The Wood Fireplace Insert Blog

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Zero Clearance Wood Burning Fireplace?
My home doesn't have a traditional fireplace with a chimney. Is there a such thing as a wood burning fireplace that is easy to install in the living room without connecting it to gas? I don't want to use gas, just the wood as a fuel, so I can smell the burning wood and hear it crackle. . Is there a type of zero-clearance fireplace that does that??

Not well, The best you can do is see fire and get inefficient heat. I have burned the zero-clearance fire places until the metal inside the fire place has warped and it all happened because we were cold. Some have fans but they are not very good for heat.

i have an electric wood pellet burning fireplace. its cold i want to use it and i dont know how. can someone help me? dont have insructions and too late to call landlord. please help me.

There should be a hopper into which you pour the pellets, the easiest way to get the fire started is with a "starter stick", you can get them at any stove/fireplace shop or a place like Home Depot. Put one of those and a few pellets along with a little newspaper to get it going. There should be a timer on the stove to regulate the flow of the pellets. To make things even easier look in the Yellow Pages under stoves and call them with the make & model you have, they may have an owners manual for your type of stove.

I assume you're putting a stove inside of an existing fireplace? EPA stoves are the only way to go. There are several brands that have stoves on the more economical side, but you're still looking at spending $500-$2500 for the unit not counting install or liner.

try buck stove, lopi, avalon, vermont castings- I usually don't buy something because it's name brand, but i've found that in the woodstove world it does matter!

I need more info to recommend a specific model, fireplace size, house square footage, and so on. Good luck!

The problem with traditional brick fireplaces is most of the heat goes up the chimney.  Have you ever had a roaring fire in the fireplace and wondered why the room is freezing?   The fireplace is actually working against you.  The heat radiates a few feet into the room, and then gets sucked back into the fireplace. 

A fireplace does not control the burn. The only control is based on the wood that is put in the fireplace.  Because of this an open fireplace burns harder and faster and Seventy-five percent or more of the heat is lost up the chimney

The beauty of a wood fireplace insert is that it makes an existing fireplace much more efficient.

Installing a wood fireplace insert makes a good investment.  Depending on the size and type a fireplace insert can cost from $1,200 for a small basic model to $3,500 for a large, top-of-the-line insert before installation.

A wood fireplace insert is an insulated, closed-door system which gives you more control over the combustion process. Heat is radiated through the glass and stays in the room rather than being sucked up the flue.

A fireplace insert not only increases the efficiency of a fireplace but it also helps protect air quality by reducing emissions and provides multiple fuel options (such as wood, pellet, coal, corn, natural gas and propane) that are cost efficient. 

A wood-burning insert, provides a much cleaner and complete burn than an open fireplace.  When wood is burned in a regular fireplace, 150 grams or more unburned particulate matter is released into the air, whereas a wood-burning insert releases only 3 or 4 grams per hour.

In a closed-door system the smoke becomes another fuel and is burned in secondary combustion which increases the efficiency. It improves the air quality while increasing the heat in the home.

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For those who depend on a fireplace to supplement their home heating a pellet burning fireplace insert should be a serious consideration. Pellet burning fireplace inserts are much like pellet stoves in the way they work and in their heating performance, but they are built so that they can be installed right into the firebox area of an existing fireplace.

Pellet inserts burn wood pellets that are made from wood waste materials that are left over from other manufacturing processes using wood.  These wood chips, saw dust, etc. are compressed to the point that they will stay in the pellet form. 

Compressing the material into pellets makes for a very handy way to deal with this fuel source because they can be easily poured into the pellet insert and they are easy to package and transport.  Pellets can be transported in bulk trucks or in bags that are convenient for home owners to purchase and transport.  They can also be easily stacked for storage.

Pellet inserts are among the cleanest burning heating fixtures on the market.  They are extremely efficient and very environmentally friendly.  Regular wood burning inserts have to be designed to meet EPA standards to be certified but because pellet inserts create such minimal pollution they do not even require EPA certification.  You may see EPA certifications on some model because the manufacturer voluntarily applied for it, but it is not required for pellet burning inserts.

Other differences between pellet burning inserts and regular wood inserts are that most pellet burning inserts require electrical power to run the pellet feeder mechanism and the fan(s).  Another difference is the way they can be vented.  Regular wood burning inserts usually need a chimney to vent smoke and gases whereas many pellet inserts can be vented right through a wall. 

Another feature that is often included in a pellet insert is a thermostat control that monitors the heat coming from the insert and adjusts air flow and pellet feeding to raise and lower temperatures as needed to maintain the desired room temperature.

