A fireplace insert can be a great solution to the inefficiency of a conventional fireplace. The insert is an airtight woodstove that fits into the firebox of your open fireplace and vents up your chimney. Some fireplace inserts extend out onto your hearth, radiating more heat into the room from the top, sides and bottom as well as the front of the unit.
Conventional fireplaces look great, but they’re inefficient because they’re not airtight, so they pull in huge amounts of air from the room, heat it up, and blast the heat straight up the chimney while sending only a small amount back into the room. Like all airtight woodstoves, an insert burns wood in an air-suffocation environment, capturing up to 50 percent more heat than an open fireplace.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certifies all new wood stoves, including inserts, so they have to conform to pollution and efficiency standards. Inserts can be made of cast iron or steel. The models with glass doors look great in any room and give the same atmosphere as an open fire, only far more efficiently.
It’s worthwhile to consider buying an insert that comes with a blower system, which traps even more heat from the sides and top of the insert and sending it back into the room. Thermostat systems attached to the blowers can give your insert performance much like a central heating system.
The U.S. National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) requires an insert to be installed with a connector flue section between the insert and the first section of chimney flue in your home. Canada’s regulations for chimney connection are even more strict. If you really want to play it safe, you’ll re-line your entire chimney when you have your insert installed. It costs more, but it will make the stove draft more efficiently, and you’ll save money in the long run on chimney cleaning costs.
Do you have a factory-built fireplace made of metal? Then you may run into complications if you try to install an insert, or even a woodstove, and vent it up the chimney of the prefab unit. If the prefab fireplace isn’t listed for this type of installation in its factory manual, then you can’t do it—at least, not and collect on your insurance policy if this type of unsafe installation practice results in fire damage to your home. A prefab fireplace usually has a round opening at the top that leads to the chimney, and is made of metal. A masonry fireplace is made of firebrick and vents up to an chimney flue made of terra cotta colored clay. The opening will usually be square.
