Where to buy a wood-burning fireplace insert? (for heating)

[ILoveMyBlondeStache]

I'm interested in getting an insert for our fireplace that would allow us to burn wood for heat, rather than just for it to look pretty.  Right now, making a fire in the cold months (we live in Wicsonsin) would only suck all of the warm air out of the house rather than providing heat. 

Do you have experience with having one of these? Suggestions on one you have, or places that might sell a good quality, low-ish cost model? Also, is this something that needs to be professionally installed, or would it be an ok DIY project? Thanks in advance!

Edit:  Something like this but not so pricey. ...http://www.amazon.com/US-Stove-2200i-Certified-Fireplace/dp/B005RB2PUU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416257353&sr=8-2&keywords=wood+burning+fireplace+insert   

[FarmerPete]

Are you going to get the wood yourself (i.e. free) or buy it?  When I did my calculations 5 years ago, the cost per therm of wood vs natural gas was pretty much a wash.  Wood only wins if you can get wood for free.  Even then, I weighed how much time it would take me to harvest and size a chord of wood as being impractical to do it myself.  I can normally find a face chord of wood for $50 delivered.  That's $150 a chord.  It would take me hours and hours of cutting and splitting to get that much wood.  Not to mention fuel and W&T on a chainsaw/chain.  I pretty quickly decided that the better option was to buy the wood at cutthroat prices.

[ILoveMyBlondeStache]

Are you going to get the wood yourself (i.e. free) or buy it?  When I did my calculations 5 years ago, the cost per therm of wood vs natural gas was pretty much a wash.  Wood only wins if you can get wood for free.  Even then, I weighed how much time it would take me to harvest and size a chord of wood as being impractical to do it myself.  I can normally find a face chord of wood for $50 delivered.  That's $150 a chord.  It would take me hours and hours of cutting and splitting to get that much wood.  Not to mention fuel and W&T on a chainsaw/chain.  I pretty quickly decided that the better option was to buy the wood at cutthroat prices.

Well, we have a TON of wood already as it is.  We also have two massive trees that need to come down as they are starting to threaten the house if they were to fall.  My fiance's father lives on a densely wooded lot and always seems to have more than enough wood for his needs just from trees that have fallen.  He would probably be happy to regularly get some off of his hands. Once those two sources tapered off, we would need to look into buying it. 

[Rage]

My advice: don't.

http://www.epa.gov/burnwise/healtheffects.html

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-fireplace-delusion

[hybrid]

I love our wood stove and most of my wood has been free, but it has not been very economical. The missus just really likes it a lot because our den is 80 degrees in the winter (70 in most of the rest of the house, and 65 in the back bedrooms). We installed new last year for about $2800 and it will be many long years before we recoup that cost, I think we are saving perhaps $200 a year over the cost of our heat pump, as electricity is cheap in VA and our winters relatively mild. There is a lot of work involved as well, splitting the wood, stacking, moving the wood, gathering kindling, clearing ash out, constantly loading the stove, etc.

In Wisconsin though I could see you recouping that cost a lot quicker if you can get the wood free, your burning season is a lot longer and colder than where we are.

[ZiziPB]

OP, you will need it professionally installed.  The high efficiency units need a steel liner installed in the chimney and that is not something you should attempt yourself.  Find a fireplace store near you and see what they offer.

@Rage, woodburning inserts have completely sealed burning chambers so no smoke is released into the house.  The heat is harvested by a fan that circulates clean air around the burning chamber.  The units are high efficiency and burn at high temps so they are not bad for the environment.

[Russ]

My advice: don't.

http://www.epa.gov/burnwise/healtheffects.html

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-fireplace-delusion

we're talking wood stoves, not open fires

[Gone Fishing]

I've installed two woodstoves in two different houses we've lived in.  I prefer a stove over a insert because an insert is more dependent on a fan to circulate heat vs a freestanding stove which does pretty well just radiating the heat.  The first stove I installed, I ran the flue through an existing fireplace and chimney with the stove sitting out infront of the fireplace on a fireboard.  The second stove was a completely new installation.  We built a stone hearth and ran the chimney through the roof with a kit.  DYI is possible if your local codes and insurance permit.  Be sure to read and follow every instruction.  We heat nearly 100% with wood and I figure it saves us around $1000 a year.  We get "free" wood from our property as well as the neighbors.  I figure the cutting and splitting is a workout, and saves me gym expenses as well.  A properly installed stove should not allow smoke into the living quarters at all, if it does with a clean chimney, the most likely problem is a chimney that is too short, as 95% of stove problems are usually chimney problems.  Keep an eye on craigslist for a modern clean burning stove or insert. Stoves with catalysts can work well, but the cats do need to be replaced from time to time and that is $. Go to one of the woodstove sites like hearth.com for reviews and advice.   

