Thinking of pulling the Insert trigger! (Sorry Little Long)

My goal was to ultimately replace our open fireplace with an insert. I've had my eye on the Drolet 1800i as my choice of insert. Currently menards has the 11% off which saves me a little money maybe enough to pay for shipping.

Suddenly am getting cold feet I guess you can say. It will be a lot of work (but I have some help) and a big investment. I know my open fireplace does nothing to heat the house, but I do enjoy hearing and seeing the crackling of the fire. Combine that with our milder winters in New Jersey I am having 2nd thoughts. Not sure I would be able to heat the home exclusively on the insert or could I (See below). Do some of you folks run the insert and furnace when needed? Trying to think this through, especially when I am at work Mon-Fri 8hrs a day, the wife is not going to be loading it with wood. It would be me at nights and on the weekends so I want to make sure it's getting good use.

My brother in law just bought a couple thousand dollar jotul and he only runs it occasionally when he is home at nights or weekends. Just wanted to see if anyone does this and would it be worth it for me to invest in this or should I just stick to burning with my open fireplace?

On the upside, one of my return vents is next to and above where the insert is. I also have another at the top of the steps not far from the insert, and another on same floor in other room. Many have mentioned that I could just run my furnace on the fan setting and it would suck all that hot air in and push it throughout the vents of my home heating my home. Also thought of putting a fan at base of steps pointing up them to push the air upstairs.

I LOVE collecting and burning wood, but want to make sure it's a good fit and a good choice. Thanks in advance!!!!

 

You can still hear the fire snap and pop in a stove...although it is muted a bit...and obviously it can still be seen. You'll just use a lot less wood and get a lot more heat from it!
As far as running the furnace fan, it depends. That doesn't work well for many people, but it does work for some. Most people have better luck putting a small fan in the back of the house running on low and pointed toward the stove area...that works pretty well.
No reason you can't burn all day while you are at work too...the fire should last that long in an 1800i. You just need to learn to load according to the weather...smaller or larger loads, and high or low BTU wood, etc. Once you get started on this you'll be hooked.

 

I put in a quadrafire 4100i insert in the open fireplace a couple years back.

It was the best decision ever.

I live in Wisconsin, and my insert heats the whole house. 8 hr burns are no issue. I load before I leave for work, and nearly 10 hrs later, there's plenty of heat left when I get home, if my wife doesn't reload before I get home.

She usually throws a few pieces in the stove because she loves watching the flames.

The insert's fan will take care of a lot of the airflow, but a small fan on low blowing into the room with the insert would well. I do turn on the house furnace fan of I get it too choochin in the living room. There's also thermostats that have a " circulate" option that autiautomatic turn in the furnace fan a couple times an hour. I've been thinking of getting one of those t stats.

I think Suburban wood snob has a drolet 1800 and has similar experience as I do, and he lives probably within 50 miles of me.

Dooooo eeeeeeet!!!!!

 

Thanks Fella's, just trying to think it through. I guess my fear is the upstairs is gonna be burrrrr and the furnace will never run because the downstairs is gonna be blazing. Also the room where the insert is going is very small, my couch is less than 10ft away I suppose I can always wear shorts and a t-shirt, lol. I also suppose a small fan to pull hot air out will work as well.

Thanks Horkn , I did indeed reach out to both Suburban wood snob & brenndatomu who both have the drolet inserts and had very positive things to say about them which is why that particular one is my top choice. Thanks for the mention of "circulate" thermostat option that makes a lot of sense and I just looked up a few that do that. That just might work out nicely or if I can find some sort of remote sensor thermostat to place upstairs, so that if it does get cold up there the furnace will kick on reading from that sensor vs. the sensor on 1st floor. Then maybe I can close the vents on the 1st floor. Am sure some fine tuning will be involved as each house is different.

 

ReelFaster I have a split level contemporary with a double stairway, like a raised ranch, my stairway, center of house act like a huge cold air return..

 

So long as its below 50 my insert burns pretty much 24/7 during the NJ winter. I can’t heat the house 100% with it due to the layout but it keeps the gas bill below $100. You can feel it upstairs but is isn’t quite enough to keep it heated through the night. Sometimes I’m home at lunch to refill it. Regardless it’s still hot enough for a quick start if I don’t load it till the evening.

I’d say go for it. Your wood supply will go 5x as far and you get some actual heat from it. I

 

Everyone on this forum will tell you to do it, and they are correct.

 

Like Locust Post always says..."If your wife is fully dressed you need another log on the fire"

 

damm skippy

 

When we moved in to our house, I took one look at the cheesy heatilator "fireplace" and made upgrading it our first home improvement project.

I've had a Drolet Austral for several years now.
It's a quality built stove that keeps my 1800 square foot ranch style home at around 80° even into the low teens outdoor temps. Below that I can keep the house a comfortable 70-75 without too much special effort.

Like Eric said warm air rises. Depending on where your staircase is you might find the 2nd story warmer than you think.

In the heart of the winter I load it full before leaving for the day and the house is usually mid to upper 60s when I get home and there is a nice bed of coals to quick start a fire with.

I know the Austral is larger than the stove insert you are looking at, but I doubt you will be dissatisfied with your new stove.

 

Thanks everyone I think am going for it and pulling the trigger today. Menards has that 11% off which will help pay for most of the shipping. Appreciate all your input and help as always!!!

 

Trigger has been pulled!!!!!!! Am stoked!!!!

 

Of course pics when ready..

 

Hopefully you know that you will have to drop a liner down that chimney and you will need to cut some of the fireplace baffle out for liner clearance. Rockford chimney.com is where I bought mine, have the double wall stainless. I know there are some threads around on this stuff, but if not we can answer questions.

 

Thanks Locust! I am aware, I've been wanting to do this for the past year and spent a lot of time researching what needs to be done. Most of the research was talking fine folks like yourselves. Wanted to do this last year but wasn't sure we were gonna stay put at this new house but gonna try and stick it out. Anywho I also have my brother in law who dropped an insert into his home last year and is going to be my helper. I appreciate the help I know you guys are all here for a resource which is invaluable.

Thanks Dennis for that advice as always. I had heard that but didn't understand it much so thank you for explaining, makes much more sense now.

 

You will love it. Start splitting. It will be a little cooler upstairs but not icy. We have two story... family room is sunken on the first...and it's not a central room but the house stays @68 + even on cold days. We let the furnace heat up the house in the morning, and it burns once more when the kids get home. The rest of the time it's all insert.

 

You won't regret it!
We wrestled with the decision 10 years ago and pulled the trigger and love it. I can list the pros and cons from my perspective but you'll see them yourself.
I think what pushed us over the edge was the thought of having to leave damper open at the end of the evening of a fire in the fireplace and waking up to an oil burner running non stop. I literally envisioned 5 dollar bills shooting out the chimney as we slept
I'd still like to have an open fire place because you can't substitute that experience. But the benefit of an insert far out ways that experience, unless of course you actually burn 5 dollar bills.