The Wood Fireplace Insert Blog

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For many people home heating is one of the largest expenses during the winter.  Most homes use either electricity, oil or natural gas for heating purposes. But perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at using wood as a fuel source.

People have heated their homes with wood for thousands of years, but I’m not talking about building a fire in the middle of your living room.  Wood heating appliances have improved dramatically over the past twenty years, making great improvements in efficiency and the reduction in emissions. A couple decades back, wood burning fireplaces and stoves were huge and not very efficient.  They would eat up wood faster than you could cut it and spew out smoke that would polute the air inside and out. Now, clean burning and highly efficient stoves, fireplaces and furnaces are owner-friendly, neighbour-friendly and environmentally-friendly.  Wood burning stoves and inserts are now legitimate heating options for homeowners.

A few year ago, “airtight” stoves were the best that could be had, but because wood needs air to burn cleanly the airtight stoves would not burn efficiently and produced a lot of smoke. The new “controlled combustion” stoves not only produce less smoke and pollution, but they are also more efficient, burning as much as thirty percent less wood. That’s thirty percent less wood to haul and thirty percent less wood to pay for.

For homes with a fireplace, a wood insert is a good way to turn an energy drain into an efficient source of heat. Fireplace inserts are available that are EPA certified to have the same efficient performance as new wood stoves. For new homes that are just being constructed a pre-fabricated steel fireplace is a great option. They are as efficient as the inserts and stoves and can be built right into a wall without the need for brickwork.

Pellet stoves are another viable heating option, and because of the convenience they offer they are becoming more popular every day. As the name implies pellet stove burn pellets rather than raw wood.  The pellets are made of waste wood and come in various size bags or in bulk.  The pellets are poured into a hopper that is part of the stove and from there are fed into the fire slowly by an electric feeder, providing heat that is steady and controlled thermostatically.

Although pellet stoves may be a little bit more expensive, they do have some great advantages. Because they are so efficient they don’t even require an EPA rating. The pellets are clean and easy to handle and typically they are available in many retail stores. And, they can be controlled by a thermostat so it is easy to maintain an even level of heat.

Besides wood inserts and stoves, wood burning furnaces and boilers designed to heat an entire home are also available.

Another advantage of heating with wood is that instead of spending your heating money on imported oil, coal and natural gas you keep the business in your local area.

Another big advantage to using wood heat is that they are more carbon neutral than fossil fuels, releasing carbon dioxide as it burns that it would have released anyway as it decomposed after having absorbed carbon dioxide as it grew.

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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!

Wood burning inserts vary from maker to maker and model to model so it’s hard to generalize about service and maintenance of different wood burning inserts, but here are a few suggestions for keeping inserts working the way they are meant to.  Obviously you will want to consult the insert owner’s manual if possible.

Test the seal on the insert’s door with a piece of paper by opening the door (when the insert is cold, of course) place the paper across the gasketed area and close door on the paper. When you try to remove the paper it should not pull out easily. If there is an area where the paper comes out easily the door seal needs attention.

Some wood burning inserts allow you to simply adjust the door latch. If the door can’t be adjusted, or if adjusting it doesn’t help, you will probably have to replace the door gasket(s).

If you are in doubt about the size and density of gasket to use, remove the door and take it to a store that carries parts for inserts to test a variety of wood burning insert gaskets. The gasket can be cut to length from a reel or packaged by the manufacturer in a kit for most inserts.  The cement to hold the gasket in place is often included in kits.  If it is not included, you can by a small container of it or use silicone sealant that comes in a caulking tube.

To install the gasket in wood burning inserts, remove the door and place it on something to prevent scratching the finish. Pull out the old gasket; on some inserts you’ll have to take apart the door to get the gasket out. Clean the gasket groove with a screwdriver to remove old cement.  Then clean the groove more thoroughly with course steel wool to get a good clean surface for the cement to stick to.

Apply a narrow bead of cement or silicone (usually 1/4″ to 1/2″ wide, depending on gasket size) along the entire groove.  Lay the gasket in the groove and avoid stretching or bunching it, starting on a long straight part of the groove. Cut the gasket slightly long so that the ends can be tucked into each other forming a good seal and press the gasket into the cement.

Mount the door and test the seal. When lightly slamming the door of the wood burning insert you should hear the muffled sound of the gasket, rather than metal, hitting the stove body. Then test the seal again with the paper.

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The problem with an ordinary conventional fireplace is the fact that it pulls air from inside the house and sends it up the chimney creating a draft in the house and pulling more cold air into the house. 

If you like your fireplace but don’t like the draft and the increased burden on your furnace, a wood burning fireplace insert may be the answer. A wood burning firplace insert uses the same technological improvements of wood stoves but fits into a conventional open fireplace. Like wood stoves, new wood burning fireplace inserts must be certified by the EPA. 

These new inserts that are made from plate steel or cast iron are clean burning and highly efficient.  They are built with glass doors to allow for a view of the flames. They fit right into the opening of and existing fireplace, with some models protruding onto the hearth. These inserts which extend out may be more efficient because the sides, top, and bottom provide for the release of additional radiant heat.

Fireplace inserts typically have blowers, which improve efficiency and heat circulation, mounted in the front or along the sides of the insert. Depending on the system the blowers may be controlled manually or automatically by a thermostat.

Installation of a Wood Burning Firplace Insert

Wood inserts must have a positive connection between the outlet and the first section of the flue liner. This allows the smoke and any unburned gases to go up the chimney more directly and minimizes combustible deposits that can condense in the fireplace. A full relining of the chimney is an even better choice since the smaller pipe size  provides a better draft and an added margin of safety.

If you install a full relining system, a stainless steel pipe that connects to the insert and goes to the top of the chimney you can avoid the need to remove the insert to clean the chimney.  Since most fireplace inserts are heavy and difficult to move this can be a real benefit.

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A catalytic combustor is a ceramic honeycombed device coated with a noble metal such as palladium. It causes the smoke from the fire to be burned rather than allowing it to go up the chimney unused.  Although there are various sizes and shapes, the most common cataltyic combustor is circular in shape, measuring around 5-6 inches in diameter and 2 inches thick.

As long as a fire is burning at a temperature above 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit the gases given off by the wood will burn too. However, if the fire is turned down and the temperature is below 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the gases will not burn. This is where the catalytic combustor comes in.  When the gases pass through the combustor, the metal acts as a catalyst causing the gases to burn at temperatures as low as 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

The catalytic combustor slows down the burning process in the stove so that the wood is slowly “Cooked” as opposed to being burnt which results in total combustion with virtually no waste. Coals and ash are reduced to a fine white powder.  The increased heat output while using less wood to heat your home creates a huge savings in time and money.

This increases the efficiency of the stove or insert by 10 percent, reduces creosote production by 20-90% and decreases air pollution by as much as 75%.

Catalytic Combustor Maintainence

By keeping your catalytic combustor operating properly you can add to the wood stoves efficiency. To maintain your catalytic combustor remove and clean it periodically using a shop vacuum to get the light coating of ashes that can accumulate on the surface. If the ceramic cells are clogged you can clear them using a pipe cleaner.

Just like your cars catalytic converter, a catalytic combustor has to be replaced periodically.  Once is starts to crumble it should be replaced. Used properly they will last 10,000 to 12,000 operating hours.  If a combuster is contaminated with foreign materials the operating capabilities will be reduced. To avoid contaminating the catalytic combuster you should burn only natural seasoned wood. Avoid burning trash, colored magazines, coal, paper logs, treated wood, painted wood and lighter fluid.

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