I have recently been shopping for a wood burnings insert for my home. I want one to help heat the house efficiently (supplement our oil furnace) however the wife wants something that looks nice (which seems to be a trend with many getting an insert). I like the units with higher BTU output, larger firebox, electric blowers and longer burn times. I also tend to like the look of a completely flush insert.
To give you a little background and information;
I have replaced 90% of the windows in the house and had insulating cellulose blown into the walls. We went from burning around 1,100 gallons of oil a year to between 600 and 700 per year. Our home is 2,700 square foot with a center fireplace, which I have read on this site to be a good thing for heating with an insert.
The units that I have looked at are the Jotul Rockland C550 CF, Avalon Perfect Fit Flush Mount and Lopi Declaration Plus. More recently I have also looked at the non-flush Quadra Fire Voyageur and Pacific Energy Summit. The Jotul is our favorite but based on each company’s website information it is difficult to tell which most efficient just comparing numbers is. After measuring and recording the fireplace opening our local dealer said we could easily handle the Jotul or Avalon.
If you could offer any insight into which unit would offer the most heat and longest burn times based on experience, I would appreciate. Also any insight into the numbers would be helpful, example would be why would they list the Quadra Fire as being able to heat 2,400 square feet but only but out 46,000 BTU’s? Should I disregard the BTU and efficiency numbers and look specifically at Log length and firebox capacity? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Spreadsheet below is something I put together to help compare. Sorry, its a bit of an eye sore.
To give you a little background and information;
I have replaced 90% of the windows in the house and had insulating cellulose blown into the walls. We went from burning around 1,100 gallons of oil a year to between 600 and 700 per year. Our home is 2,700 square foot with a center fireplace, which I have read on this site to be a good thing for heating with an insert.
The units that I have looked at are the Jotul Rockland C550 CF, Avalon Perfect Fit Flush Mount and Lopi Declaration Plus. More recently I have also looked at the non-flush Quadra Fire Voyageur and Pacific Energy Summit. The Jotul is our favorite but based on each company’s website information it is difficult to tell which most efficient just comparing numbers is. After measuring and recording the fireplace opening our local dealer said we could easily handle the Jotul or Avalon.
If you could offer any insight into which unit would offer the most heat and longest burn times based on experience, I would appreciate. Also any insight into the numbers would be helpful, example would be why would they list the Quadra Fire as being able to heat 2,400 square feet but only but out 46,000 BTU’s? Should I disregard the BTU and efficiency numbers and look specifically at Log length and firebox capacity? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Spreadsheet below is something I put together to help compare. Sorry, its a bit of an eye sore.