Got my efficient Fireplace insert!!!!

I used a damp cloth, but the flash from the camera probably made it look lighter/ashier than it is under review lighting.

 

It has a pretty dull paint job to begin with. I don't think you will ever get it to look spit shined. Mine is a few years older than yours and has seen pretty much 24/7 burning during the winter. Still a dull black finish on it

The tray above the squirrel cage gets ash on it. You'll never keep it spotless unless you are OCD.

Yours does look to have relatively low mileage on it. The back bricks with the boost air tubes aren't broken and none of the others look eroded. In 24/7 terms I bet it has less than a year on it.



You did real good for $350

 

Never used it, but stove black?

http://www.amazon.com/MEECOS-RED-DE...F8&qid=1447047367&sr=8-1&keywords=stove+black

Greg

 

Congratulation man I know you been wanting an insert, sounds like a great deal on the price.
Are you sure that Stove is supposed to be black? maybe it is supposed to be grey

 

I hope you have been cutting your wood to 16". I always load it NS.

 

AWESOME insert. Great job trolling around for a second-hand one. I wish I would have had the time and knowledge... but, you got to jump in somewhere.

 

Yeah, I don't think it's really black, rather a dark dark grey.

Yeah it's in nice shape, but one of the two back bricks with a hole in it has a crack, probably due to the hole in it making it less strong. I doubt that will make any issues, but if it erodes more, after a season I'll replace that one. The rest of the bricks are in great shape, the baffle board is in great shape, along with the kaowool on top of that.

Naw, I don't think that's the case. It looks like the new ones at the quad dealer I stopped in at a few weeks ago, just a little use, and ash on it, that's all.

I try to keep them at 16", but I've got some longer. Do you feel that NS loading works best in this stove?

 

I hear you about that.
It took me about 8 months to learn what I needed to know, and find a used stove that would suit my needs, and one I wanted, and the price I wanted to pay.
I had a lot of help from the good people on the other forum also.

 

Yeah, it took a while, but 350 for everything, vs 3000 for just the stove is well worth it. That's just my profession working on my personal life. I'm a Buyer at a manufacturing company.

 

I'm still on the first board and wool. Little eroded at the edges, that's all. Last year replaced the side bricks in mine after all these years. The back ones broke again within the season. (Loading NS might have something to do with that also). I wouldn't worry too much about it. My door gasket is due for replacement, I've cranked the door latch down as much as I can. I did have to replace the latch last year, wore the catch ring down to nothing after 12 years or so.

NS is the only way I load it. It is real easy to get a roaring fire going with less than 1/4 of a super cedar. Just put two splits in front of the front air vent, starter in between and light it. The draft running between the splits will have them engulfed in minutes, catching whats on top. EW is very difficult to get burning from a cold start. You lose the blast furnace effect from the air inlet. If you light it elsewhere in the front away from the vent it will just fill the stove up with smoke and suffocate. If you want to get it going in the back with an EW load you just about need to light a separate fire by the boost air tubes (the back ones). And EW has the bad problem of rolling out on you when you open the door, or onto the door after it has started burning.

 

So let me get this straight, you also got a chimney liner that you can use in your chimney for the install?

 

Yep. And an offset adapter, top cap, and chimney cap. All for 350.

I will need to buy a new chimney cap as mine is 14x14, and this one is a little smaller.


The liner kits I've seen are at least 350.

 

Well shoot man you're set then, that's a heck of a deal

 

My high valley is a very dark grey. But looks black unless you look hard

 

I have the can of stove color laying around somewhere I may look to see what its called. But I think there is only like 3 colors of stoves.

 

My liner alone cost more than that! Sweet score!

 

I'll be trying to keep the damper plate in the chimney unmolested, as it was in the install at the former house. I'm just hoping the camper opening is as big, or hopefully bigger than the damper we took it out of.
It was ovalized to get through the damper, then rounded again to go into the offset adapter.

So my question is, can you round out the liner, and how difficult is that to do? Since a stove shop installed it to begin with, I wonder if they use a tool to re round out the pipe? I would figure that's a time saving tool for their install crew. Cutting out dampers sounds like a not so fun time consuming task.

I've been burning in the fp since I got the insert, so I've not had a chance to measure the damper opening. I'm crossing my fingers that is bigger than 6". Since my fp if much bigger than the one the insert was in, I hope my reasoning is reality. That will definitely help get the insert in easier if that is the case.

That area has to be the toughest part of the install..

 

Id beat chisel or grind that baby out without a second thought if need be.