Thank you very much. You are honest and give good details. I'm buying a house with a fireplace. I'm looking towards this option and you have helped me greatly. Thank you!
we have been heating a 1750 ft raised ranch with one for about 4 years .load it full twice a day ,if we load it a 3rd time the house gets to hot for sleeping. the morning house is down to 66 with oil fired boiler just kicking on .load it up, start another day. Have land behind my place so havent bought any wood as of yet. Runs from november til april. southern Connecticut.GREAT unit no problems !!
We've loved ours. We bought it to have a back up heating source but enjoyed so much that we have converted to heating with wood 100% of the time. It's been a great investment. I cut my own firewood and it saves us $500-$600 a year on electricity. It's a shame they're no longer making them.
Wow thank you very helpful. We have a really inefficient heatpump too that struggles to keep our house warm when it's below freezing. It's great to see your specific temps in the video. With this really cold weather it's hard for our house to stay at 68 with the heat on full blast, nonstop running, 72 would be a dream! I'll show my husband this tonight too, he'll love to see these details. It's kind of hard to find a lot of info about these inserts online.
If you'll go to hearth.com they have a ton of information. Just use the search function and there are all kinds of threads about different types of stoves, inserts, firewood types and what wood is best for what temperatures. It was a huge help when I was looking around trying to figure out what I was going to buy. The inserts aren't cheap by any means but after a big cold spell last year where it didn't get above freezing for 2 weeks and even with the heat pumps running 24/7 our house was still only 65 degrees we felt like it was a worthwhile investment. I did the install myself and it still cost us $4,300 when all was said and done and that's not counting the $900 I spent on a saw and gear so that I could cut my own firewood instead of having to buy it. Cutting the wood yourself is a lot of work but I put up about $2,000 worth of wood just this year alone so I think that was also a good investment. If you do decide to cut and gather your own firewood and you don't have much experience with working with a chainsaw or felling timber I would highly recommend that you watch the BC Faller video series on youtube before deciding to go out and become a lumberjack. The knowledge I gained from that series actually saved my life at one point this past year. Here is a link to the video I made on how I get all of my firewood for free. ruclips.net/video/i12PYbnMMpQ/видео.html Cheers!
Adriana Does Yoga I see! Ya those boxes are not ideal when they taper light that. I was really interested in the 1700 series, mainly the cabello since we need a flush mount. Ended up going with the Blaze King Sirocco.... hope that’s sufficient for 2000sq/ft. Keeping your place 72 up and down stairs is awesome!
@@theinternets7516 Wow thanks for all that info, hearth.com will be extremely helpful to us. They do seems expensive, ouch! I do really like the way your unit looks, for us we have a lot of wood on a few acres but I think it will still be more work to make sure we have the wood ready to go every winter. Thanks again!
One issue we had was our masonry chimney was exterior while our neighbors was inside the center of the house. A warm chimney does wonders for a great fire.
We will likely build at some point and the plans I drew up made sure the chimney was inside the house all the way up. Ours is half and half. It's in the garage and then a few feet in the garage attic and then the rest is exterior. I made sure to insulate the liner well so that once it's up to temperature it stays warm enough to prevent creosote building up.
No. The shelf is only about six inches wide and because of the insert design its typically only 200-300 degrees. It sits about 1-1½ inches above the actual stove top. If you're wanting something you can cook on I'd recommend a Pacific Energy Aldrlea free standing stove.
good video. 2100 sqr ft is a pretty big house. my stove is a bit big for the house, so mid winter is good, but the rest of the time, it's awkward to operate.
It's worth having (for $30-40). It moves enough air that once the fire is out but the stove is still full of coals it does a decent job of circulating air without running the blower and prematurely cooling down the stove.
