You know, there all good. I would pick any quality insert that you like visually, and is rated for the amount of space you want to heat. I good rule of thumb is to take 1/3 off the manufactures stated heating capacity. there is lots of varibles with that thoug. For example, in a well insualted buiding in a moderate climate, you might take 100%. in a cold climate with poor insulation and pine as a only fuel source, you might take 50% of it. Generaly speaking, inserts in the 50K range will burn for 4-7 hours, depeding on draft and fuel type. Cast iron inserts are typically more then steel, and steel realy dominates the market. Quadrafire are known for quality inserts at a resonable price. Lots of bang for the buck. But compared to a avalon with the same btu rating, and comparable GPM rating, there going to do the same. When i say comparable GPM that grams per hour, and there is no difference between 3 gph and 1.2 grams per hour, considering that open fireplaces, and old stoves emit in the 60 gram per hour range. Good luck.

mountainstoveguy-

Thank you for the info and I hope you don't mind a few follow up questions.

We are going to put a fireplace in our soon-bo-be-built 2100 sf, 2 story home. The home will be pretty energy efficient with blown in cellulose insulation, low e, Argon filled, extruded alum windows, cedar siding and PV shingles, but we're in in Northern NY state, near Lake Ontario and the wind, well, she blow. We want to use wood as a primary heat source with propane radiant back up, however, we are concerned about burn time. The FXP Model 44 and the Quardafire 7100FP (the models we are considering) state up to 12 and 16 hours of burn time respectively, which I don't frankly expect to get cuz we've heated with wood (stove) for a long time and know that manufacturer burn time numbers are exaggerated, but I was expecting to get 7 or hopefully 8 good hours in. In your experience, what % should we take off the burn time in the literature? And do you have any thoughts about the FXP fireplaces and/or FXP v. Quadrafire? We like the look of the FXP better, but not so much that we will ignore greater functionality or quality.

Thank you.

sandyponder

To be real honest, i dont know the FPX line, one thing i do know, they are considerd one of the top of the line manufactures in the industry, there are a few FPX dealers and users on hearth.com as well. Im a quadrafire dealer, so im pretty familer with there product. If you stuff it, i mean stuff it loading it front to back, you will get long burn times. some experemneting with burn times in the show room where we have a 7100 burning, we got it to burn longer then that. We happen to sell firewood packs like you find at the grocery store and they fit perfectly front to back,(i can fit three packs at once in there!) I can get it where you cant fit a tooth pick in there. Like that. we got it to go 14 hours. Now that is with pine, and good air control.
Heating capacity, the 7100 is a beast of a heater. I dont think you will have any complaints on the output, it can easly heat 2k square feet under normal conditions.

I use a 55K stove to heat 1800 square feet in a well insulated home 9000' in the mountains. I cant possibly imagine a 90,000 btu fireplace not being able to handle most any heating situation. Of course, heat transfer through the house depends on house design. Hope that helps, and im not trying to plug hearth.com, but hey there is info there that you are looking for in reguards to the FPX line.

mountainstoveguy-

Thank you very much for your input, your candor is sincerely appreciated, especially your comments about your competition. Our local dealer sells both FXP and Quadrafire, so they are very careful to walk the line. And if you heat at 9000' with a 55k stove, I think we can heat just fine at 400' with a 90k one.

Regards,

sandyponder

Does anyone have experience with the Quadra-Fire 5100i insert or Lopi Freedom Bay? Thanks.