Any recommendations for non-cat wood insert that will provide an overnight burn?

[Sharkeys78]

I'm about to become a first time wood insert owner, please excuse my ignorance here. I'm so close to pulling the trigger on a Lopi Medium Flush NextGen Hybrid. However, after reading through the full owners manual, I was astonished at how much babysitting the cat insert seems to require. That is to say, it seems like you can't just light the fire and walk away, you need to get the cat up to temp before engaging the bypass, you need to monitor the temperature; and additionally reading the owners manual made me feel like the cat is fragile and can be easily ruined with improper use. That led me to looking up the cost of replacing the cat and I was astonished at how much the replacement part is. Am I overthinking the cat?

All that to say, it made me second guess a cat stove and I'm now open to a non cat stove, but I really need one that will leave me with hot coals in the morning to restart the fire. Any suggestions? Looking for a contemporary flush look. I love the Regency ci1150 but I think it's too small for my home and it's just small in general for our fireplace. What else is out there that people recommend?

Will I be burning through a lot more wood with the non cat insert? Does that even matter if eventually (with a cat insert) I'll need to spend $$$ on a new cat?

 

[begreen]

Requiring a flush insert restricts choices. However, the Pacific Energy Neo 2.6 and the Osburn Matrix-I and Inspire 2000-I are flush non-cats. There is also the Ambiance Flair 34, but there is not a lot of information on this yet.

Make sure the alternative fits first before ordering.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

I was astonished at how much babysitting the cat insert seems to require. That is to say, it seems like you can't just light the fire and walk away, you need to get the cat up to temp before engaging the bypass, you need to monitor the temperature; and additionally reading the owners manual made me feel like the cat is fragile and can be easily ruined with improper use.

Non catalyst stoves (other than fixed rate burn stoves which will not give great burn times) are not operated by "lighting the fire and walking away". Both catalyst and non catalyst stoves will typically start with open air control that is gradually turned down in steps at the beginning of the burn. The only extra "step" is closing the bypass on a catalyst which you will find is not rocket science.

That being said the options mentioned above are great non catalyst options that when used correctly and with sub 20% moisture wood should give you coals in the morning.

 

[stoveliker]

I think that anything with 2.5 cubic foot or more can give coals in the morning.
However, if you go to bed at 9 and wake up at 9, I'm not so sure...

Coals in the morning depends on the number of hours you need it to be...

 

[Woody Stover]

When the time came for my SIL to get a new stove, I suggested a non-cat. She's been happy with it, and has plenty of coals to reload on in the morning. Firebox is around 2 cu.ft. It's a Pacific Energy T5. No cat, and very few parts in its simple design.
I've only used cat stoves so far but I'm considering trying a non-cat. The cats for my stoves are under $200 but I usually replace them when performance begins to drop off, at about 3 yrs. Gets a bit expensive when you do it that often.
As far as damage, you can damage any stove, cat or non-cat if you aren't careful.

 

[Woody Stover]

Coals in the morning depends on the number of hours you need it to be...

And burn time will depend on the heat demand needed to cope with outside temps, what kind of wood you are burning, and so on.

 

[stoveliker]

And burn time will depend on the heat demand needed to cope with outside temps, what kind of wood you are burning, and so on.

He asked for some coals in the morning to restart.
Didn't ask for heat.

 

[Sharkeys78]

Requiring a flush insert restricts choices. However, the Pacific Energy Neo 2.6 and the Osburn Matrix-I and Inspire 2000-I are flush non-cats. There is also the Ambiance Flair 34, but there is not a lot of information on this yet.

Make sure the alternative fits first before ordering.

All of these suggestions look amazing. I went through each of them and they were all too big by about one inch in the rear top corner.

 

[begreen]

If that is the only issue, the brick at that location can be ground out to fit.

 

[Plynwfire]

I have 3 Lopi wood inserts in my showroom along with 3 more Lopi wood stoves. I really do not feel they are that much of an issue and require a ton of monitoring. The epa mandate on getting these inserts and stoves to burn cleaner is really getting out of hand in my opinion. The old non next gen units compared to the new Hybrid units burn like .5 grams of particulates per hour cleaner. That is hardly anything at all. Been selling hearth products 31 years now. Of all the brands I have sold and continue to sell. I would put the Lopi stuff up against any of them. Durability, efficiency, bank time, and Btu's its a great product line.

 

[Sharkeys78]

I have 3 Lopi wood inserts in my showroom along with 3 more Lopi wood stoves. I really do not feel they are that much of an issue and require a ton of monitoring. The epa mandate on getting these inserts and stoves to burn cleaner is really getting out of hand in my opinion. The old non next gen units compared to the new Hybrid units burn like .5 grams of particulates per hour cleaner. That is hardly anything at all. Been selling hearth products 31 years now. Of all the brands I have sold and continue to sell. I would put the Lopi stuff up against any of them. Durability, efficiency, bank time, and Btu's its a great product line.

Really helpful. How often do you expect someone to replace the cat on a Lopi Next Gen Hybrid insert?

 

[Sharkeys78]

If that is the only issue, the brick at that location can be ground out to fit.

Interesting, sounds expensive, no? I've got the installers coming to look at the fireplace and chimney this week. I'll ask them about it.

 

[begreen]

Dusty yes, expensive no. It comes out pretty quickly with a grinder.

 

[stoveliker]

Really helpful. How often do you expect someone to replace the cat on a Lopi Next Gen Hybrid insert?

Cats generally "live" for 10-12000 hrs. That of course can be shortened by poor treatment of the cat.

 

[Woody Stover]

Dusty yes, expensive no. It comes out pretty quickly with a grinder.

Angle grinder with a masonry wheel will make short work of it.

He asked for some coals in the morning to restart.
Didn't ask for heat.

My point was if you need more heat on a cold night, you'll have the stove burning hotter and the load will burn up quicker, leaving less coals.

 

[stoveliker]

My point was if you need more heat on a cold night, you'll have the stove burning hotter and the load will burn up quicker, leaving less coals.

I know and of course agree.
But the question of having coals in the morning is posed very differently from mentioning a need for heat.
"I want to stay cozy all night in cold nights AND be able to relight" versus "I want to be able to relight".
Some folks like the home to be colder during the night but don't like to relight a cold stove.

But hence my 2.5 cu ft suggestion.

 

[bholler]

I have 3 Lopi wood inserts in my showroom along with 3 more Lopi wood stoves. I really do not feel they are that much of an issue and require a ton of monitoring. The epa mandate on getting these inserts and stoves to burn cleaner is really getting out of hand in my opinion. The old non next gen units compared to the new Hybrid units burn like .5 grams of particulates per hour cleaner. That is hardly anything at all. Been selling hearth products 31 years now. Of all the brands I have sold and continue to sell. I would put the Lopi stuff up against any of them. Durability, efficiency, bank time, and Btu's its a great product line.

Lopi is pretty comparable to Regency quad pacific energy and probably some others in that respect. Definitely good stoves but I have seen cracked air manifolds as often in them as the rest. The nice thing about pacific energy is all the internals are replaceable. I would like to know what downside you see with the increased requirements. Yes there have been. A few misses but overall the new stoves are performing very well.

 

[Mcuan88]

All of these suggestions look amazing. I went through each of them and they were all too big by about one inch in the rear top corner.

I recently bought and had an Osburn Inspire 2000 installed in March. The installer had to remove a few bricks in the back of the fireplace because we both realized it wouldn't fit and would stick out too far.

Recently when it was <40 F, loaded up around 10pm and still had coals at 6am in the morning. Opted to not use the surround as I like the look of the contemporary stove against the grayish bricks.

This was just getting a top down fire started: