A fireplace is a nice addition to the home, but ordinary fireplaces are not efficient for home heating.
Fireplace inserts convert open masonry fireplaces into sealed home heating centers, plus they add to the beauty of standard masonry fireplaces even when not in use. With the beauty of metal-framed safety glass doors, fireplace inserts can turn on the charm of flickering flames safely within steel or cast iron fireboxes.
Safe and efficient, modern fireplace inserts can provide from about 30,000 to almost 80,000 BTUs of clean, smoke-free heat to a home while showing off their own built-in beauty, plus they provide fascination with flickering flames behind glass doors. No smoke in the room. No sparks on the rug. Just hour after hour of comfort and beauty.
Some fireplace inserts even have a “large” cooking surface on top. With that you can heat your hot chocolate while you smile at the beautiful flames behind the safety glass doors – all in the warmth being created for you as you watch.
There are fireplace inserts fueled by natural or propane gas, by wood, and with pellets. Each has advantages. For tops in heating ability, the wood-fueled inserts seem to be the ones. A log load with 18-inch long logs should last for up to nine or 10 hours. For ultimate convenience, the gas-fired units are probably best, but gas piping and everything that gas piping entails has to enter the selection process. Pellets are available in bulk and pellet-fired units feature pellet reservoirs holding enough for hours of use. The user simply adjusts the rate of pellet feed into the fireplace insert for a continuous heating ability.
Fireplace inserts are recently gaining popularity because many wood, pellet and corn inserts qualify for governmental stimulus rebates of up to $1,500.