school me on wood inserts

[craptabulous]

so im in the middle of buying my first house , it has a pellet stove that is no good because it doesn't have a data plate so it's going straight in the can ( i hate pellet anyway ) so it looks like I'm going to have to put in a wood insert , there is already a masonry chimney i can run the pipe up and it will sit up on a hearth .

the only problem is temperatures can reach -30c or -40c for a week at a time , the house is 2200 square feet two stories , im 25 km from town . so there is no gas . however i have acres and acres of wood .

so right now im between the blaze king princess insert and the pacific energy summit series insert .

there is also electric baseboard heaters in every room but i would rather not use them .

is there any other inserts i should be looking at ? are they both crap ? the blaze king has a catalytic and the pacific doesn't . do the cats work well ? are they 1000$ to replace etc ?

thanks .

 

[Johnnymiz]

i have a Vermont Castings catalytic insert. for the past 4 years since we got it, it has been fantastic. mind you, i live on long island and we just dont get those kind of temps that you do...but it keeps my 2400 sq ft house at 67-70 degrees all winter. it has done a great job and seems to be sized properly for my climate and house size....luckily since i got the small one for aesthetic reasons. the quality of Vermont Castings is excellent

 

[craptabulous]

i was also looking at the vermont castings sequoia . the only thing i didn't like was the fact that it is 750 lbs and i have no idea how i would move it into the house . what was the aproximate cost of your units ?

 

[Johnnymiz]

i dont remember exactly. sorry.
mine was installed by the shop i bought it from........a stainless flue liner and the installation was included in the package. i feel that around 3k installed sounds about right. best home purchase i think i've ever made. keeps the house warm at a much lower cost than the power company, it has a window on the door, so you can see the fire, which is nice, it has a removable ash tray under the fire box which makes cleaning easy, and it doesnt draw heat from the rest of the house like the old fireplace did.
really top quality stuff, i think.
but you would probably need the bigger ones

 

[Phil in BC]

I put a Quadra-fire insert in about 4 years ago and I would have to say that was the best dam thing I ever put into this house. I wish it was in the basement but the fireplace was upstairs, so thats where it went. I run the furnace fan while the stoves on and it does a great job of heating the entire house, which is about 1100 sq.ft per floor (X2). I had Service plus install it for me and I think it was about $3000 - 3500 installed. With the amount of free wood we have around here, makes heating the house pretty dam cheap. Not sure about your house insurance, but mine wasnt too keen on me installing one myself, and thats why I had a WETT certified guy do the install. Also, I use Service Plus a lot at my work, so they treat me well and they do good work. Hope this helps.
Phil

 

[craptabulous]

I put a Quadra-fire insert in about 4 years ago and I would have to say that was the best dam thing I ever put into this house. I wish it was in the basement but the fireplace was upstairs, so thats where it went. I run the furnace fan while the stoves on and it does a great job of heating the entire house, which is about 1100 sq.ft per floor (X2). I had Service plus install it for me and I think it was about $3000 - 3500 installed. With the amount of free wood we have around here, makes heating the house pretty dam cheap. Not sure about your house insurance, but mine wasnt too keen on me installing one myself, and thats why I had a WETT certified guy do the install. Also, I use Service Plus a lot at my work, so they treat me well and they do good work. Hope this helps.
Phil

im moving away from kamloops to princeton so who ever installs it they wont be from kamloops . the fireplace center here said if i took pictures of the install i could get my wett through them .

the biggest problem i see is the vermont castings looks to run around 4400$ with out a pipe or install . were as the others i have looked at are 3000 with a pipe and life time warranty . i have two stories one is 1500 sq feet and the other is 740 , along with a crawl space .

were is service plus located ? maybe i will see what they have .

 

[Phil in BC]

Service plus is at the end of Mcgill rd in Kamloops. Their fire place devision is called the fireplace gallery and is upstairs.