Depends on the airflow in the house. it provides nearly 100% of our heat for a 2900 sq ft house in cold subzero MICHIGAN winters for going on 4 years Our combination of 108,000 btu natural gas hydronic and electric could not keep up below -10deg in the past and barely kept the house in the 50's This can keep both the upstairs and down in the 70's even at 10 below keeping the temp above the set points for the other heat sources, keeping them from coming on. if you don't use the blowers properly, you will struggle to get heat out of it.
youll find when youve allowed the box to cool sufficiant , there will be accumulation of ash on top of the baffles at the exit pipe. it will be funnel shaped and can obstruct the flow after a few months use depending on the quality of wood being burned.slide the baffles out the front with care n clean your welcome
There isn't a great deal on real world usage of these inserts and I thank you for the information. Considering the stoves specs, the performance is exactly what I was expecting. It's very impressive that this centrally located metal box is managing to heat your entire home and make any positive change in your interior temperature. I can hardly wait to get my own Enviro installed! I have a question about the moisture content of your wood. Seems to me that the moisture content of the firewood 'might' be the source of any minor performance issues you are having. Just wondering... Again, THANK YOU!
You're welcome! I'm glad the video was helpful. I have been very pleased with it overall. It heats very evenly and the burn times are pretty respectable. Pretty much all of my firewood is 15-20% moisture. I was wondering the same thing so I took a few of the larger splits and split them to check them in the center and most were in the 18-20% range. I think one or two came up at 21-22% but generally speaking the wood is good quality and dry.
Hello, just purchased the same insert. Curious as to what make and model steamer you have on top, having a little trouble finding on that fits on the small ledge, thanks
@@theinternets7516 Thanks for the quick response. I have one more question if you dont mind. What is the sweet spot for your air control to get the best results, obviously it would depend on a number of variables but curious what works for you?
@@kathleenfromhold7932, once I get it up to around 550-650 I drop the air down to about 10%. That's probably all the way in and then pull it out about a half an inch or so. Use the fan to help regulate the firebox temperature. If you can have the fan running at around 25% and keep the temperature between 550 & 650 with the damper open about 10% I'd say that's the sweet spot but if you've really got it packed full and burning hot you may have to run the fan on high for a while just to keep from over firing it. I don't like for it to get hotter than 750 or so. Sometimes I don't run the fan at all if it's just two or three small splits and that way it stay around 600° and has good secondary combustion. If you're stove gets below 450° or so it makes it difficult to have good secondary combustion and get a nice long efficient burn.
@@kathleenfromhold7932, happy to help. We love ours. We initially bought it for supplemental heat on cold nights and for power outages (burn small fires or you'll get it too hot since the blower can't run) and we liked it so much that we use it for about 90% of our heating now. You definitely won't regret it.
When it gets down to the 10-15 degree range can your heat pump keep your house at 72 degrees without the emergency heat option kicking in? Thanks, in advance, for your reply.
I think it would but in the winter we usually leave it on we leave it on 69 or 70 so I can't say for sure. With it set on 68 and right around 5 degrees one night the emergency heat didn't come on if that's helpful. Generally the colder it gets the lower I set the thermostat in an effort to not overwork the heat pump and needlessly shoot up my electric bill.
I am thinking about getting this same setup. My only concern is my family sits about 8 feet in front of the fireplace because or tv is over the mantle. Does it get really hot in the near area of the insert?
It's definitely warmer in the living room but not uncomfortably hot. With the blower on low a lot of the heat rises straight up and is distributed by the ceiling fan so it doesn't feel like somebody is sitting next to you with a hair drier on full blast. We use our living room pretty much like we always have but sometimes I do find myself taking off my long sleeves in favor of a t-shirt if I have it really cranking but it's never been anything that would run me out of the room. Keep in mind we do have a very open floor plan so if your house is very choppy and you only have a single 3 or 4 ft doorway for your living room it may end up being pretty hot.
@@brian3.2, I would use the blower on low and the heat powered fan. You also have to turn up the blower from time to time just to keep the stove from getting too hot. You'll get a feel for how to use it pretty quickly. In general though, I like running the blower on low or medium and using the fan in conjunction with it. I think you'll be very happy with. I have been thrilled with ours.
Afraid not. I think my next stove will be a pacific energy alderlae for that very reason. That will be once we build or move though. This stove is in for the long haul. All in all I've been very pleased with it.
Blow some instillation in your attic and you will get what you want out of it. The stove puts out a certain number of BTUs. Those BTUs heat a certain square foot area. If you are not meeting that outcome then it's not the stove. It's insulation and it windows.
