My wife and I enjoy a nice fire, but we have not been very happy with the fireplace in our home. The fires never look that bright, and they don't generate much heat. In fact, the room often gets colder due to the draft! So we would like to install an insert to fix that and maybe help lower the heating bills to boot. I've spent the last week or so researching insert options (for wood) and reading through the posts and articles here. This is really a great site with a lot of good information. But I have a few questions I haven't been able to find answers to.
1. We would like an insert with a large viewing area. Based on that criteria, units like the VC Merrimack (350 sq.in), VC Montipelier (280 sq in), Buck Stove 91 (~270 sq. in), Quadra-Fire Voyageur (~275 sq.in), and some others looks like good possibilities. However, the units with the larger viewing areas also tend to have larger fireboxes and heat output. Since this will go in an average size living room (15'x20', 8' ceiling), my concern is that a nice fire pleasant to look at may make the room too hot! There are a couple of open doorways (one 4'x7' and the other 3'x7') that lead to other rooms, but I'm not sure these would be enough to keep things comfortable. Is this a legitimate concern? I ask because some of the BTU/hr ratings listed for these units are pretty impressive (50,000 to 75,000!). I assume those figures are for a fully loaded unit, but I thought I read that running a larger unit with only a little wood was not very efficient or advised. Perhaps that's wrong, but I thought I would ask just in case that needs to factor into our selection. Would a cat unit be better in this regard?
2. All of these units offer optional trim pieces or "surrounds" to cover the gap between the insert and fireplace opening. I personally don't care for the look of most, as to my eye, they tend to look disproportionally large compared to the unit. If I were building the house new (or had a lot of money to blow) I would put in a zero clearance unit. But alas... Anyway, as an option I've noticed some manufacturers offer "trimmable" surrounds that allow it to be fitted within the fireplace opening. That gives it more of the built-in look that I like, and so I'm thinking of going that direction. I've only come across a couple of models that offer that though (Enviro Venice and Avalon Perfect Fit). Assuming I would like more options, is there any reason the standard steel surround that most manufacturers offer couldn't be trimmed as well?
I'll stop there for now. Thanks for any help or suggestions. I appreciate it.
Pat
1. We would like an insert with a large viewing area. Based on that criteria, units like the VC Merrimack (350 sq.in), VC Montipelier (280 sq in), Buck Stove 91 (~270 sq. in), Quadra-Fire Voyageur (~275 sq.in), and some others looks like good possibilities. However, the units with the larger viewing areas also tend to have larger fireboxes and heat output. Since this will go in an average size living room (15'x20', 8' ceiling), my concern is that a nice fire pleasant to look at may make the room too hot! There are a couple of open doorways (one 4'x7' and the other 3'x7') that lead to other rooms, but I'm not sure these would be enough to keep things comfortable. Is this a legitimate concern? I ask because some of the BTU/hr ratings listed for these units are pretty impressive (50,000 to 75,000!). I assume those figures are for a fully loaded unit, but I thought I read that running a larger unit with only a little wood was not very efficient or advised. Perhaps that's wrong, but I thought I would ask just in case that needs to factor into our selection. Would a cat unit be better in this regard?
2. All of these units offer optional trim pieces or "surrounds" to cover the gap between the insert and fireplace opening. I personally don't care for the look of most, as to my eye, they tend to look disproportionally large compared to the unit. If I were building the house new (or had a lot of money to blow) I would put in a zero clearance unit. But alas... Anyway, as an option I've noticed some manufacturers offer "trimmable" surrounds that allow it to be fitted within the fireplace opening. That gives it more of the built-in look that I like, and so I'm thinking of going that direction. I've only come across a couple of models that offer that though (Enviro Venice and Avalon Perfect Fit). Assuming I would like more options, is there any reason the standard steel surround that most manufacturers offer couldn't be trimmed as well?
I'll stop there for now. Thanks for any help or suggestions. I appreciate it.
Pat