During the ice storm of ‘98, we heated our whole upstairs with am insert, for 6 days with no power. We also cooked soup, stew and spaghetti, made tea, etc. on it.
We also have a free standing wood burning stove downstairs, which does offer more heat than the insert, and between the two units, we heat our house all winter here in Eastern Canada.
In fact, we very rarely use the fan on the insert...it's just too noisy. We use ceiling fans through out the house to circulate the heat.
“During the ice storm of ‘98, we heated our whole upstairs with am insert, for 6 days with no power. We also cooked soup, stew and spaghetti, made tea, etc. on it.”
That’s good enough for me!
btw, my sister married a Canadian.