Any regrets on insert?

[Timberwolf530]

Very Nice Not much room to spare, so good job maximizing your stove size. IMO, the only regret you will have is that you didn't do it sooner. ENJOY!

 

[mstoelton]

Even with free wood you are looking at 15 year ROI?

I've calculated the ROI for my two Clydesdale inserts that I installed in 2013.
If I assume the wood is free (I cut and split it), the ROI is less than 18 months of heating with natural gas.

Burning the inserts has resulted in a net reduction in my gas bill of ~$350 per month during the heating season.

 

[lml999]

Thank you and thanks for the heads up.

Glad I could contribute. Usually *I'm* the newbie.

 

[Matt93eg]

My Wife and I didn't spend near that kind of money on our insert combined with the liner kit but also got a cheaper stove. Since recently installing new attic insulation we are heating our 1,500 Sq/ft home with our wood stove insert, I don't think you will see an open fireplace do that. In my opinion with all the new stoves having glass doors with an air wash its a no brainer to go with an insert. You still get the view of the fire, can still hear the wood pop and crack and at the same time have added an appliance that will actually heat and not suck all the warm air out of the house.

 

[Hogwildz]

Regret? NO

 

[hamsey]

Wish I did it sooner

 

[Matt93eg]

I should have read all the pages before I posted above to see you had put the stove in. Looks very nice! Nice job on the install.

 

[pigc]

I should have read all the pages before I posted above to see you had put the stove in. Looks very nice! Nice job on the install.

No prob. Thanks! The heat now is so much more balanced throughout the house. My wife and I are both amazed how much longer a single piece of wood lasts! Now I'm gonna have to find other excuses to get out of the house on the weekend other than to cut wood!!

 

[Matt93eg]

No prob. Thanks! The heat now is so much more balanced throughout the house. My wife and I are both amazed how much longer a single piece of wood lasts! Now I'm gonna have to find other excuses to get out of the house on the weekend other than to cut wood!!

Yeah its pretty awesome to get a load of wood up and going to where you can close the primary air all the way, so you basically slow the burn of the wood down but ignite the secondaries to burn the wood gas off. So basically its like slowing the burn of the wood down while creating more heat and efficiency at the same time. Impossible with an open fireplace.

Years ago I worked for a Chimney company, we did everything from cleanings to re-lines. Countless times we would go in to do a reline whether it be a Stainless steel reline or a cast in place and the customers would have us REMOVE the wood stove so they could go back to an open fireplace. That always left me scratching my head. We had a area in our warehouse that was nothing but wood stoves stacked up from where we had removed them from various homes.

 

[pigc]

REMOVE the wood stove so they could go back to an open fireplace

That is crazy! They must not have been using the stove consistently for heat. I bet, like most people, they just wanted an occasional fire for the ambience. I guess if you don't know what you're missing it's hard to realize the lack of efficiency of an open fireplace. I just wish I would have found this site earlier like many have stated!

 

[Matt93eg]

That is crazy! They must not have been using the stove consistently for heat. I bet, like most people, they just wanted an occasional fire for the ambience. I guess if you don't know what you're missing it's hard to realize the lack of efficiency of an open fireplace. I just wish I would have found this site earlier like many have stated!

Your probably right, they figured they would rather have the open FP just to burn now and then and sit by the fire. I don't think a lot of those customers understood the chimney system. I used to show up at a lot of house to sweep out the chimney, look up into the firebox with my light and the throat damper would be wide open. A lot of times this would be in the summer so a fire hadn't been burned in quite sometime, I guess they didn't know that even when its not in use it was drawing there air conditioned air right up to the sky.

My Brother has a Direct Vent Gas Log insert installed in his masonry fireplace. It was in there when he and his Wife bought there house. He had never used it so I went by a few weeks ago and showed him how to use it and all. It puts out decent heat but is burning gas. I told him when he's ready to put a wood insert and SS liner in there to let me know

 

[F4jock]

That is crazy! They must not have been using the stove consistently for heat. I bet, like most people, they just wanted an occasional fire for the ambience. I guess if you don't know what you're missing it's hard to realize the lack of efficiency of an open fireplace. I just wish I would have found this site earlier like many have stated!

Curious. How is your ambience quotient vs the open hearth?

 

[pigc]

Curious. How is your ambience quotient vs the open hearth?

Seeing secondary combustion and getting so much more heat out of your wood is awesome! However, I think that many people (myself included before research) are used to old time open fires (indoor or outdoor) that were handed down from generations to generations. I can definitely understand that people would want to get rid of an older stove like Matt93eg states (especially if it's an eye sore) and go back to the fireplace. As they say "Ignorance is bliss."

Thankfully many of the new EPA stoves/inserts have really stepped up their game for those wanting a more contemporary look as well as heat.

 

[Matt93eg]

Seeing secondary combustion and getting so much more heat out of your wood is awesome! However, I think that many people (myself included before research) are used to old time open fires (indoor or outdoor) that were handed down from generations to generations. I can definitely understand that people would want to get rid of an older stove like Matt93eg states (especially if it's an eye sore) and go back to the fireplace. As they say "Ignorance is bliss."

Thankfully many of the new EPA stoves/inserts have really stepped up their game for those wanting a more contemporary look as well as heat.

That's true. And the air wash keeps the glass clean(for the most part) so your viewing area stays nice. The older stoves that did have glass doors were not known for the glass staying clean from what I have seen. My uncle has an old non-epa stove with a glass door but its always black and cruddy.