Ready for a fireplace insert

[3browns]

I posted this at FHC as well but here goes

We had a big earthquake here in Alaska on Friday morning and our house sustained some damage

The only upside to the story is that the wretched gas insert my wife had installed when we bought the house fell out AGAIN (happened a few years back on the last big shake) and I have finally convinced her it needs to go and a modern wood burner insert needs to go in the fireplace

So tell me what Information I need to give you guys so you can steer me in the right direction for an insert

I do NOT want to leave this up to her or we will end up with something CUTE and totally non functional

Thanks

 

[Cat 525]

Would it be safer to go with an outside wood burner with all the Quakes going on?

 

[J_M____]

Would it be safer to go with an outside wood burner with all the Quakes going on?

That would need power, I think the point is to have a source of heat if the power goes out

If the wife approves I would recommend a wood stove sitting most of the way out of the fireplace rather than an insert. An insert will require power for fans. The stove will work with or without fans. Post a picture of your fireplace with measurements and how tall your chimney is.( some stoves won’t work well with too tall or too short of a stack)

 

[3browns]

Would it be safer to go with an outside wood burner with all the Quakes going on?

Thanks, yeah, much safer but see below

That would need power, I think the point is to have a source of heat if the power goes out

If the wife approves I would recommend a wood stove sitting most of the way out of the fireplace rather than an insert. An insert will require power for fans. The stove will work with or without fans. Post a picture of your fireplace with measurements and how tall your chimney is.( some stoves won’t work well with too tall or too short of a stack)

Correct, it's an alternate heat source for power outages

The gas actually stayed on for the duration this time even though we didn't have power

We can run the stove for a bit without the fan until I feel it's getting too hot then I shut it down

It's not perfect but it beats no heat

The biggest issue is the fireplace is upstairs and the boiler is downstairs

If power is out long enough in winter we risk the real possibility of that all freezing

We had a 4 day outage a few years back following a windstorm but luckily it was October and no risk of freezeup

We keep talking about a generator but then get hung up on safe fuel storage

I will post a picture and dimensions of the fireplace without the insert after it gets removed

We are waiting on an appointment from the insurance appraiser before we can pull it out

Thanks for your input