional “Venice oversize trimmable surround panel 46″W x 36″H” .I haven’t been able to find a picture of this and wonder if anyone knows what the trimmable surround looks like. Has anyone here seen it? Does it look nice? Is it just a flat sheet of steel, or does it have the same picture frame style border you can see here:
http://www.enviro.com/custom_content/images/productGallery2015B/1200V-FPI-1.jpg

2. Does the Venice have quiet blowers? Does it look nice in person? Do you think it would be a good match assthetically for this fireplace (http://i.imgur.com/zubkY18.jpg) and this room (http://i.imgur.com/wc9Dq67.jpg)?

3.The larger Venice 1700 fits my fireplace’s clearances just as well as the Venice 1200. I don’t *think* we need the extra heat from a larger unit (I live in North Carolina and have 1750 square feet of low ceilings and decent insulation), but the longer burn times and ability to load N-S would be nice. Is it worth the ~$300 or so to upgrade to the larger unit? Will the 1700 be too much?

4. Finally, I think I’ll need to use an insulating hearth pad with the Venice, because it sticks about 7” onto my 20.5” deep flush brick hearth, leaving an insufficient 13.5” from door to hardwood. If I used the flush Enviro Cabello 1200 instead, which would leave at least 16” of flush brick hearth (brick all the way down) between its door and the combustible floor, could I skip the insulating pad?

Sorry for the length and for so many questions. I’m so grateful for any information/thoughts/alternatives anyone can share. Thanks in advance!

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If anyone’s interested, here is a picture of the fireplace upon which I’ve noted some of the troublesome dimensions:
http://i.imgur.com/zubkY18.jpg



1.5” thick side facing: starts 22.5” from center of opening (width between side facing is 45”)
3” mantel column: starts 24” from center of opening (width between 3” thick columns is 48”)
1.5” thick top facing: starts 38” above hearth
6.5” mantel shelf: starts 52” above hearth

I am planning to saw away about 1” of side facing on each side and up to 3” of top facing—I think I can do this without altering the look or proportions of the mantel frame too drastically. That should give me 47” between the 1.5” thick side facing to work with and ~41” below the top facing.

Here are some other units on the random seeming short list:
Pacific Energy Super Insert (maybe plain looking and smaller window)
Vermont Castings Montpelier (beautiful to me but everyone says stay away from VC)
Jotul C450 Kennebec
True North TN20 Insert (save a lot of money)
Enviro Cabello 1200
Pacific Energy Neo 1.6
Lopi Large Flush Hybrid Fire Insert (got a really high quote for this)
Rip out and redo mantel and get Blaze King Ashford 25 Insert when it’s available.
Just get a gas insert

 

[double-d]

Here is a picture of the Venice oversize trimmable surround panel 46″ W x 36″ H” It appears to be flat and does not have the Picture Framed edge.
(broken link removed to http://www.russoproducts.com/pdfs/enviro_pricelist.pdf)

 

[Wood Collector]

I have the 1200 Venice. Quite satisfied with the heat output of this unit. The blower in my opinion is quiet running on low speed. Like any blower or fan, when you dial it up it will get louder. Here is a picture of mine to give you another installation to look at.

 

[Horace]

Here is a picture of the Venice oversize trimmable surround panel 46″ W x 36″ H” It appears to be flat and does not have the Picture Framed edge.
(broken link removed to http://www.russoproducts.com/pdfs/enviro_pricelist.pdf)

Thanks, double-d! That's a good find--clear pictures of all the options, and nice to see what looks like an official price list to see that the price quoted to me by my local dealer is fair.

 

[Horace]

I have the 1200 Venice. Quite satisfied with the heat output of this unit. The blower in my opinion is quiet running on low speed. Like any blower or fan, when you dial it up it will get louder. Here is a picture of mine to give you another installation to look at.

Thanks a lot for sharing the picture of your install, Wood Collector. Looks great. If the 1200 size works for you in Delaware then it should be more than enough for me here in NC.

 

[Wood Collector]

One thing to consider is the bigger stove offers is longer burn times because of the larger loads. Oh that reminds me, log length!! In the 1200 East to West 17" is about it. I had to cut 3-4 inches off of (4) cords. PIA! Now I cut my rounds to 16.5".

 

[nitrogenase]

Having owned both the 1200 and the 1700 over the past decade, in two different homes, I am very glad to now be using the 1700. Being able to load logs east/west and north/south with the 1700 (because it is deeper by ~6 inches) allows for much more versatility and bigger loads. Although the installed fans can sometimes be a problem with both models and needed replacing under warranty in the first few weeks for both models, once you get a quiet fan they go for years maintenance free. I love the Enviro Venice.