[hybrid]

I've installed two woodstoves in two different houses we've lived in.  I prefer a stove over a insert because an insert is more dependent on a fan to circulate heat vs a freestanding stove which does pretty well just radiating the heat.  The first stove I installed, I ran the flue through an existing fireplace and chimney with the stove sitting out infront of the fireplace on a fireboard.  The second stove was a completely new installation.  We built a stone hearth and ran the chimney through the roof with a kit.  DYI is possible if your local codes and insurance permit.  Be sure to read and follow every instruction.  We heat nearly 100% with wood and I figure it saves us around $1000 a year.  We get "free" wood from our property as well as the neighbors.  I figure the cutting and splitting is a workout, and saves me gym expenses as well.  A properly installed stove should not allow smoke into the living quarters at all, if it does with a clean chimney, the most likely problem is a chimney that is too short, as 95% of stove problems are usually chimney problems.  Keep an eye on craigslist for a modern clean burning stove or insert. Stoves with catalysts can work well, but the cats do need to be replaced from time to time and that is $. Go to one of the woodstove sites like hearth.com for reviews and advice.

When we were looking at stove vs. insert, this was the same basic advice we were given. Our wood stove sits on the brick hearth in front of the fireplace and radiates nicely. I do have a box fan and ceiling fan that I use to help push the heat around once it gets going, we live in a rancher and getting the air from A to B takes some help. Otherwise it can get near 90 where the stove sits.

Zero smoke enters the house when it is burning normally and very minimal when I add wood. This is not something I felt even remotely comfortable trying to DIY, but we did have it installed much more economically by using an independent chimney service rather than the service offered where we purchased our stove.

That baby is going to be nice tonight, 19 degrees in Richmond in November??? Ridickerus.

[zoltani]

Timely post, as I have been considering having an insert installed. The consideration got pretty serious when I discovered how much cold air is being pulled through the existing chimney and open fireplace when the furnace is on.

I've done quite a bit of research, and it seems that you definitely want to have it professionally installed. Making sure it is properly insulated in a big consideration other than the obvious ones (installing chimney liner, etc.). While I do not have any direct experience with the stove you linked, for some reason it just looks junky to me. This should be a buy it for life type purchase and skimping doesn't seem like a good idea.

Does anyone have an opinion on going with cheap model like the one linked versus a regency or other well known brand/model?

[Goldielocks]

When we renovated, we pulled out the brick chimney and installed a wood stove with B vent.  (reused existing stove from previous owner).

The leaky chimney would not be resolved just with an insert, so ensure you know what the contractor will do to stop leaking (around the roof).
I was surprised how easy it was to pull down an old brick chimney from inside the house --  and replace with a B-Vent wood stove (or direct vent gas if you prefer). 

Just need to protect the floor where you bring down the bricks.

Sealing up the roof / chimney made a huge difference!

If you really just want an insert, the advantage is putting glass doors on the front to cut down on the leaks up the chimney from the room when not in use.

[zoltani]

bringing down the chimney is definitely more work than I am looking for. It also adds to the feel and style of my old house.

This is the insert I was looking at:
http://www.regency-fire.com/Products/Wood/Wood-Inserts/I2400.aspx

I would think that if the chimney and around the insert are insulated then it would significantly reduce, if not eliminate, the draft coming in the now open fireplace.

[Louisville]

This is the insert I was looking at:
http://www.regency-fire.com/Products/Wood/Wood-Inserts/I2400.aspx

Mine looks like zoltani's there.
The blower motor is loud, I think because it's on a rheostat. Not the wooshing air sound, but the buzz of the motor itself. Loud even when we've got it turned to low fan.  So, it's okay at night when we're asleep in a different room, but not when we're hanging out in the same room. Big dissapointment. Didn't seem that bad in the store. I've had a couple of different techs look at it, and they say it's normal and doesn't seem that loud to them.
But, man-o-man, does it crank out some heat!  If I turn the house circulation fan on, it can heat the whole house. It was $3000, so I will probably never recoup the costs vs. utility bills, but I do like burning things.
As others have pointed out, you need electricity to get the heat out of it, as oppossed to a free standing stove.

[Credaholic]

We bought our insert on Craigslist and then bought the liner online. Hubby installed it all, but he is a contractor. We used ours for a season and then sold the house, and it was still the right choice financially. We were on oil, and maybe our furnace was extra inefficient, and we got all the wood free. We also did new blown in insulation, which meant one fire in the morning heated us up to almost 80, and we'd be at maybe 70 before the next morning. So it was well worth it for us!

[Spork]

IMO the biggest gain for wood fired heating is:
* external air source.  Pull cold air from outside to feed the fire, not warm air from inside to send out the chimney.
* some manner of heat distribution... wood stoves it's built in radiant (lots of thermal mass).  A fire place can have a heat exchanger built in to do similar things.

If you don't do one or both of those... I think you have a mood setter and not a heat source.  (I.e. net result is a colder house.)