Wood-Burning Insert Advice

[Snakebit12]

Caqn't see that stopping a poly brush either. Think someone's a little mis-informed perhaps. As for the PE Summit, looked at one and it's a nice unit, gets great reviews too.

Fair enough. The dealer has a 3100i on the display floor - same t-bar fitting. I was planning to stop by and have a technician show me how to remove the baffle...while we are in there, we'll see if we can push a poly brush past the t-bar (assuming that it is attached).

 

[_CY_]

Fair enough. The dealer has a 3100i on the display floor - same t-bar fitting. I was planning to stop by and have a technician show me how to remove the baffle...while we are in there, we'll see if we can push a poly brush past the t-bar (assuming that it is attached).

3000i has a 1.9 cubic ft firebox .. way too small to heat 3,000sf

 

[Snakebit12]

3000i has a 1.9 cubic ft firebox .. way too small to heat 3,000sf

Agreed - I would only be testing the t-bar clearance. My understanding is that Quad uses this same fitting across their entire insert line.

 

[_CY_]

looked at pic of your chimney .. not a good situation to clean from top
but liner once installed don't like to move .. could damage liner

 

[Snakebit12]

looked at pic of your chimney .. not a good situation to clean from top

Nope. it isn't. I certainly am not going up there! The sweeps I have approached are talking scaffolding - it would be cost-prohibitive to have to go through that with every cleaning. Hence the desire for a unit that can be cleaned bottom-up.

 

[Snakebit12]

OK - I have another question.

My factory-built fireplace (not too surprisingly) uses a factory-built chimney. It is double-walled, air-cooled with an 11" ID and 13" OD.

The 1" cooling passage is fed by cooling air inlets that line the outside face of the ZC fireplace. I have attached a picture showing the cooling inlets (I stuck a marker in one of the inlets which line the entire circumference of the insert opening.)

The insert manuals all state that you cannot block these inlets...makes sense as I was planning to run a new HT liner through the existing chimney and I don't want to overheat the existing chimney.

The insert itself will not obstruct these inlets. But it sure looks like the surround would as it would cover the entire fireplace opening.

I'll grant you that the surround is not likely to be air-tight. I just don't understand how I can install any insert into this fireplace without obstructing the inlets. And, if I can't, the insert idea is DOA.

The Boss wants to rip out the ZC and just install a new high-efficiency unit - she thinks that this is all very risky?

Am I missing something here?

 

[Snakebit12]

I also wanted to add that I have hard a difficult time finding an installer with any experience putting inserts into a ZC pre-fab. The ones I have found will not guarantee it's safety.

Several folks on here chose to rip out/replace...at double the cost. Hard to put a price on safety.

 

[jatoxico]

I also wanted to add that I have hard a difficult time finding an installer with any experience putting inserts into a ZC pre-fab. The ones I have found will not guarantee it's safety.

Several folks on here chose to rip out/replace...at double the cost. Hard to put a price on safety.

I'm going to re-up on putting a freestanding stove somewhere else. Cheaper and retains your current hearth which looks nice BTW.