[Deadhead]

Oh yeah, I have decades of experience heating with wood, but all the FP inserts I ever saw were nothing compared to a wood stove and never saw one that did not use a grate. Not saying much since I did not consider them viable until reading about this one. Most of the ones I have seen heat was wasted and went up the chimney, even on the ones with blowers. This thing is more like a stove that is made to look like a fireplace. It is not an insert. Has 2 heat exchangers and the air inlet (from outdoor source) blows directly on the bed of coals. It can be used straight convection w/ heat coming out the vents on top of it or running through the duct system. Pretty sure it has to have the air circulating w/ fan or risk damage to overheating from reading the installation manual.

The 2 best stoves I have used from the old non-catalytic era were Temp-Wood, a top loader down draft stove and a Fisher, which was a front loader. Both are worth their weight in gold today. Both of these would heat large poorly insulated houses to the point of comfort when temps don't go ago above freezing. The stuff they have now with the converters and the like simply can not compare to those stoves. My place with the Century also has a Tulikivi that I think is a 2200 model that weighs in at over 4500# of soapstone, so I should be able to heat 3k SF with both of these devices no problem. Just don't want to screw up my new paint job messing with something I have never used before. Here are Pics of the 2 at this place I am working on: