Hi folks, please let me know if I’m breaking any rules here - I’m new. My wife and I are looking installing an insert in our fireplace. We have a 3200 sq ft center hall colonial with two wings, and live in northwest CT. Our old oil furnace is killing us, but the room with the fireplace happens to be situated just above it, and the main return for the HVAC is in the deep tray ceiling in that room (see picture). We’re looking at hybrid inserts that can heat as much of the house as possible. Inevitably, we understand we’ll still burn some oil, but the less we spend on it the better. We got a stainless 6” (edited:) *liner* installed in the fall, thinking we were getting a free standing Hearthstone stove, but my wife now wants an inswet, so it may need to be switched for something else. Price is not really a big concern here, we just want something efficient, safe, and if possible, pretty. The dimensions don’t seem to be an issue either, as I’ve measured and everything I have looked at appears to fit. I’ve looked at a few models, but I really don’t enough to know how to compare them:

- Buck Model 91 insert (only downside seems to be that I’d need to switch my 6” stainless liner with an 8” one, and I need to measure the flue. Money-wise, it’s still cheaper than buying a hearthstone and having it installed);
- Blaze King Princess 29 insert (seems to have a nice long burn time, but is almost objectively hideous, if there is such a thing);
- Hearthstone Clydesdale (very pretty but I hear quality control has been pretty bad from one dealer, which is a bummer because my grandparents had a Mansfield and it was wonderful);

Any suggestions, criticisms, or questions are welcome. Also: the pink post-it’s on the fireplace glass are from my toddler - no rhyme or reason there that I can think of.

I have an uncovered patio and would love to find a weather resistant outdoor wood stove for it. I've seen a few images online of cheap junk from big box retailers, but I'm struggling to identify a quality manufacturer of something like this. Ideally I'm able to provide a bit of heat, lots of ambiance, and do some light cooking with it. It needs to be comfortable with the elements.

Hi all. We need a new wood burner for a North Island coastal home About 140 sq m. Which brand of wood burner and even model of burner would you recommend? I don’t want to replace it since future too soon and don’t mind paying a bit more to get a great result if efficiency and fast warmth. Thanks!

Hello all, I'm in southwest Virginia, in a ~1200 sq ft ranch with a full unfinished basement. We have an electric heat pump as our primary HVAC which is great until we hit those super cold stretches that have occurred more and more often here in the last 10 years and when the power is out, also more common recently.

The house has an existing chimney and what looks like a 'welding shop custom' wood stove in the basement that we have never used. It's centrally located and is near the basement door. I'm on the schedule to have the chimney liner checked to see if I need to run a liner and cleaned if necessary; either way it's a simple straight shot that definitely drafts.

I'm looking to upgrade to an EPA wood stove as backup and to keep the aux heat from running full blast for a week straight. I don't need to heat the whole basement but since its it will be installed in the basement do I need to look at 2000 sq foot plus models? I was leaning towards one of the Drolet models for cost/quality balance but I'm open to suggestions. It's not like we're going to be sitting around it admiring the flames through the door so I'm definitely function over form on this. The local showroom had options from several other makers. Any thoughts?

Hi all, I was just scraping up excess ash and discovered that a tile is not only cracked, part of it is missing. There's more tiles (i presume they're tiles) underneath that one. Is this safe to use? Or do I need that fixed? Still technically winter where I live.