Hitzer 983 Insert Stove

I am looking at a Hitzer 983 fireplace insert. It has 80,000 btu. It is going into an unheated basement room that is 15X30 with 7 ft. ceilings. There are adjoining rooms in the basement I would like to direct some of the heat to also. do you think the stove will overheat the immediate area? Is it too much stove for the area?

Every installation is different, but if the layout is relatively open and you can move the air around, you can probably heat the adjoining rooms. Whether or not it will cook you out of the room the insert is in is a tougher question. You might want to look at the Hitzer 503 insert. It's got a smaller firebox than the 983 and throws up to 65,000 BTUs, which will heat about 2,500 SF according to Hitzer. Plus it has a gravity-fed hopper (which the 983 does not have) so you won't have to shake/feed it as often.

I am planning on using a 503 insert to heat about 1,250 SF of living space. My layout is a single-level ranch, about 26x48. Split it in half lengthwise, and the left half is the living room, dining room and kitchen, while the right half is a hallway and four bedrooms (plus 1.5 baths). There are two zones for the baseboard hot water: one thermostat is in the living room and controls the left side (LR, DR, KIT), and the other thermostat is in the hallway near the master bedroom on the other end of the house and controls the right half of the house (bedrooms).

Other than the bedroom/bathroom doors, it's all open. The living room where the fireplace is located is on one end while the master bedroom is on the other. My biggest concern will be getting the warm air down to that bedroom. We're installing a ceiling fan in the living room (the bedrooms all have ceiling fans already) and will probably using a fan or two to move the air down the hallway. Whether or not this will work well (or at all) remains to be seen. In theory, it should be okay. If not, the thermostat near the master bedroom will kick on the baseboard hot water to bring the bedrooms up to temp. Of course I'd like that thermostat to kick on as little as possible to save on oil. I'm not worried about the LR thermostat. I doubt it will kick on at all when the 503 is burning.

The ceiling fan in the LR should help to keep the 503 from cooking us out of the LR. Plus if we have a fan or two pulling the warm air out of the LR towards the other end of the house, I'm thinking the LR will be tolerable unless it gets too warm outside. But then there are always windows to crack open (with coal at roughly 1/3 the cost of oil, I'm willing to let a little heat escape out an open window).

Best of luck!

It's got a smaller firebox than the 983 and throws up to 65,000 BTUs, which will heat about 2,500 SF according to Hitzer.

I would be a little leary of that claim.

Most square footage heating claims are very general.. I built a 2000sqft. home for my sister that can be heated by two guys and a case of beer.. the body heat alone is enough to keep it warm.. R40 walls, R 56 ceilings, double windows and doors... it's almost too well insulated,when my nieces had friends over in the winter, a window was often opened to keep the temp down, and provide some 'fresh air'.

Then you can have the quickie built home with normal to substandard insulation levels, with poor windows, no caulking, and poor weatherstripping,, and need 120K BTU to keep 1800 sq ft warm...

Jaffadog, if you can, get below and install a cold air return duct from the end of the bedroom hallway or the masterbedroom back to the other end of the house, and put a floor grill adjacent to the air inlet to the circulation fan for the Hitzer 503.. this will pull air from the other end of the house and provide the all-important circulation loop for the heated air off the HItzer.. Or install the duct and install it's own fan pulling cool air from far end of the house and force it into the heated room next to the Hizer.. moving the cold air as well as the hot air works several times better than trying to just move the hot aor alone,, there has to be circulation,

Hope this helps.. Greg L

Most square footage heating claims are very general..

Agreed. But people want to have a general reference point. Of course everyone's situation will be different; some slightly, some wildly.

Jaffadog, if you can, get below and install a cold air return duct from the end of the bedroom hallway or the masterbedroom back to the other end of the house, and put a floor grill adjacent to the air inlet to the circulation fan for the Hitzer 503.. this will pull air from the other end of the house and provide the all-important circulation loop for the heated air off the HItzer.. Or install the duct and install it's own fan pulling cool air from far end of the house and force it into the heated room next to the Hizer.. moving the cold air as well as the hot air works several times better than trying to just move the hot aor alone,, there has to be circulation,

Absolutely. That cold air return is essential to getting the warm air to the far end of the house. The cold air has to be displaced by the warm air, and the cold air needs to go somewhere or the circulation just won't happen. The eventual plan is to put a grate in the floor in the far corner (i.e., coldest part) of the master bedroom and duct it to one or two grates in the floor near the fireplace. Only laziness (and lack of funds from the stove purchase) are keeping me from doing just that right now.

My main goal, at least for this winter, is to put a serious dent in my oil use, but not necessarily try and heat the entire house with the Hitzer. Even if I can heat half the house with the Hitzer and the other half with the baseboard hot water, I stand to save $3,000+. If it's more than that, great. But even if the master bedroom zone is cool, the other half of the house should be toasty-to-tolerable. In time, and with the proper ductwork, it's certainly possible to cut my oil use even further and save even more. But after spending about $1,000 more for the Hitzer than we had originally budgeted for, just finding the money for the coal will be a challenge. That extra $1,000 was originally earmarked for 3 tons of nut....

Remember, the proper term should be "home-moaner," not "homeowner."