Wood-burning Fireplace Insert

fish

I finally got tired of burning 20 logs a night in our conventional fireplace *and* paying a big PG&E bill. So we decided to buy a Regency wood-burning fireplace insert. The firebox is a lot smaller, but it puts out heat like you wouldn't believe. I figure our regular fireplace was 10% efficient, meaning 90% of the heat went up the chimney. This insert is 77% efficient, meaning only 23% of the heat goes up the chimney, and the rest is usable heat in the house. When I've got it burning, the house forced-air furnaces don't even come on. My best guess is that this insert will pay for itself in two, perhaps three seasons. I can't wait to see my next PG&E bill, because it should be much lower than last month. Now if I can only get the kids to stop taking such long baths


Here's my little photo essay, if you're as bored as I am...



This is a 500lb cold steel stove, made in the Great White North (tm), eh. 24k gold plated cast iron door. Some serious hardware, no doubt about it.


First thing we gotta do is get a guy on the roof and have him give the 25' chimney a good sweeping. Better him than me, cuz I'm afraid of heights. :yikes




Hi Gary! :wave








Had to have a custom double walled flexible stainless flu liner made. They're typically 6" diam. round. Our flu is 14" x 5" oval. So they had to squish the liner and make it oval too.





The fireplace looks so big when it's clean and the doors are gone.





I wonder if this technique is documented in the installation manual? :scratch






Brian's almost ready to slide 'er in. BTW, Brian is a symphony tuba player (tubist?), and has travelled all over the world with his tuba.





oooo....the beautiful gold-plated door. That sucker is heavy!






It's been installed for about 9 days now, and I've only burned myself twice. On the right arm, one inch apart. :hurt Fishwife has adorned it with hearth stuff and we're warm and toasty. Highly recommended and only costs half of what Andy's camera cost. :1drink

Here it is today:




The end.

David_S85

This thread has left me....
.... all warm and cozy!

Great photojournalist job there. . Bravo, bravo, bravo.

Now, have you priced what several cords of firewood costs added to the price you paid for the burnin' rig 'o steel? Is that like buying an L-lens for a 1D mkII?

I hope you're thermastat can collect some dust for a while to come.

[btw, where's a smilie for burning something? something warm, and on fire?]

luckyrwe

Nice! We have a fere standing wood burning stove. Just about everyone here does. May I recommend an Ecofan for you?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20598&item=5957625052&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

fish

Seymore wrote:

twisty... you need to have a GC come out and move that power outlet on the left before you shoot the fireplace again. OH, and the GC can't use PS or PSP... No SW!

whatchoo talkin' about, willis?

ian408

Nice fish! I see you managed to get the wife some gold without going
overboard

Seymore...what's with all the TLAs?

ian

Andy

fish wrote:

I finally got tired of burning 20 logs a night

what a wuss! don't you live in lefty-fornia? crimony. you want cold, come to ny

fish wrote:

... Better him than me, cuz I'm afraid of heights. :yikes

fish wrote:

I wonder if this technique is documented in the installation manual?

'nuff sed.

fish wrote:

BTW, Brian is a symphony tuba player (tubist?), and has travelled all over the world with his tuba.

hmm....

nice photo essay, well done and i enjoyed it.

ridetwistyroads

Seymore wrote:

twisty... you need to have a GC come out and move that power outlet on the left before you shoot the fireplace again. OH, and the GC can't use PS or PSP... No SW!

Congrats on the warmth...

My ears are burning, and i have no idea why.

Nice fireplace, fish.

Andy

since fish was too lazy, i'll do it, david....

David_S85 wrote:

[btw, where's a smilie for burning something? something warm, and on fire?]

Shakey

Smoked Fish is a much better aroma then old cold Fish.
So I am happy for you and yours.
Hard to have sympathy for one who lives in Cali complain'n bout his heat'n bills. Nice set Fish

Tim

JohnR

That does look nice and warm...but the outside looks warm already and the guy is wearing a short-sleeved shirt!


Today it's 39 degrees here

patch29

JohnR wrote:

That does look nice and warm...but the outside looks warm already and the guy is wearing a short-sleeved shirt!


Today it's 39 degrees here

Yeah, How much heat do you need in California? I could see if you were in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

How cold does it get where you are? or is it just the PG&E are too expensive?

patch29

Time to get to work.

John Mueller

I thought fish were cold blooded creatures:D

Angelo

I see you purchased the bargain model; the one without the custom
marshmallow access panel.

Andy

patch29 wrote:

Time to get to work.

ginger_55

Where's the fire challenge when it could be useful? I thought I saw something like that on a challenge lately.

I really like it, fish. It is even good looking.

I knew someone very well who heated his whole house with a wood burning stove for at least five years. He never connected or had central heat. As long as he lived in the house it was that stove. The only problem being, I never wanted to get too far from it, and first thing in the AM, it was like the old pioneers.

That was in Charlotte, North Carolina. OK, not NY, but it gets a lot colder than you all think, just maybe not as often. Cold is cold, I have learned that. I would rather have the right gear at temps below zero than just throw on a coat because it is not below zero, just 33 degrees.

Here in Charleston, my batteries for the Rebel were running out of juice almost as fast as I could put them in. I guess I am in denial about winter here, too, I had never read Andy's thing on winter, but I did put 2 & 2 together re the batteries and the connection to cold weather.

Nice Heat, Fish!

ginger

DavidTO

patch29 wrote:

Yeah, How much heat do you need in California? I could see if you were in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

How cold does it get where you are? or is it just the PG&E are too expensive?

As Mark Twain said:

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San
Francisco."

He also said:
"Wagner's music is better than it sounds."

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."

and

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But, when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."

David_S85

patch29 wrote:

Time to get to work.

Thank You! Smilies. What would we do without them!?

luckyrwe

David_S85 wrote:

Thank You! Smilies. What would we do without them!?

Maybe we'd have to show pictures of us actually DOING the work. :uhoh

fish

patch29 wrote:

I could see if you were in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

No thanks...brrr, too cold and too much snow/ice. It's nice to visit, but I couldn't live in that tundra in the winter. The Motherlode - sure...in fact I'm gonna build a log cabin out there someday....below the snowline.

How cold does it get where you are? or is it just the PG&E are too expensive?

We occasionally get down into the teens in winter. Mostly, where I am (understand there are lots of microclimates in the SF Bay Area) in the winter we hit the 60s as a high during the day and drops down into the 30-40s at night. It's not unusual to have a 30 degree temp range. What's great is that in the summer, we regularly hit the 90s during the day, then in the evening, the coastal fog will creep over the hill and we'll drop down into the 50s-60's at night.

So not as cold as a lot of places, but cold enough that we need heat.

And to answer your last question, gas prices are insane. Cordwood is far cheaper, assuming a reasonably efficient combustion device.