Supreme Fusion 24

so this summer I will be installing a wood burning insert in my old masonry fireplace. The unit im leaning toward is the Supreme Fusion 24. It looks good it installs almost flush and i would be able to use a 5 inch flue liner which would work great . Does anyone have any experience with this insert? I would hate to spend all that money and regret it.

 

No experience with that one, but pretty familiar with inserts in general.
What are your concerns/expected outcomes?

 

Im really just concerned with the overall performance of it. As well as the quality of the unit. Its one of the only ones ive found that sits just about flush with the fireplace. It seems like a nice insert .

 

So without knowing this particular insert, I can't give you anything that would be gospel.
But lets take a few pieces if info for a baseline piece of info. Depending on where the unit is placed in the home (on an exterior wall vs. in a centrally located position) the way the heat gets moved or dissipated around the home will make a difference-
My person experience was with an old non-epa firebox insert that had just a damper control. The unit was in a fireplace that had its back in our breezeway so the entire hearth was inside the home- I feel like that gave quite a bit of gain because you could walk out int he morning and put your hands on the back side of the bricks and they'd be sometimes hot to the touch.
Your biggest friend will be having a dry wood supply. That's gospel.
Beyond that- I don't know if this is for weekends, for holidays, ambiance, or when the guests come over. If it's for heating the home, and trying to make it primary- that's all the better, but a little bit of what your goals for the burner are would help.
All in all, what I've read up on the 24- it looks good to me.

 

BHoller might have some familiarity with this unit...

 

Man thats some great info. Alright, my fireplace backs up to my garage so like yours my hearth is completely inside my house. And although I would love to use it as a primary heat source, I think its more realistic to say this will be used mostly on weekends and at night when im home, atleast for the first year or so.

 

Nice- So with that in mind- kind of sounds like you might be able to go into your garage the next day and get a bit of heat coming off of the brick.
In the grand scheme of things- mending the open hearth to have ANYTHING will give you a heat gain versus the heat loss you'd experience otherwise. Having an EPA rated insert will suit you better. The fans they use will do you so much, but to move the heat around the home it's recommended to put a small fan on the floor far away from the stove, and point it towards the stove. It will move the cooler dense air towards the fireplace and will push the heated less dense air towards that area.
With a bit of experimentation you'll figure out what works for you- but in the end- if you like that insert, I suspect you'll be happy with it. And if you're a married man, if your wife likes it there's no going wrong there. That's how me and the missus wound up with our stove. (zero regrets)

 

No sorry no experience with these at all.

 

I'm married and you're right, this is the insert she like the best. Thanks for the advice. This is gonna be my summer project. I already have about 2 cords of wood split, racked and drying in preparation for the new stove!

 

No doubt- Happy Wife : Happy Life.

 

I have a flush insert (Quadra-fire). It came with the house and I can do a pretty good job of heating at least the upstairs where the bedrooms are, but if I were to buy one, I would aim for one that was not flush, both to increase the firebox size for longer burns, and to increase the upwards heat draft into the living room. It would be worth it to me even if it meant having to extend the hearth.

 

I was looking at the quadra fire inserts. In fact I was at a dealer ready to purchase one but at that time they only had 1 unit that met 2020 standards. But thats a good point you make about the heating capability Mrfancyplants. Plus there are way more stoves that extend from the fireplace opening than there are that sit flush.

 

There are plenty of clean burning stoves out there that don't meet the 2020 standards...all that means is you can't buy one after May 15th...if you find one you like I'd snatch it up...likely never find a better deal.
EPA 2020 standard is over the top in my opinion...the existing standard is plenty clean, they are getting to the point of splitting hairs now...

 

And there's absolutely nothing a new EPA stove is going to do for folks who burn wet wood- but.... that's a whole other argument!

I was at a Christmas party earlier this winter and the folks who hosted had just finished the build on their home- long story short they had one of these in the great room. The owner (friends of my in laws) said it had a catalyst in it and when the stove was going it would heat the whole house. I'd take it with a grain of salt if that's true or not but I will say his fireplace was rocking, and it was pumping out some massive heat. But I'd also point out that the insert was very large.
I will say this- If for some reason I hit the lottery and can afford a huge house with a big fireplace, I'd put one in in a heartbeat.

 

Do you have a tall enough chimney to get adequate draft from that 5 inch liner? Don't be afraid to bash out the existing damper mechanism to fit a 6 inch liner, if that's what the stove normally takes. (Speaking from experience here).
I only have a 1 story house/chimney, so barely get enough draft for my insert, depending on conditions.
Don't be tempted to preserve the existing fireplace system for future use or resale. No one with an insert ever goes back. (But that's a good thing)

 

Granpa, the insert is speced to use the 5 inch liner. I have a 1 story house as well. I guess I should call Supreme and inquire about the min chimney height. Would using a larger liner allow for a shorter chimney? I guess I could use an ovalized liner.

 

The manual calls for a 5 inch liner, and gives a min / max liner length of 15' / 35'.
You should follow what the manufacturer's recommendations are. https://assets.woodlanddirect.com/accordion/owners-manual/524Fusion_Manual.pdf
The specs for the install are on page 7 of the manual (page 10 if you're looking at the PDF)

 

Rgrant gave some good info from the manufacturer. Since you say the chimney is in the garage, I suspect it's on the gable and longer than 15 ft. Mine is on the eave and exposed to the exterior, and just makes the 14 ft spec from Quadrafire. I'm also glad that I insulated the liner when installing.
The chimney manufacturer says that ovalizing is quite acceptable. I don't know how mine could've fit without it. Even a 5 inch would've needed some ovalizing in my system. Hopefully yours is more reasonable.

 

100% on an insulated liner.

 

The 5 inch insulated liner measures 6.25 OD. My Flue is about 6.75 . Its snug but it should work. I have about 17 feet of chimney, the insert is approximately 24 " so about 15 feet from top of unit to top of chimney. All this info is great, the more the better. Thanks guys.