Is an insert worth it?

[u/mileoch]

Hey guys,

I recently bought a house and I want to get an insert put into the existing fireplace. I’m concerned about the location of the stove and am wondering if the investment will be worth it. I’m thinking of going with either the Lopi NexGen Fyre Large or the Osburn 3500, if anyone has any experience with either, would be great to hear.

For details on the location, our fireplace is in our large living room with 15’ vaulted ceilings. The fireplace is facing an exterior wall, away from the rest of the house, which is a 2-story home. I have attached a floor plan.

Looking forward to hearing thoughts.

[u/CozyGlowStoves]

The floor plan is a bit blurry, but from what I can tell the walls are what’s going to hinder heat transfer the most in your layout.

If you’re looking for a good solution to heating the room the insert is being installed into (and possibly any attached rooms) then the insert will absolutely do that.

However, like stoves, inserts aren’t forced air systems. So they can only heat the room they’re in with radiant and convective heat. (Can’t heat through walls)

As far as the Osburn vs Lopi, they’re both great choices. We sell the Osburn as Lopi requires a showroom to sell their products. You could be aware already, but the Lopi stoves generally rely on catalytic burn technology while the Osburn units are non-catalytic. Catalytic units give you extremely long burn times but tend to have less active flames versus their non-catalytic counterparts.

Honestly, it all comes down to what you’re wanting from your insert.

[u/ThatllBtheDayPilgrim]

You could also Rumfordize your fireplace, i.e. make it a Rumford style fireplace by redoing the firebox to put out a lot more heat and cut wood consumption down by half. Would probably heat your room well but not roast you out like an insert might with your layout. And then you still keep you open hearth, open flame which generally looks better. Unless you have problems with your flue and need to re-line it or your fireplace is not masonry but a zero clearance, then forget what I said.

[u/Accomplished_Fun1847]

To confirm... the fireplace you have is a traditional brick hearth fireplace and chimney? Both of the inserts you're looking at require a masonry hearth to be installed into, and will require a chimney liner be installed. If you have a zero-clearance fireplace, then there are zero-clearance wood stove "fireplaces" to consider instead (will require more substantial remodeling to install)...

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Inserts have the advantage of being less radiant and more convective in nature due to their reliance on a blower providing forced airflow around the firebox. They are "well shielded." This means you have more warm air and less warm objects in the room, which means you can move that heat through the rest of the house with fans, HVAC recirculation modes, or even natural convection currents. Use fans to blow the cold air towards the stove room on the floor. Let the hot air naturally displace that and move up high through hallways and such. If there's a way to get a return air vent in the stove room to the HVAC air handler that's ideal.

The Lopi Large Flush and Osburn 3500 are both large firebox's that can fit a lot of wood.

The Osburn 3500 is based on the SBI 3.5 firebox, which can be found in other SBI made stoves and inserts from brands like Ventis (HEI350), Englander (Blue Ridge 500-I), and Century Heating (CW3500). This is a non-catalytic firebox with secondary combustion (traditional combustion air injection under insulated baffle). This stove will produce ~2-4 hours of vigorous flaming combustion, followed by ~3-6+ hours of coaling depending on fuel load type/sizes and burn rate settings. This stove is well suited to applications with high heating demands, like large spaces or whole-home-heating (in applications that can move the heat around). Expect fuel consumption rates of ~4-15lb/hr depending on fuel loading frequency, size/type, and burn rate settings. Decent size fuel loads at low burn rate settings will retain a coalbed sufficient for easy relights of subsequent fuel loads out to 8-10+ hours.

The Lopi Large Flush is made by Travis Industries. This is a hybrid firebox with both secondary and catalytic combustion. A catalytic converter is installed above the secondary combustion baffle in the exhaust path, providing this stove the ability to burn wood gases more thoroughly when flames are present and also in conditions not hot enough to support flaming combustion, which adds an additional component to the burn cycle known as "catalytic smolder." Use of this stove requires manually bypassing the catalyst for fuel loading, and engaging it when appropriate temps are reached after initial lighting or reloads. This stove produce 2-4+ hours of flaming combustion, followed by 0-5+ hours of catalytic smoldering, followed by 3-6+ hours of coaling depending on fuel load type/size and burn rate settings. The catalytic combustion capability enables this stove to have a broader burn rate control, suited to a wider variety of heating demands, and higher overall combustion and thermal efficiency (slightly more heat for a given amount of fuel burned). Expect fuel consumption rates of 2.5-12+lb/hr depending on fuel loading frequency, size/type, and burn rate settings. Decent size fuel loads at low burn rate settings will retain a coalbed sufficient for easy relights of subsequent fuel loads out to 12-15+ hours. The catalyst will require occasional maintenance (cleaning) and eventual replacement (usually after 5-10 heating seasons, depending on your utilization rates). Lopi catalysts are fairly expensive. I've seen prices up around $500-750 for these, though in their life, they are likely to have "saved" several cords worth of firewood, so technically they tend to be a break-even cost for those who pay for firewood, with the benefit being steadier longer burn cycles and lower emissions.