Seeking advice on choice of wood insert

[MBK]

Hi: I’m looking for some advice on selecting a wood insert for a rural vacation property in coastal California that is used year-round by family members. It was my in-laws’ primary residence and passed down to their kids. It was never upgraded and I’m looking after the necessary renos. One of the first things we are going to do is install a fireplace insert. I will do the install.

I’ve narrowed my choice of insert to 3 contenders, all eligible for federal tax credit:
• Drolet 1800i (I have its cousin - the Century CW2900 - in my primary residence in prairie Canada)
• Blaze King Princess 29
• Kuma Cascade LE

Here are the details re the vacation house and climate:

Climate:
• coastal California; redwood forest; 2000 ft elevation; south of San Francisco Bay Area
• foggy and rainy November through March; rarely freezes or snows.
• Typically, low 40s at night and daytime highs of 55 Dec through March

The house:
• Early 1950s ranch style; 1200 square feet; no insulation; stucco exterior; drywall interior
• Lots of windows, all single pane, drafty
• Primary heat is forced air high-efficiency propane furnace: located in crawl space
• 8-foot ceilings
• Masonry fireplace in a 500 square foot living room with a large picture window
• Ample wood supply on 5 acres (oak, Douglas fir, pine, madrone, redwood)

Context:
We have been visiting the past three weeks during one of the coldest winters here in recent memory, and the furnace is working hard to keep the house at 60F. The House obviously needs insulation - a future long-term project complicated by knob-and-tube wiring. That said, in the meantime and for the future we’d like an insert to supplement heat, reduce propane use, and make the living room comfortable.

We used to enjoy the open fireplace year-round but stopped using it when a family member developed a bad lung condition. Also, local air authority/county is now concerned about air pollution and encouraging people to upgrade to EPA 2020 certified units. So now is a good time to upgrade to an insert.

Given the poor insulation this California house, I was thinking I should install at least a 2.5 cubic foot insert; a larger insert like the Osborn 3500 would be nice but is a tight fit. Furthermore, the catalytic option might be good for low burns on warmer days and for over night, and possibly keep the neighbors happy re smoke.

I was leaning to towards the Drolet 1800i because I’m happy with our Century 2900 insert in our primary home in rural Saskatchewan (which has good insulation LOL). However, the Blaze King and Kuma inserts also get great reviews and have the catalytic option.

A local dealer says I should consider the Regency 2500, but he wants over 5500K for the unit which is too high in my opinion (plus 900 to install).

I can get the Drolet for 1800K with free shipping. I’m pricing out the Blaze King and Kuma this week.

Drolet 1800i? Blaze King Princess 29? Kuma Cascade LE? Would these three be equivalent in heat production?

Any advice or recommendations you provide for this leaky and seasonally cold house would be great! Thanks for taking time to read this post.
Mark K.

 

[begreen]

Sounds like the Drolet will get the job done. Put the savings into a good insulated liner once the chimney has been thoroughly cleaned. If this is an exterior wall chimney, then a damper area sealing, insulated block-off plate is a good idea. Another thing to consider would be a high-efficiency mini-split heat pump. It is perfect for this climate zone.

 

[stoveliker]

This being a ranch, at elevation, and in a mild climate, you have a need for a taller chimney to provide enough draft. Blaze Kings need 15 ft, plus (if I remember correctly) 1.5 ft per 1000 ft of elevation. So that's 18 ft. That may look strange on a ranch.

I would seriously consider a mini split; flames are nice but it's no fun battling poor draft.

 

[begreen]

2000 ft is not too bad. Regency only adds .5 ft for that altitude. The BK or Kuma could work if the budget can cover it. The Drolet definitely should draft ok on a 13' liner unless there are other confounding factors.

 

[stoveliker]

At 40 I concur. At 55 I'm not so sure.

 

[TomMcDonald]

My Australian climate sounds similar, although we get colder nights. Elevation is also 2000ft.
I had a 12ft chimney on our Pacific Energy insert and felt it needed more. I added another 3ft which was much better.

Ours is a ranch style house and although the chimney is high (above the masonry) I don't think it looks too bad.

 

[EbS-P]

I have the 1800i. It’s the best value you can get. I live in the south so our winters are very mild. Not as long as yours but we regularly get to the 20s.

I considered the Princess but it was going to be more than double the cost of the 1800i. It just didn’t make sense for a second wood stove. I still wish I had the BK at least once a month. Mostly during the warmer spells were. I let the the stove go out and it’s not really cold enough to relight it.

But that’s where my heatpump comes in. I really like the non cat stove and heatpump combination. I could have lit a fire this morning down to 45 but once it gets over 50 the heatpump is really efficient.

Add a wood shed that easily accommodates at least two years of wood to your list. 3 years if you want to burn oak.

 

[MBK]

Thanks for all the great feedback - much appreciated!

It sounds like the Drolet is the best overall value for my situation. I will make sure to have proper chimney height, and insulate the liner and block off plate.

I will be investigating heat pumps - that is a new concept for me, and it sounds promising.

This AM in California we woke up to an inch of snow LOL (unusual for this location).

 

[ericm979]

I live in the area at about the same elevation. In the recent storms we got more snow than we have seen in 26 years of living here. It broke and felled a lot of trees. I'll have months of work to clean up our 20 acres. OTOH I'll have firewood for a while.

Heat pumps work well if you have electricity to run them. We've had power outages for a total of three weeks since Jan 1. If you can get a stove that does not need a fan to distribute heat then you can shut the generator off at night and keep the stove going. Some of our neighbors ran out of propane for their generators and had to go into town.

We renovated our house and replaced 30 year old double pane windows with modern ones. That was a noticeable improvement. It's a lot of work and expense but if you can rip out the walls, insulate and replace windows you'll see a huge improvement. As I'm sure you know.

Five acres may not generate enough wood for consistent year after year use. There are fewer and fewer people here who burn wood for various reasons including the counties discouraging it (check the regulations). So there will be more wood for scavenging.

 

[Woody Stover]

It sounds like the Drolet is the best overall value for my situation.

Yeah, and you won't be as mad as you would with a more expensive stove, when they overfire it. 😏

 

[MBK]

I live in the area at about the same elevation. In the recent storms we got more snow than we have seen in 26 years of living here. It broke and felled a lot of trees. I'll have months of work to clean up our 20 acres. OTOH I'll have firewood for a while.

Heat pumps work well if you have electricity to run them. We've had power outages for a total of three weeks since Jan 1. If you can get a stove that does not need a fan to distribute heat then you can shut the generator off at night and keep the stove going. Some of our neighbors ran out of propane for their generators and had to go into town.

We renovated our house and replaced 30 year old double pane windows with modern ones. That was a noticeable improvement. It's a lot of work and expense but if you can rip out the walls, insulate and replace windows you'll see a huge improvement. As I'm sure you know.

Five acres may not generate enough wood for consistent year after year use. There are fewer and fewer people here who burn wood for various reasons including the counties discouraging it (check the regulations). So there will be more wood for scavenging.

We had some large branches down too. Arrived mid Feb and power was just restored in our area. We are fortunate to have a small gas generator that can keep a few things powered when needed. Starting to look at insulation and window options for the long term. Will be nice to have a stove in the short term. I know what you mean re scavenging - we've done that with some trees felled by PG&E.

 

[MBK]

Yeah, and you won't be as mad as you would with a more expensive stove, when they overfire it. 😏

Agreed!