Fireplace wood burning insert really works ?

[Dmitry]

I'm on stoves number four and five, in my fifth year of burning stoves. Excepting death, nothing is permanent.

How can it be? Are you trading them? or selling them? or breaking them?

 

[begreen]

Big house. He had 3 Jotul F12s before this.

 

[Dmitry]

I wish I had more stoves to run and compare. I got insert in interior location that heating well my 2000 sq ft open floor plan ranch. I got partially insulated finished inground basement and in-law apartment in a lower level with nice big tall fireplace asking for a freestanding stove. I'm trying to justify getting one of the BK stoves for it. But since we don't use the basement much and daughter will be out of the in-law apartment soon....
May be I'll find something on craiglist one day.... Don't want to poke my insurance company, though. They've been good about current insert, but who knows.

 

[Ashful]

Short story: I knew I wanted to stick with catalytic stoves, for their ability to run long and slow. Unfortunately, the only catalytic stoves on the market that I found aesthetically attractive were the troublesome Vermont Castings designs. So, I went with my best option at the time, a pair of old Jotul Firelight 12's. Beautiful stoves, exceedingly well built, and enormous fireboxes. I eventually picked up a third as a spare / parts stove, since Jotul USA was not real reliable on stocking parts of these old stoves.

I eventually proved to myself that you cannot heat a stone house with a radiant stove placed in a stone fireplace on an exterior wall. In this situation, the majority of the generated BTU's end up radiating directly into exterior stonework, and then to my back yard. I noted that my relatively small boiler had very little trouble heating this big joint, with very low run times, using convective copper fin-tube radiators.

Thankfully, Blaze King eventually released a stove that I'd been waiting a few years on, which met all of my requirements. Visually satisfying, catalytic, and convective design. It even sports some nice blowers to help really move the heat out of the fireplaces (see avatar) in which I've placed each stove.

So, yes... three Jotul Firelight 12's and two Blaze King Ashford 30.1's in four years. The Jotuls were bought on three separate occasions from three separate sources. The Blaze Kings were delivered as a matched pair.

 

[Dmitry]

Off topic: Does it bother you, veterans, when someone asks for advice, you give all your wisdom and original poster doesn't seem to give a damn by replaying to the post or just saying thank you.

 

[jatoxico]

Off topic: Does it bother you, veterans, when someone asks for advice, you give all your wisdom and original poster doesn't seem to give a damn by replaying to the post or just saying thank you.

Not really. Some come get the info they need or as much as they want and they're done. It's part of what Hearth does and there's nothing wrong with that. Hopefully they got good info and took it to heart. If I get a sense from a poster that it's gonna be a pure hit and run I don't invest too much.

 

[firefighterjake]

Off topic: Does it bother you, veterans, when someone asks for advice, you give all your wisdom and original poster doesn't seem to give a damn by replaying to the post or just saying thank you.

Nah . . . I'm just working on increasing my post count here so folks think I am a lot smarter than I actually am . . . that and I like to hear myself talk.

 

[mellow]

Some people's feelings are easily hurt when you tell them they made a mistake, they will come back in January when they are freezing asking why the insert will not heat their house. Happens all the time.

 

[kennyp2339]

Doesn't bother me one bit, when I first started the wood burning thing I would lurk and read as much as possible, someone some where may have a question or a problem that might be similar to another posters and they get great take info from other postings.

 

[Squisher]

All the info shared is greatly appreciated by many more than any of the posters may ever know.

I sure appreciate the resource of this place, it never ceases to amaze me what can be learned online due to the willingness of others to share their knowledge.

Thank-you

 

[Dima]

as promised to share the insert when its ready. here is a pic

Wood burning insert regency i2600

• Dima
• Dec 19, 2015

However I have a question. On auto mode before it turns on it takes really a while. Does it mean that I am not making fire big enough. I am trying to be caution. How bit is the fire can be ? ALso the draft should be be fully open or I have to partially close it ?

 

[begreen]

Nice. Thanks for posting. On a cold start it takes a while to get the whole stove body warmed up. With dry wood you should be able to cut back the air quite a bit once the fire is burning strongly. That is a relatively small fire. The insert will heat up faster with a larger burn. You will get more used to the insert and will gain confidence the more you burn. If you have specific questions on running the I2600 start a new thread with them. There are several owners of this insert here.

 

[Dmitry]

i can see you have followed our advice and got bigger stove?

 

[Dima]

i can see you have followed our advice and got bigger stove?

yes thats the biggest one I could fit into the space

 

[jatoxico]

On auto mode before it turns on it takes really a while.

I often turn the fan on manually once the temp is getting up there since as the ash builds it can insulate the snap stat from coming on. After awhile it will pop and I'll put it in auto mode so it shuts down by itself.

 

[Dix]

yes thats the biggest one I could fit into the space

It's why we do what we do

I leave my fan on auto, it wakes me up at 5 AM, when it starts cyclying.

You're breaking it in, you need smaller fires at first, building up temp & time for a few fires. Expect a smell at each temp upgrade, it's normal. Air wide open to start, I leave the door ajar sometimes, if I am going to be in the room. Wait for a good fire going, then start shutting it down in increments.

Your mileage may vary

 

[Pat32rf]

Dima...Your fireplace looks like the Rumstead we had in our Colonial house in Whitby. Used it to heat the family room/kitchen (16'x32') for 20 years. It never cooled off all winter. When we came downstairs in the morning a bit of kindling would restart it for the next day.
When we sold the house the new owners put in a gas log......