"Is there anything we should know before attempting this?"

Find a stove dealer near you and talk to them. They have great advice to help you get into what you are looking for. Dealers have the experience and the installers to professionally install your stove. Do this before you do it yourself.

Just my advice.

Peace

My insurance agent said that if we had our pellet stove professionally installed it would not affect our premiums. I watched the install, and I'm pretty sure that I could have handled it ok, but installation didn't cost very much ($200-300 if I remember correctly)

Actually, what he said was that if it was professionally installed he wouldn't have to inspect it. If it was a DIY, he would have to check it out to make sure it was insurable. He didn't mention anything about premiums. Sorry for the brain freeze.

It shouldn't increase your premium... But I live in CT and they do need to get inspected by a Building Official first. I must warn you about the Homer stoves, they are really cheap. Any stove will make a million BTU's if it dumps large amounts of pellets on a fire, the key is the efficiency rating and the heat exchange.

We have had our new englander pellet stove going on 3 seasons now. We love it. The autolight feature does not always light properly so we just manually light it. I installed it my self in about 4 hours, really simple. Just be sure to follow all required clearances to combustible materials and then add a little extra room to be sure. You will need to cut a hole thru the side of your house though, so if you aren't handy I would recommend you get a pro to install it for ya.