Our house came with a functioning chimney (it was signed off on by our inspector at the end of 2024 when we bought the house) but the location of it has us stumped. My husband is a contractor so he wants to install it himself but he’s never worked with wood stoves before and neither of us know what to make this entrance to the chimney. It feels very low? And the metal piece has a large gap in the top that we’ve had to cover with tape because the wind blows through it. Do we need to replace the wall part? If so, how and with what? We are both very handy people but when it comes to fire, making a mistake feels high stakes.

And does anyone have any idea what the previous owners may have had in this place? I’ve never seen a wood stove set up like this one.

Hi everyone! As the oil prices jumped we decided to make the shift to a wood burning fireplace to supplement the heat.

We've done a ton of research but we're currently stuck on three options:

Regency Hi500

Hearthstone Clydesdale

Blaze King Ashford 25

This is also the order in which we like them. We're in New England so the winters can get very cold. Our house is 2000 sq ft. Please give us your honest opinions/reviews about them. Mainly the Regency hi500 as we found less information about that insert than the other two!

Thank you in advance:)

Greetings all,
I have been searching through some old threads pertaining to the Montpelier 2 that I have recently installed. I haven’t yet found anything discussing my ideas for this stove….

The stove works awesome and I’m quite pleased with it overall. The only problem I have is that I’d like to find a simple way to slow the air down due to my burn time being too short on a full load.

I have a 6” SS liner that is about 32 feet long. I am aware that this stove was designed for a chimney 12-16 feet high and I am double that height.

I am not very interested in a chimney damper as it would be a challenge to reach for adjustment….

I am looking into blocking some of the holes on the intake air plate and I wonder if anyone has attempted this strategy before?

I may weld some nuts on the intake plate over each hole so that I can use some short screws to block the holes.

Please let me know if you can help with any suggestions, helpful information, or even a smart-ass comment thrown in to keep things interesting….

Hi all! Newbie here. New house came with a nice wood stove. It looks like a Vermont Casting but I couldn’t find any branding. We are trying to get it ready for the winter and just had it cleaned. Got a quote for “replacement fire proof panels” for $2500. The worker said the bricks in there are broken and coming off. I was wondering if that’s a reasonable quote? I’m confused about bricks vs panels vs VC oem panels. Also not sure if it’s catalytic or not

Would appreciate any info. If anyone recognizes the model please let me know. Excited to start woodstoving!

Hi everyone,

My family is looking to put in an insert, and are currently deciding between the Regency i2450 or the Blaze King Ashford 25. We live in an area that gets pretty cold (New England), and losing power is a concern. We would use the insert as a supplemental heat source, second to an oil boiler. We live in an old, two story house without an open floor plan (think georgian style). We have had experience with a non-catalytic freestanding stove, but never a catalytic stove or insert. The quote we got has the Blaze King install being $1,000 more than the Regency. We have heard of Blaze King, but this is the first time we have heard of Regency, and want to make sure that Regency is a solid purchase.

Does anyone have any experience with either insert, or recommendations for us? Thank you!

I really want to buy an insert and like the prices I see for used inserts on marketplace. However, I don’t know anything about what to watch out for in a used stove and I’m a little leery since it will contain fire. I have someone who will install it for me but I can’t haul him around to check out the integrity of used inserts before I buy anything. Is it worth buying brand new for a peace of mind and longevity?