The house is relatively well insulated although it is 30 years old so I'm sure what was initially blown into the attic has settled some. The max btu is definitely enough to keep the house warm but over a 10 hour burn it's probably only putting out max BTUs for 3-4 hours. That's the main issue. Overall I'm very happy with it though. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Oh yeah That’s right Haven’t gotten one yet. Still working on getting a wood stove for the great room. I’ll have to get a firewall installed first and maybe take out a window. Thanks for asking. 😊
Use the blower that's what its for. Burn cherry and any other high grade hard wood. Mine heats a 3000 sq foot house with ease. I only load it every 8 hrs.
I generally burn ash, sycamore, maple, locust, and cherry all at or below 20% moisture content. It heats really well when temperatures are above freezing and does fairly well in the 20s too but once it drops below 20 it tends to struggle. I'd be curious about the layout of your house if this insert can heat it in below freezing temperatures and only loading 3 times a day. When we've got lows in the teens and highs in the 20s I'm loading it 4 times a day and it does well to keep our 2100 sq. ft. cape cod around 70. It could just be that your house is just really well insulated for that matter. That's about the only thing that I can think of that would make that big of a difference in the heating capability. As for using the blower, I usually run it on low and allow the warm air to work with the ceiling fans to circulate around the first floor and up the stairs. Overall I've been happy with it but if we ever build I'm going to put in a freestanding stove for sure. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Yes and no. It will certainly burn the wood but without the blower you have to be careful not to overfire it. With the majority of the stove surrounded by your firebox it will overfire and become damged if you run it hard without the blower on. One thing you can do in a true emergency is to remove the top shelf and the surround and side panels to allow as much heat to leave to stove as possible (basically makes it free standing but sitting in your fireplace) or you can use a marine battery and a power inverter and plug the blower into the inverter. I have mine wired so that if I need to I can get into the junction box (in the garage) and get power to the blower using a battery and power inverter. Honestly, it would have to be REALLY cold for me to do that, otherwise I'd just run it easy and use the heat powered fans and wear some sweats because it would probably be in the low 60s inside running it easy and not using the blower. If you think that power outages will be a regular thing for you then you should definitely make sure you have it wired so that switching it to a power source other than your home's electricity will be fairly easy to do. One thing you can do is just run the blower power cord across the hearth to a wall outlet and that makes it very easy to just use a battery and power inverter. I ran power to a new box in the back of the firebox for aesthetics as I didn't particularly like the looks of a wood burning stove with a power cord coming out from the bottom of it but we also have very reliable electricity and it's rare that we have a winter power outage much less an extended outage lasting more than 12-24 hours.
The roof of the box is sloped so it's lower in the back of the box than it is in the front. I get it stacked up to the top in the back but that still leaves 2-3 inches of head room in the front and it looks like it's not that full. During the first half of the video it definitely wasn't stacked full at all though. I think I may have had two splits in there and since I was around the house all day to baby sit it I was able to run it like that and keep the house at 72 but that was with temps in the upper 20s. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thank you very much. You are honest and give good details. I'm buying a house with a fireplace. I'm looking towards this option and you have helped me greatly. Thank you!
Glad I could help! Thanks for watching and commenting!
we have been heating a 1750 ft raised ranch with one for about 4 years .load it full twice a day ,if we load it a 3rd time the house gets to hot for sleeping. the morning house is down to 66 with oil fired boiler just kicking on .load it up, start another day. Have land behind my place so havent bought any wood as of yet. Runs from november til april. southern Connecticut.GREAT unit no problems !!
We've loved ours. We bought it to have a back up heating source but enjoyed so much that we have converted to heating with wood 100% of the time. It's been a great investment. I cut my own firewood and it saves us $500-$600 a year on electricity. It's a shame they're no longer making them.
Wow thank you very helpful. We have a really inefficient heatpump too that struggles to keep our house warm when it's below freezing. It's great to see your specific temps in the video. With this really cold weather it's hard for our house to stay at 68 with the heat on full blast, nonstop running, 72 would be a dream! I'll show my husband this tonight too, he'll love to see these details. It's kind of hard to find a lot of info about these inserts online.
If you'll go to hearth.com they have a ton of information. Just use the search function and there are all kinds of threads about different types of stoves, inserts, firewood types and what wood is best for what temperatures. It was a huge help when I was looking around trying to figure out what I was going to buy. The inserts aren't cheap by any means but after a big cold spell last year where it didn't get above freezing for 2 weeks and even with the heat pumps running 24/7 our house was still only 65 degrees we felt like it was a worthwhile investment. I did the install myself and it still cost us $4,300 when all was said and done and that's not counting the $900 I spent on a saw and gear so that I could cut my own firewood instead of having to buy it. Cutting the wood yourself is a lot of work but I put up about $2,000 worth of wood just this year alone so I think that was also a good investment. If you do decide to cut and gather your own firewood and you don't have much experience with working with a chainsaw or felling timber I would highly recommend that you watch the BC Faller video series on youtube before deciding to go out and become a lumberjack. The knowledge I gained from that series actually saved my life at one point this past year. Here is a link to the video I made on how I get all of my firewood for free. ruclips.net/video/i12PYbnMMpQ/видео.html Cheers!
Adriana Does Yoga I see! Ya those boxes are not ideal when they taper light that. I was really interested in the 1700 series, mainly the cabello since we need a flush mount. Ended up going with the Blaze King Sirocco.... hope that’s sufficient for 2000sq/ft. Keeping your place 72 up and down stairs is awesome!
@@JakeHolder I'll look at those, we need a flush mount too! Thanks for the help!
@@theinternets7516 Wow thanks for all that info, hearth.com will be extremely helpful to us. They do seems expensive, ouch! I do really like the way your unit looks, for us we have a lot of wood on a few acres but I think it will still be more work to make sure we have the wood ready to go every winter. Thanks again!
Adriana Does Yoga ya so far what I’ve found, the BK can’t be beat, and they get an easy 12-14 hours of useable heat
One issue we had was our masonry chimney was exterior while our neighbors was inside the center of the house. A warm chimney does wonders for a great fire.
We will likely build at some point and the plans I drew up made sure the chimney was inside the house all the way up. Ours is half and half. It's in the garage and then a few feet in the garage attic and then the rest is exterior. I made sure to insulate the liner well so that once it's up to temperature it stays warm enough to prevent creosote building up.
Can you cook on top of that insert? If you put up some wool blankets on your windows and sliding glass doors, you will keep more heat in.
No. The shelf is only about six inches wide and because of the insert design its typically only 200-300 degrees. It sits about 1-1½ inches above the actual stove top. If you're wanting something you can cook on I'd recommend a Pacific Energy Aldrlea free standing stove.
good video. 2100 sqr ft is a pretty big house. my stove is a bit big for the house, so mid winter is good, but the rest of the time, it's awkward to operate.
After using the eco fan for a while now what are your thoughts on it? Is it worth getting or a waste of money
It's worth having (for $30-40). It moves enough air that once the fire is out but the stove is still full of coals it does a decent job of circulating air without running the blower and prematurely cooling down the stove.
Depends on the airflow in the house. it provides nearly 100% of our heat for a 2900 sq ft house in cold subzero MICHIGAN winters for going on 4 years Our combination of 108,000 btu natural gas hydronic and electric could not keep up below -10deg in the past and barely kept the house in the 50's This can keep both the upstairs and down in the 70's even at 10 below keeping the temp above the set points for the other heat sources, keeping them from coming on. if you don't use the blowers properly, you will struggle to get heat out of it.
Curious as to how much better the insert heats your house as compared to the original fireplace.
Infinitely better. Uses WAY less wood and heats the entire house instead of just the living room.
@@theinternets7516 Thanks for your answer!
youll find when youve allowed the box to cool sufficiant , there will be accumulation of ash on top of the baffles at the exit pipe. it will be funnel shaped and can obstruct the flow after a few months use depending on the quality of wood being burned.slide the baffles out the front with care n clean
your welcome
I haven't had any flow obstruction from this but there is definitely some fly ash accumulation on top of the baffles every year when I clean it.
