Buyer’s Guide: Fireplace Insert

If you have ever owned a home with an open masonry fireplace and no insert, you might recall cold days where building a fire seems to actually make it colder in your home.  That’s because your open masonry fireplace can allow as much as 90% of your fire’s heat to escape out the chimney. By adding a Fireplace Insert, you will keep the heat in your home. Inserts are ready to install and fit easily into your existing fireplace. Increase the value of your home and decrease your monthly heating bill.

A fireplace insert is a closed firebox that fits right into an existing fireplace to increase efficiency. It’s called an insert for a reason, as you literally “insert” the unit right into your fireplace.

Unlike an open masonry fireplace, the fireplace insert has a door that doesn’t let cold air come down the chimney and into your home.  The fire burning in a fireplace insert is completely contained, and a blower circulates the heated air around the insert and forces it out into your home.

Inserts are available for burning wood, wood pellets, or burning gas. All of these types of inserts come standard with a blower. The blower is just a hidden fan attached to the unit that helps circulate the heated air in your home.

Think of each type of insert as a mini-stove that now lives in your fireplace.  Each type carries different pros and cons, which we will list here.

Wood Inserts

Wood inserts burn – wood – firewood in particular.  If you have access to timber to split your own firewood, you will find this type of appliance paying for itself in short order.

Pros

Cons

Pellet Stove Inserts

A pellet insert uses pellets of wood for fuel, fed to the fire by an automated auger that pulls pellets out of a hopper above. As such, these inserts will require electricity to operate, but many models have a battery back-up feature to allow operation in the event of a power outage. Pellet inserts are a bit harder to find than a traditional wood burner or a gas insert.

Pros

Cons

Keep an eye on pellet inserts, as technology advances these become a more and more viable option for heating.

Gas Stove Inserts

While many homeowners with masonry fireplaces install a gas log set, a gas insert is actually a better option if the goals are heat and efficiency. These inserts use gas to create a no-mess fire that produces great heat for your home.

Pros

Cons

Regardless of which type of insert you choose, you will need to consider ventilation.  Unless you have done your code homework and can install a no vent gas insert, you are going to need a 6-inch ventilation pipe running from your insert to the top of your chimney.

Do not try to install an insert without the 6-inch ventilation pipe, your fire won’t burn properly, you won’t get good heat and its dangerous.

We recommend going with a stainless steel flex pipe with a lifetime warranty.  These ventilation pipes should be installed by a certified chimney professional.

If you have an open masonry fireplace and you want to heat your home with it, you should get an insert.  It will pay for itself before you know it and will last a lifetime with minimal maintenance. Selecting which type of insert to go with will come down to fuel availability and personal tastes

Read a quick note from one of our reviews over at Chimney Works for an experience with a wood insert (Five Stars, just sayin …):

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