My neighbors spent a few cold nights when the power was out this winter. They came over to warm up and warmed up to the idea of an insert. Measured their fireplace today and am about to look to see what fits. The front of the fireplace has an arched top. 34" wide in front at the hearth, 28" wide in the back, 22.5" high at the top front corners of the arch, and 25.5" high in the center of the arch. The depth at the hearth 23". The depth at the front top corners is 20.5" The depth at the top arch center 19" He has a 17" wide raised hearth in front which is 8" above the floor. There is 1" wood trim 12" above the top of the arch and a 6" mantel 10" above that. Anybody have suggestions that will fit this space... KaptJaq
He is going to look at the Blaze King Princess & the Jotul c350 & c450 tomorrow. This will give some idea about style. Then we can discuss cat/non-cat. KaptJaq
I think quite a few inserts will fit into that opening. I give a thumbs up on the Princess, I had one for a few years and it performed as advertised.
The 22.5" high at the corners with a 6" surround looks like what we are aiming for... A bunch will fit. Looking for suggestions & comments from insert owners about their units. I have a Vermont Casting but think we should stay away from VC until the smoke clears. KaptJaq
Ahh, I see you have a VC Montpelier. I am liking the specs and looks of the VC Merrimack. There are ZERO dealers for VC in the Milwaukee area, you have to go to Madison, Chicago, or past Green Bay for the closest dealer, which I think is crazy. I'll have to look for your posts about the Montpelier as it looks like a smaller version of the Merrimack.
The Merrimack is their mid-size insert, the Montpelier is the "small" size. My insert has about a 1.5 cf firebox, 6 to 8 hour usuable burn times. VC has sold twice recently and they are now moving some of their production out of Vermont. I think I'm going to steer clear of them until they settle down. KaptJaq
I think a Buck 81 may fit. Dogwood on here just installed one a few moths ago and has a few pics on one of his posts.