u/OhEidirsceoil

Hi folks, please let me know if I’m breaking any rules here - I’m new. My wife and I are looking installing an insert in our fireplace. We have a 3200 sq ft center hall colonial with two wings, and live in northwest CT. Our old oil furnace is killing us, but the room with the fireplace happens to be situated just above it, and the main return for the HVAC is in the deep tray ceiling in that room (see picture). We’re looking at hybrid inserts that can heat as much of the house as possible. Inevitably, we understand we’ll still burn some oil, but the less we spend on it the better. We got a stainless 6” (edited:) *liner* installed in the fall, thinking we were getting a free standing Hearthstone stove, but my wife now wants an inswet, so it may need to be switched for something else. Price is not really a big concern here, we just want something efficient, safe, and if possible, pretty. The dimensions don’t seem to be an issue either, as I’ve measured and everything I have looked at appears to fit. I’ve looked at a few models, but I really don’t enough to know how to compare them:

- Buck Model 91 insert (only downside seems to be that I’d need to switch my 6” stainless liner with an 8” one, and I need to measure the flue. Money-wise, it’s still cheaper than buying a hearthstone and having it installed);
- Blaze King Princess 29 insert (seems to have a nice long burn time, but is almost objectively hideous, if there is such a thing);
- Hearthstone Clydesdale (very pretty but I hear quality control has been pretty bad from one dealer, which is a bummer because my grandparents had a Mansfield and it was wonderful);

Any suggestions, criticisms, or questions are welcome. Also: the pink post-it’s on the fireplace glass are from my toddler - no rhyme or reason there that I can think of.

This post is for the person who commented on a previous post asking that I provide an update when I got it working. I have a ‘25 LT Extended Range Premium.

I’ve been trying to get Surround Vision Recording downloaded for about a year now and I finally took it to the dealer because my Chevy tech tonneau cover is falling apart (the truck is under warranty so I’ll get a new one to tide me over until there are more/better options) and asked them to do a full updates check targeting surround vision recording. They located it, downloaded it, and established that the flash drive has to be specially formatted. I went home, formatted the flash drive (you can google how to do it), and plugged it in. It works!

For any of you living in Connecticut, Blasius Chevy in Waterbury has a pretty good service department. Rates are around $209/hr but I haven’t had to pay for anything yet at 25kmi

Photo is just for visibility.

My first blooms this summer on my little rose patch. Yes, I know, I’m not supposed to cover my well head, but it’s just been inspected, and it creates an ugly spot in the middle of my backyard that I thought I’d brighten up with some color. Roses are Neptune Hybrid Tea (not blooming presently - second year bare root from Heirloom), The Poet’s Wife English shrub rose (second picture - first year own-root from White Flower Farm), Ebb Tide Floribunda (second year bare-root from Heirloom- third and 5th pics - the last one a shot from a few days ago - it really changes color as the blooms age), and a scattering of grocery store mini roses which overwintered (4th pics).

Anyone know how to encourage more foliage on my bare roots and mini roses?