I live in NJ and got an estimate of around $3700 to install a Quadrafire 3100i insert, which is labor and taxes which will be slightly higher in NY. I went with a wood stove anyway which was actually cheaper....

Jay

Make sure that you get a fixed price. Some places will quote you an amount based on 8 hours of labor and it will go up if they run into a problem but not down if they finish in 2 hours. Make sure you know which it is before hand and get it in writing.

Technically:
1) Will they bust out your damper or just jam it open

2) Flex liner or rigid (rigid seems to be preferred if your flue opening can support it)

3) Ask them if they do a full top and bottom plate to completely seal off your chimney since some don't.

4) Ask if they will install an outside air kit so that you don't have to crack a window to get make-up combustion air.

If they look at you like you're crazy for asking questions, send them on their way. My insert plus install ran to $5000. Lots of vendors run sales through the warmer months though so check out the manufacturers site prior to making a purchase since some shops keep that to themselves.

Thank you for the advice. I will ask those questions and keep shopping around for more estimates.

I checked into one and $4000.00 ballpark is about right. With the price of oil going up everyone with a fireplace will be looking for an insert which will just drive up the price of wood. Next you will find unscroupulous firewood dealers telling you what they are selling is seasoned and dry when in reality you won't be able to use it for a year. Then again you will now have TWO furnaces in your house each with its own maintenance requirements. The dealer I spoke with wanted me to go with a wood pellet stove. Just as bad as oil at making you at the mercy of wood pellet manufacturers. Don't forget wood stoves or inserts while improving tremoundously in efficiency over the last few years are still behind new gas and oil furnaces. I installed a new oil furnace last fall and figure I have saved about 12 percent in the amount of oil I have used. Not great but still amounts to about 200 gallons. I say save your 4 grand . I have a friend who heats his whole house with a wood stove but the house was designed for it with 12 inches of insulation in the walls. Its an envelope house. A house within a house. He says the increase in wood prices are eroding any savings over oil or gas.

"...He says the increase in wood prices are eroding any savings over oil or gas..."

Baloney.
We have a 3 year old oil furnace and wood is MUCH cheaper than oil! We burned 3 cords last winter in Vermont and even at $135 a cord it cost less than ONE tank of oil at $2.50 a gallon. And we would have gone through 3 tanks of oil in the same period. My neighbor has the same size home and that's how much he used. I only used 3/4 of a tank for hot water from December 1 to May 15.
Let's run some numbers.
Three cords at $135 a cord is $405.00 So it cost $405 to heat my home last winter.
Three 275 gallon tanks of oil at $2.50 a gallon is $2062.50. I'll add in the 3/4 tank I used last year to my heating costs. $515.00. So $405 plus $515 totals $920.That was my total heat and hot water costs.
But I saved two tanks of oil at $2.50 (or MORE) a gallon or $1375.
So in order to have wood prices equal oil, those three cords would have cost me $458 a cord!

So wood is less expensive than oil and has been for years. At the current price of heating oil, wood prices must go to $458 a cord to just EQUAL oil prices for the same heat.

Although it's a good idea to completely season the wood, if a tree is felled now and split, it'll be fine for use next winter. My neighbors are getting log lengths in now and doing just that. The wood will sit for 6 months and it'll be just fine. And by getting log lengths, they're paying less than $100 a cord.

I still say there's nothing like the smell of woodsmoke in the air on a snowy winter's eve in January to comfort you. You know the hearth is in use and families are comfortable. I don't know of many families having fond memories of sitting around the oil furnace.

And those oil burners work just great in a power failure.