Ok well as some of you know I dont have a stove yet. I have been pretty set on the Osburn 2400 insert for my masonry fireplace. Last night I was talking with my wife and she started asking more questions about the stove. Primary issue on her end is how far out the osburn will stick from the fireplace. I havent been able to find out if it has a minimum amount needed or if it can be flush mounted. So showing her pictures and talking about the forum she was looking at members pictures. And I blame Scotty and Blue2ndaries for having such nice looking zero clearance fireplaces. She immediately has said she wants something along those lines. I have no clue about zero clearance units. Can they be installed into an existing masonry fireplace? Whats the advantages over an insert? Do I have to redo and curve the opening of my fireplace? Any help or gentle push to some useful information would be great. House size is 2300sqft, 28 years old so not the best insulation. If I can make my wife happy and still get an awesome unit I dont mind a zero clearance so long as I dont end up spending 7k on it.
Zero Clearance Fireplaces and inserts are 2 very different critters. An insert is what you place inside a pre-existing masonry fireplace. This helps make your fireplace more efficient. You cannot take an insert and frame around it to make it look like a fireplace. Typically, you need to drop a liner inside your chimney to match the flue size of your insert. A pre-fabricated fireplace or so-called zero-clearance fireplace is what most people get nowadays instead of building a masonry fireplace. Basically, the fireplace is built by the MFG in such a way as to have insulation and safety UL certification that you can push it against a wall or studs (hence the term zero-clearance). Then you frame and finish the unit as you would like. Another distinction is you connect directly to a class A chimney. An example of typical ZC's can be seen here. http://www.valcourtinc.com/ There are different types. Some are mainly decorative and not very efficient while others can almost heat your entire house with a blower heat dump kit. An insert will cost anywhere from $800 to $2,500 plus a liner. Total install cost depending on how much you change things around will run from $1,500 to $5,000 A ZC will cost from $3K to $12K. It'll be hard to get below $8K for a total cost of install. To conclude: an insert is typically used for pre-existing masonry fireplace. A ZC is typically used in new home construction. You can still install one into a pre-existing home but you need to plan properly and... measure twice! Hope this helps. PS. BTW we make the Osburn brand if you have any questions.
Hey CapetownKG, Fyrebug is spot on re: the ZC FPs. I have the Quad 7100FP and it is the primary source of heat for our 2964sqft 1-story house (newer construction). It does a really nice job of heating the house; we are pleased with its performance and aesthetics. That said if we lived in a different climate I may have chosen a freestanding stove. Where we are in OR the winters are not that harsh, and aside from the 2 to 3wks during the winter where it is in the 20s during the day and teens/single digits at night, most of our 4 to 5 heating months are one big shoulder season. If we lived in a really cold climate (extended freezing/sub-freezing temps), I would likely have installed a free-standing woodstove. Our house was built 4yrs ago and the unit was just under $4000 and ~28' of SL300 air-cooled pipe w/chimney cap and shroud was ~$700. Can't recall actual install cost, but when it was all said and done I believe we were under $6k. I'd imagine a retro job will be more expensive than new construction.
I ended up going with a ZC fireplace. Was in a very similar situation to you. The wife had the same questions and wanted the larger viewing area and the look of a true fireplace. I have the unit just smaller than Blue (Heat and Glo Northstar) and can easily heat a 1978 ranch home 1600 sq ft all the way down to about 10F or so. I can't remember exactly what I ended up paying, but I believe for demo, install and new chimney was in the $6500 range. Still working on finishing it off, which will probably run another $1500 or so.
Thanks for the info guys. I think the minimum for the osburn insert to stick out of the fireplace is 3" ,so I am going to maybe chalk the dimensions of that out so my wife can get a visual of that. The zero clearance look great but that is more then I can spend on a unit.
If she wants the clean look of a zc why not go with the matrix? And as firebug stated his company makes the Osburn and enerzone stoves and is chock full of knowledge on the full line.
anyone have any input about this unit Large Flush Wood Hybrid-Fyre™ Insert Arched from Fireplacextrodinair http://www.fireplacex.com/ProductGuide/ProductDetail.aspx?modelsku=99800177#Installation I see the same unit is considered a lopi stove as well
It's the same as the Cape Cod freestanding stove. It is flush, has a huge glass and an incredible fire! This might be just the ticket.