What is the name of that fan
Here is a link to the fan on Amazon.
www.amazon.com/dp/B075F36YNK/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_2P2N3DBQHDV0N1D4QJ8J_0
There isn't a great deal on real world usage of these inserts and I thank you for the information. Considering the stoves specs, the performance is exactly what I was expecting. It's very impressive that this centrally located metal box is managing to heat your entire home and make any positive change in your interior temperature. I can hardly wait to get my own Enviro installed! I have a question about the moisture content of your wood. Seems to me that the moisture content of the firewood 'might' be the source of any minor performance issues you are having. Just wondering... Again, THANK YOU!
You're welcome! I'm glad the video was helpful. I have been very pleased with it overall. It heats very evenly and the burn times are pretty respectable. Pretty much all of my firewood is 15-20% moisture. I was wondering the same thing so I took a few of the larger splits and split them to check them in the center and most were in the 18-20% range. I think one or two came up at 21-22% but generally speaking the wood is good quality and dry.
Good home gamer review
Gamer?
Hello, just purchased the same insert. Curious as to what make and model steamer you have on top, having a little trouble finding on that fits on the small ledge, thanks
The brand is Minuteman International. If you Google "Minuteman International stove steamer" it comes up on a few sites. It's $50 on Amazon.
@@theinternets7516 Thanks for the quick response. I have one more question if you dont mind. What is the sweet spot for your air control to get the best results, obviously it would depend on a number of variables but curious what works for you?
@@kathleenfromhold7932, once I get it up to around 550-650 I drop the air down to about 10%. That's probably all the way in and then pull it out about a half an inch or so. Use the fan to help regulate the firebox temperature. If you can have the fan running at around 25% and keep the temperature between 550 & 650 with the damper open about 10% I'd say that's the sweet spot but if you've really got it packed full and burning hot you may have to run the fan on high for a while just to keep from over firing it. I don't like for it to get hotter than 750 or so. Sometimes I don't run the fan at all if it's just two or three small splits and that way it stay around 600° and has good secondary combustion. If you're stove gets below 450° or so it makes it difficult to have good secondary combustion and get a nice long efficient burn.
@@theinternets7516 Thank you again. This is all great information. Waiting on the cold weather like a kid for Christmas to experiment with this insert
@@kathleenfromhold7932, happy to help. We love ours. We initially bought it for supplemental heat on cold nights and for power outages (burn small fires or you'll get it too hot since the blower can't run) and we liked it so much that we use it for about 90% of our heating now. You definitely won't regret it.
When it gets down to the 10-15 degree range can your heat pump keep your house at 72 degrees without the emergency heat option kicking in? Thanks, in advance, for your reply.
I think it would but in the winter we usually leave it on we leave it on 69 or 70 so I can't say for sure. With it set on 68 and right around 5 degrees one night the emergency heat didn't come on if that's helpful. Generally the colder it gets the lower I set the thermostat in an effort to not overwork the heat pump and needlessly shoot up my electric bill.
I am thinking about getting this same setup. My only concern is my family sits about 8 feet in front of the fireplace because or tv is over the mantle. Does it get really hot in the near area of the insert?
It's definitely warmer in the living room but not uncomfortably hot. With the blower on low a lot of the heat rises straight up and is distributed by the ceiling fan so it doesn't feel like somebody is sitting next to you with a hair drier on full blast. We use our living room pretty much like we always have but sometimes I do find myself taking off my long sleeves in favor of a t-shirt if I have it really cranking but it's never been anything that would run me out of the room. Keep in mind we do have a very open floor plan so if your house is very choppy and you only have a single 3 or 4 ft doorway for your living room it may end up being pretty hot.
We have an open floor plan as well. I was thinking however to not use the blower , only the heat fan you showed. Would that effect your opinion?
@@brian3.2, I would use the blower on low and the heat powered fan. You also have to turn up the blower from time to time just to keep the stove from getting too hot. You'll get a feel for how to use it pretty quickly. In general though, I like running the blower on low or medium and using the fan in conjunction with it. I think you'll be very happy with. I have been thrilled with ours.
Can you cook on this like a free standing stove?
Afraid not. I think my next stove will be a pacific energy alderlae for that very reason. That will be once we build or move though. This stove is in for the long haul. All in all I've been very pleased with it.
Blow some instillation in your attic and you will get what you want out of it.
