Transform Your Fireplace and
          Keep Warm this Winter

What if you built a cozy fire in the fireplace and it made the house chilly?While that may seem unlikely, it is the reality for folks whose houses contain conventional fireplaces.Luckily, there is a cure for what ails the conventional fireplace.It is called a fireplace insert.

A fireplace is such a desirable home feature that a living room or family room just doesn't look complete without one.Yet for many families the fireplace is a source of chills and frustration rather than warmth and enjoyment.Long after it was discovered that open fireplaces are a lousy way to heat houses, their beauty continued to draw us close, to charm us, and to make us insist that our new house must have one.But when an emergency like an ice storm destroys the electrical supply system and shuts things down, it sure would be nice to have a fireplace that is more than just decorative.Unfortunately, conventional fireplaces are not designed as heaters, and attempting to use one for emergency heating can be dangerous.

What is a conventional fireplace?It is probably like the one that pops up in your mind's eye when the word fireplace is mentioned.It is made of brick or stone, it is open and there is a big fire burning in it.It could be real brick or a factory-built metal model dressed up to look like a brick fireplace.To determine if your fireplace is a conventional one, ask yourself this question:Does it make much heat?No?Then it is conventional.

Although there is plenty of variation in design, two characteristics dictate the performance of the conventional fireplace.First, it is either open or has loosely fitted doors without gaskets.As a fire burns in a conventional fireplace lot of warm house air is sucked past the leaky door and up the chimney.The air sucked up the chimney is replaced by cold outside air that has to be warmed up to a comfortable temperature by your oil, gas or electric furnace.The fireplace's big appetite for air makes your house chilly and your furnace work overtime.

Second, a conventional fireplace has no effective way to transfer heat from the fire to the room.Oh sure, some older brick or stone fireplaces had grilles at the floor and ceiling that suggested a heat exchanger was present, but only a little heat came out of them and most of that got sucked right back in the leaky door.Conventional factory-built metal fireplaces have grilles above and below the firebox for air circulation, but this air flow is mainly intended to keep the back of the firebox cool, not to supply heat to the room.Without an effective heat exchanger, most of the warmth from the fire rushes up the chimney along with the air being sucked out of the house.

Conventional fireplaces are not efficient enough for home heating, even for short periods like during power failures.But there is nothing wrong with a conventional fireplace that a fireplace insert won't fix.That's because an insert has the two features that the fireplace lacks: a tight-fitting gasketed door and a heat exchanger.The snug door of the insert cuts air consumption down to the small amount needed to burn the wood, and the heat exchanger delivers a surprising amount of heat to the room.The heat exchanger is in the form of a casing that completely surrounds the insert.Air that flows between the insert body and its outer casing picks up heat and delivers it back into the room.

If you want to upgrade your fireplace with an insert, ask your dealer to show you the advanced, clean burning models.You can identify these because they are certified by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).Inserts (and wood stoves) approved by EPA cut emissions to about one-tenth of the smoke produced by older stoves, and they deliver efficiency of at least 60 per cent.This means more heat from the wood you burn and less chimney maintenance because clean burning eliminates the sticky creosote that leads to dangerous chimney fires.

The installation of an insert in a fireplace involves more than just stuffing a wood stove into the fireplace cavity.First, the original fireplace and chimney get a thorough cleaning to get rid of accumulated soot and creosote that could smell, smolder or even ignite if the insert were fired continuously for home heating.Next, the route for the new stainless steel chimney liner must be considered.Part of the fireplace's original throat damper and projecting smoke shelf are usually removed to allow the new liner to curve gently into the base of the chimney.This avoids flattening or kinking the liner.The installer's objective is to create a permanent system that can be cleaned right to the top of the chimney without removing the insert from the hearth cavity.For this reason, the liner is fastened securely at the insert and chimney top with corrosion-resistant stainless steel hardware.

Because structural alterations are commonly needed to accommodate the insert, a masonry fireplace cannot easily be restored to its original inefficient form.But that's not a problem because after experiencing the performance and beauty of a good fireplace insert, no one wants to go back.

The new fireplace insert, its chimney liner and installation will cost between $2000 and $3000, depending on the model of insert you choose.What do you get for your money?You get a heating system with enough efficiency to keep a small house warm and comfortable, or to heat most of a larger house.Your beautiful fireplace remains, except that it now has a stay-clear glass door so you can enjoy the dramatic flames and glowing coals that only a real wood fire creates.You'll find that fires are easier to kindle and maintain because the insert focuses the wood, the combustion air and the heat to produce a stable, efficient fire.You can even burn a fire over night and still have enough live coals left in the morning to start the next fire without kindling.

Put an end to fireplace frustration this winter by transforming yours with a fireplace insert into an efficient wood heating system.You'll get more heat, more safety and security, and you'll start to enjoy burning wood again.

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