Enhance Efficiency and Comfort with Wood-Burning Fireplace Inserts

Do you love a natural wood-burning fireplace but still want to save money and increase efficiency?**

- A wood-burning fireplace insert can make your existing masonry fireplace significantly more energy efficient.

- Inserts are a fast, straightforward solution for heat-loss issues in traditional, open masonry fireplaces.

- By converting to a wood-burning insert, you can transform almost any existing wood-burning fireplace into a powerful, heat-producing appliance.

A high-efficiency wood burning fireplace insert offers a powerful combination of benefits: it can make your existing masonry fireplace significantly more energy efficient, deliver longer-lasting heat from each load of wood, and improve safety with a sealed firebox and tested venting system. In many cases, a properly sized, professionally installed insert can also help you avoid the cost and disruption of extensive chimney repairs by using a new stainless steel liner within your existing structure, all while providing an affordable, comfortable, and dependable source of warmth for your home.

Take a look at the brands that make this lifestyle hack so easy.

Energy Efficiency and Heat Performance

With a wood burning fireplace insert, you will enjoy a fireplace that will heat your home about three times longer than a traditional fireplace. A wood burning fireplace insert is airtight and sealed, which means the wood will burn slower and hotter. This can turn your fireplace into a much more affordable way to help heat your home.  

If conservation is a concern for you, your carbon footprint will be smaller because your insert will produce fewer harmful gases and particulates than a traditional wood burning fireplace because it burns at a higher temperature.

If you are already investing in tightening up a drafty older home by replacing leaky windows and doors or adding insulation to your walls and attic, upgrading your open wood-burning fireplace to a high-efficiency insert is a natural next step. An open masonry fireplace can act like an open window in your building envelope, pulling warm air out of the house even when it is not in use. By converting to a sealed, energy-efficient insert, you help lock in the gains from your other improvements, reduce unwanted drafts, and turn a major source of heat loss into a reliable, high-performance heating appliance that supports your overall comfort and efficiency goals.

Take a look at the latest report from the EPA on the subject of wood burning fireplace inserts.

Chimney Integrity and Installation Savings

If you have a chimney liner that needs repair, you may be able to avoid that major expense by installing a properly sized, professionally vented wood burning fireplace insert. Because the insert is a sealed, high-efficiency appliance with its own tested venting system, it can often be safely connected to a new stainless steel liner that is routed through your existing chimney structure, instead of rebuilding or extensively relining the original flue. A wood burning fireplace insert is an affordable option for those who want the warmth and comfort of a wood-burning fireplace but without the expense and hassle of having their chimneys repaired or relined. You can restore the integrity of your fireplace chimney without the cost and the disruption that can come with having your chimney rebuilt.

You could also see some savings on your home heating bills with a wood burning fireplace insert. You can heat all or part of your home with your fireplace, and those savings can add up in the long run.

The whole experience of building a fire and listening to the crackle of a burning fire can be enjoyed with a wood burning insert. A wood burning insert allows you to retain the beauty and ambiance of a natural fire while conserving energy and helping to save the planet.

Whether you are updating a single room or planning a full home or commercial renovation, a high-efficiency wood burning insert can bring together safety, performance, and design in a single, well-planned solution. A consultation with an All Seasons Fireplace expert gives you access to technical guidance, product recommendations, and installation strategies tailored to your fireplace, chimney, and project goals. We invite you to schedule a time to discuss your plans, review trusted brands and configurations, and explore how a professionally designed insert can provide lasting comfort and efficiency for your Twin Cities home or project.

So we still look at the same core factors: airtightness, mechanical exhaust devices (range hoods, bath fans, dryers, radon fans), and whether there is balanced ventilation (HRV/ERV).

Can we assume the insert will need the same or more makeup air as the masonry fireplace did?

Combustion Air Evaluation in Tight Houses

The experts at STUV had this to say about how to assess the need for additional make up air when adding a wood burning fireplace insert.

Not reliably — and in many cases the opposite is true.

A traditional open masonry fireplace typically moves a very large amount of air up the chimney when it’s burning (and it can also leak air continuously when it’s not). In that sense, it can be one of the biggest “air users” in the home.

A modern insert is generally more controlled and more efficient, and it usually operates with lower excess air than an open fireplace. So, the insert often requires less combustion air than an open fireplace to produce the same usable heat.

However, the insert can be more sensitive to negative pressure during start-up because the firebox is more enclosed and draft has to establish through a smaller, more controlled pathway (often a liner). So while it may not need “more air” in total, it may need a more reliable and dedicated air source in tight homes or homes with strong exhaust appliances. 

 All things being equal, will the insert function the same way the original fireplace did?
Not necessarily. There are a few reasons:

• The house may not actually be “equal.” Many homes have been tightened since the original fireplace was installed (windows/doors, air sealing, cladding upgrades), and mechanical ventilation/exhaust loads are often higher today.
• Different draft dynamics. Inserts typically vent through a listed liner system. Draft performance depends heavily on liner sizing, chimney height, chimney location (interior vs exterior), and how quickly the flue warms. It is to be noted that an exterior chimney will be colder and harder to establish a draft. Isolating the masonry around the unit might help keeping cold draft from coming into the home when the unit is not in use.
• Pressure effects are more noticeable. An open fireplace can mask marginal conditions by simply pulling huge volumes of room air; an insert is more controlled, so depressurization can show up as start-up difficulty or smoke spillage when the door is opened.

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Call All Seasons Fireplace at 952-546-6162 or visit the showroom at All Seasons Fireplace at 6801 Wayzata Blvd. in St. Louis Park, MN