Wood Inserts

Wood burning fireplace inserts are the perfect way to turn a masonry fireplace into an efficient heater. An open wood fireplace uses large amounts of room air for the combustion process and to create the draft up the chimney. The majority of the heat from the wood is going out of your home. Wood burning inserts control the amount of room air that is being used for the combustion process, harness the heat from the wood being burned, and can be up to 75% efficient!

Wood inserts are like wood stoves without legs that are designed to fit inside the cavity of your fireplace.  A flexible stainless steel liner pipe (most inserts require a 6” diameter liner) is connected to the unit and run up to the top of the chimney.  The top is closed off with a breach plate, and support, with a stainless steel chimney cap attached to the liner. Any open space around the insert is covered by a surround panel to close off the fireplace opening to give her a clean, finished look in the room.  Blowers, standard on most models and optional on others, assist in moving the heat out from the unit and into the room.

Sizing up an insert for the room space is extremely important.  Bigger is not better.  You want to burn an insert hot, which will be efficient, but you don’t want to blast yourself out of the room.  Ideally you want to sit in the room and enjoy your investment, without melting.   Size of the room, exits off of the room into other parts of the house, windows, insulation all come into play into sizing up the space for the correct size unit.  A Nordic Certified Specialist can help you figure out your options.  Filling out the fireplace measuring form and bringing in some pictures of the fireplace and the exterior chimney is a good start and helps to narrow down the possibilities.