There are many models and designs of pellet inserts on the market to choose from so you may want to compare features as well as appearance when it comes to installing a pellet burning fireplace insert.

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Some people suffer from breathing problems in the winter time.  Some if these problems are caused by smoke from wood burning fireplaces.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  Old fashioned conventional fireplaces can put out a lot of smoke, especially if one is not careful about what is being burned.  Green wood can put out a lot of smoke as can wet wood.  A fire that has a poor draw will tend to smolder and put out a lot of smoke. Burning trash can also produce smoke and toxic gas, depending on what it being burned.

If you have a conventional fireplace you should seriously consider installing an EPA Certified fireplace insert. If not for yourself, do it for your neighbors.  An EEPA Certified fireplace insert can cut the emissions coming from your chimney by as much as ninety percent or more to the point where you will hardly see any smoke coming from the chimney.  In some areas there are actually codes that require smoke coming from a chimney not exceed a certain amount of opacity (density).  A fireplace insert can help you achieve this.

The new EPA Certified fireplace inserts create a dual burning process that not only helps the wood burn at the best temperature and rate of burn to burn most efficiently, but it also re-burns the smoke and gas coming from the fire so that most of the smoke and emissions are consumed by the fire, leaving less to come out of your chimney and in fact consuming less wood over time because of the slower more efficient burn.  Converting to a certified insert makes good sense for everyone, especially if you live in an area where air quality is a regular problem.

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Many of the new fireplace inserts are designed to burn fireplace pellets.  But what is a fireplace pellet?  A fireplace pellet is a wood pellet that is typically made from waste materials such as chips, wood pieces and sawdust. These materials are ground up and compressed until they make a pellet of highly compact material.  A fireplace pellet is more dense then typical wood and therefore burns longer and gives off more heat.  Because they are manufactured under controlled conditions the moisture content in a wood pellet can also be kept very low which improves their burning efficiency and reduces emissions.

At the pellet manufacturing facilities the wood debris and sawdust are milled into dough that is pressed through the holes of a die.  The pressure raises the heat of the material to the point that the lignin in the wood forms natural glue that holds the pellet together.

Another advantage of using pellets is their consistent size makes them flow well and makes it easy to control an automatic feeding system which will feed the pellets into the fireplace as they are needed.  That way you can load up the holding area of the fireplace and let it feed the pellets as needed.  It also makes things easier for the manufacturer to package them and haul them in bags or other containers.  Some people even set up a holding bin next to their house that can be loaded by a truck and have an auger or belt system that moves the pellets automatically into the fireplace or stove to be burned.

The use of a fireplace pellet system is becoming more wide spread.  Even in Europe the popularity is growing as using wood pellets for heating homes is quickly becoming a way to save money on heating costs.  In the U.K. it is estimated that customers are reducing heating costs by as much as 50%.  

It is no wonder that their popularity has increased.  They are less expensive, easy to transport and use and create a highly controllable heat source that has very low emissions.  One must applaud the person who came up with the idea for the wood pellet.

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There are many different fireplace wood inserts made by different manufacturers.  Fireplace wood inserts fit right into an existing traditional fireplace and can normally be vented up the existing chimney, although there are some adjustments that have to be made.

These fireplace wood inserts tend to work better than gas inserts or electric inserts when it comes to creating heat because they burn a lot hotter.  With the new designs mandated by the EPA they not only create more heat but they are much more efficient in the way they use that heat and they create less pollution.

Fireplace wood inserts have a double combustion system.  The first burns the wood under controlled levels so that it burns slower and more completely, leaving only a small amount of white ash.   Because the wood burns slower, you will have less wood to buy or chop and you won’t have to load the insert up as often. 

The second combustion system that wood inserts use burns the smoke and other gases that were not burned with the wood.  This creates additional useable heat and reduces the overall amount of emissions that are released into the air making wood inserts very environmentally friendly as well as economical.

Because wood inserts burn hotter than a regular fireplace or gas inserts there are some adjustments that have to be made to vent them properly.

Wood burning inserts need to have a positive connection between the first section of the flue liner and the outlet from the insert itself. This lets the smoke and gases that are still unburned go up the chimney in a more direct route, minimizing the amount of combustible deposits that can condense in the fireplace.

An even better idea when installing a wood insert in a fireplace is fully relining the chimney.  This approach works better because the smaller sized pipe provides a better draft and increases the margin of safety.

Completely relining the chimney with a stainless steel pipe that connects directly to the insert and goes all the way to the top of the chimney can also make the maintenance easier because you can avoid the necessity of removing the insert when it is time to clean the chimney.  Most fireplace wood inserts are heavy and difficult to move so this can be a real time and back saver.

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