Sharing all the details about our beautiful & cozy wood stove insert, why we chose a Quadra-Fire voyager grand insert & what our wood stove insert looks like in our fireplace now.
Last year we were left with a broken pellet stove & had to make the tough decision of whether to buy another pellet stove or switch to a wood stove insert.
In the end, we decided to get a wood stove insert & today I am sharing why we decided to go that route plus share a few pretty pics of our family room fireplace.
Our wood stove insert really is so pretty you guys!
Table of Contents
Our New Wood Stove Insert in our Fireplace
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First things first, we live in a beautiful but VERY drafty farmhouse!
When we purchased our home over 5 years ago we thought we were doing the responsible thing by asking for the energy bills from the previous owners.
Well…. what we didn’t realize at the time was that they sent us energy bills from a house they had no longer been living in.
So basically energy bills from a house they were only heating to keep the pipes from freezing.
Yikes!
Unfortunately, we have still dealt with frozen pipes & many days bundled up in lots of layer to keep us warm and comfortable.
I share 5 tips for how we keep warm in winter without turning up the thermostat here.
Over the last 5 years that we have lived here we have tried our best to make wise home improvement changes to keep our energy bills down while keeping our family warm in the winter.
One big reason we decided to add shiplap to our kitchen and dining room walls was to add an extra layer of insulation to our old walls. (you can see our kitchen here & dining room here)
Our Former Pellet Stove…
Last fall our pellet stove stopped working & unfortunately it took almost 2 months of waiting for someone to look at it….
And… then another month for a part to come in & have it be fixed…. only to later to be condemned.
(You can see how the fan detached from the stove which is why we needed to replace it)
So… we went all winter without a fireplace in the family room.
It was so so cold in there!
Pellet Stove Verses Wood Stoves
When it came time to decide between pellet & wood stoves we spent hours researching what we thought was best.
We really did love our old pellet stove but decided to get a wood stove insert mostly due to cost & storage.
Wood pellets need to be stored in a dry location & they take up a lot of room.
You also have to buy the good pellets (ones that aren’t too smokey and made of hard wood) in the summer or you can’t find them anywhere.
Also, wood pellets can get expensive & their price seems to vary from year to year.
Wood is free especially if you cut it down & split it yourself.
We also have a TON of it.
I just recently made a firewood rack to help store it.
Finally in April, our new wood stove was delivered & installed by our local fireplace store.
Just in time for the warm Spring weather, Ha!
Why we love the Quadra-Fire Grand Insert
We love the look of our new Quadra-Fire voyager grand insert.
The wood stove insert has a much slimmer profile than our pellet stove did making our fireplace look much larger.
It can hold A LOT of firewood & the surround is cast iron so it continues to hold it’s heat even after our fire dies out.
How we Clean the Glass on our Wood Stove Insert
The fire burning through the glass is so pretty.
It is super simple to keep the glass clean with the glass cleaner they gave as when they installed the fireplace.
Here is the link to the fireplace cleaner we have, Perkins Hearth and Grill Conditioning Glass Cleaner, 8 Fluid Ounces
We are enjoying our family room SO much more now that it is warm in there again & we have hardly needed to turn the heat on despite the cool fall temps we have been having here in Pa.
The fireplace wood stove insert blower is definitely doing it’s job.
Even Moose has a new favorite spot to take a nap!
I hope this post helps anyone who might be thinking about getting a wood stove insert of your own!
by Tara Lehman
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It’s beautiful Tara! I love your house, it has so much character…I guess drafty is part of that character! The insert is gorgeous and in keeping with the house. Enjoy being around it this winter with your family!
Ha, yes drafty must be part of the character! Thank you so much for your sweet comments and for stopping by Lisa!
hello. I love your new wood burning stove. Wondering if you have the specs on it so we can look it up to see if would work for our space.
thanks,
Rebecca
Thank you so much for stopping by to see our new wood stove insert Rebecca! I do not have specs for it on my blog but we purchased the Quadra Fire Voyager Grand Wood Insert. I am sure you can look it up on their website and find exact measurements from them to see if it would work for your space.
Hello!
We are in the process of prepping for a fireplace insert for the first time. I’m trying to find a material (natural stone or other) that works for the surround. The mantle is wood, and will remain so. The insert looks almost identical to yours but is a different brand. Would you please share what material is around the insert? It looks matte just like the insert so I like how it recedes! I noticed that its the same as your former insert.
Thanks!
Hi Marie, Thanks so much for stopping by to check out wood stove insert! For the surround around the insert we reused the metal surround that was already in place for our previous pellet stove. The surround covers a cinder block opening that we could tile in the future.
I love how the insert looks! We have been also thinking of doing an insert in our build, and my biggest question, is does the heat from the fireplace effect the T.V above it? This is the set up we were hoping for, but i wasn’t sure if it was possible! Your thoughts?
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our wood stove insert Annie! If I remember correctly the wood stove will come with instructions on clearance & how high you need to build your mantel etc. when installing it. No, the heat from our fireplace does not effect our TV at all & we absolutely love how warm our wood stove heats up our family room & that side of our farmhouse. I can have houseplants, pictures, candles, decor etc. on our mantel without any issues. The only thing I have learned is that I can’t put any chocolate in my kids Christmas stockings & expect them not to melt 🙂 Good luck with your build!
Hi there. So we finally were able to purchase the quadra fire insert for our home. I have a question about yours…do you have something inside where the wood goes that holds the wood in place? it looks like in the pictures that there are andirons?
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our wood stove insert Sam! There are 2 removable iron inserts (like andirons) that keep the wood from rolling into the glass. You can also pick them up if you are placing a large firewood log inside the wood stove insert. They did come with our wood stove and was not something we purchased after. I am happy to add a pic to the blog post if that would be helpful!