The stove puts out a certain number of BTUs. Those BTUs heat a certain square foot area. If you are not meeting that outcome then it's not the stove. It's insulation and it windows.
The house is relatively well insulated although it is 30 years old so I'm sure what was initially blown into the attic has settled some. The max btu is definitely enough to keep the house warm but over a 10 hour burn it's probably only putting out max BTUs for 3-4 hours. That's the main issue. Overall I'm very happy with it though. Thanks for watching and commenting!
My house is a two-story one with approximately 1300 sq ft. I think this insert might work for me. Thanks. 👍
I think with that square footage it would heat your house down to around 0°F. It's a great stove. Thanks for watching and commenting!
The Internets Thank you for your reply. I’m in Pennsylvania where it’s cold in the winter, so a stove like this will be good. Great video. 😊
Roz Christopherson , Hello any update? How is yours working?
Oh yeah That’s right Haven’t gotten one yet. Still working on getting a wood stove for the great room. I’ll have to get a firewall installed first and maybe take out a window. Thanks for asking. 😊
Roz Christopherson 👍
Use the blower that's what its for. Burn cherry and any other high grade hard wood. Mine heats a 3000 sq foot house with ease. I only load it every 8 hrs.
I generally burn ash, sycamore, maple, locust, and cherry all at or below 20% moisture content. It heats really well when temperatures are above freezing and does fairly well in the 20s too but once it drops below 20 it tends to struggle. I'd be curious about the layout of your house if this insert can heat it in below freezing temperatures and only loading 3 times a day. When we've got lows in the teens and highs in the 20s I'm loading it 4 times a day and it does well to keep our 2100 sq. ft. cape cod around 70. It could just be that your house is just really well insulated for that matter. That's about the only thing that I can think of that would make that big of a difference in the heating capability. As for using the blower, I usually run it on low and allow the warm air to work with the ceiling fans to circulate around the first floor and up the stairs. Overall I've been happy with it but if we ever build I'm going to put in a freestanding stove for sure. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Dumb question... does the stove work without power indefinitely as long as you keep it full of wood? In other words is the blower optional?
Yes and no. It will certainly burn the wood but without the blower you have to be careful not to overfire it. With the majority of the stove surrounded by your firebox it will overfire and become damged if you run it hard without the blower on. One thing you can do in a true emergency is to remove the top shelf and the surround and side panels to allow as much heat to leave to stove as possible (basically makes it free standing but sitting in your fireplace) or you can use a marine battery and a power inverter and plug the blower into the inverter. I have mine wired so that if I need to I can get into the junction box (in the garage) and get power to the blower using a battery and power inverter. Honestly, it would have to be REALLY cold for me to do that, otherwise I'd just run it easy and use the heat powered fans and wear some sweats because it would probably be in the low 60s inside running it easy and not using the blower. If you think that power outages will be a regular thing for you then you should definitely make sure you have it wired so that switching it to a power source other than your home's electricity will be fairly easy to do. One thing you can do is just run the blower power cord across the hearth to a wall outlet and that makes it very easy to just use a battery and power inverter. I ran power to a new box in the back of the firebox for aesthetics as I didn't particularly like the looks of a wood burning stove with a power cord coming out from the bottom of it but we also have very reliable electricity and it's rare that we have a winter power outage much less an extended outage lasting more than 12-24 hours.
It doesn’t seem like you’re packing the box full? I can’t tell. Get that sucker packed!
The roof of the box is sloped so it's lower in the back of the box than it is in the front. I get it stacked up to the top in the back but that still leaves 2-3 inches of head room in the front and it looks like it's not that full. During the first half of the video it definitely wasn't stacked full at all though. I think I may have had two splits in there and since I was around the house all day to baby sit it I was able to run it like that and keep the house at 72 but that was with temps in the upper 20s. Thanks for watching and commenting!
This may be a stupid question but does packing it full help produce more and longer heat?
Adriana Does Yoga Yes, both. More wood, more BTU’s. Then when you cut the oxygen down, it will burn slower, thus a longer burn time.
You think a free standing stove is a good idea with little kids running around? I dont and I'll bet your wife wont either.
Their are gate systems that can go around a stove. For heat output a freestanding stove is the way to go. I plan on having one in our next house.