Top 3 Benefits of Wood-Burning Fireplace Inserts

Did you know that a fireplace insert can transform your masonry fireplace from being little more than an aesthetic feature of your home to being a stylish appliance with significant benefits? The efficiency rating of a masonry fireplace is about 10%, which means it’s possible the fireplace ultimately pulls more heat out of your home than it provides when a fire is burning. At a time when cost-cutting is as important to many homeowners as creating fireside memories, the value of a fireplace insert is more and more widely recognized. See the top three benefits of a fireplace insert below.

1 – Heating Efficiency

Fireplace inserts are the result of innovative design, and they have heating efficiencies of up to 80% or more. Inserts are made of cast iron or steel, and they are built to be installed inside an existing masonry fireplace or zero-clearance fireplace. It is also necessary to ensure that the chimney is properly lined for use with an insert.

Fireplace inserts have glass doors, which allow you to enjoy watching the flames. The enclosed design together with the heavy insulation results in more heat for the home. Many models have fans that move warm air that has circulated in the firebox into the home. There is a wide variety of sizes and models, and areas between 1,000 and 3,000 square feet can be effectively heated using a fireplace insert and nothing more. Being able to switch off your central heating can reduce your utility costs significantly.

2 – Fuel Efficiency

The burning environment in a fireplace insert is one in which the firewood burns more efficiently, with less heat going up the chimney. The amount of time, expense, and energy that you put into your firewood supply can be reduced, and the wood you have will provide much more heat. Although deforestation no longer needs to be a concern, due to strict regulations about replacing trees that are cut, it’s still important to many people to reduce the number of logs needed for fuel.

3 – Prevents Air Leakage

Although it is standard procedure to close the damper in a masonry fireplace when it is not in use, what many people don’t realize is that a lot of air escapes the home up through the chimney, even with the damper closed. Dampers rarely have an adequate seal to prevent the heated air in a home from escaping through a fireplace that is not in use. Having a traditional fireplace can be like having a window in your home cracked open year-round. With a fireplace insert, air leakage is no longer a concern. The glass doors form an efficient seal that prevents the back-and-forth flow of air from the chimney to the home and vice versa.

The possibility that noxious gasses and combustion particles will enter your home is greatly reduced when you use a fireplace insert. Carbon monoxide, which can be deadly, is just one kind of toxic fume that the fireplace insert can contain.

If you are interested in getting a fireplace insert for your home, feel free to contact our chimney technicians for help and advice.