Wood Fireplace Insert

Many home owners are opting to reduce their energy costs and provide for emergency situations by installing a wood fireplace insert in their conventional fireplaces.  New wood fireplace inserts use advanced combustion technology to burn more efficiently with emissions that are 90% lower than older inserts.  The advanced combustion technology used in a modern wood fireplace insert was developed by the U.S. and Canada to reduce emissions from wood stoves to satisfy environmental regulations. These new design elements of the wood stove technology have now been incorporated into new fireplaces, creating a safe, efficient and cost-effective alternative to older conventional fireplaces. The technology is also being used in new wood fireplace inserts which can be installed into an existing conventional fireplace.

The new fireplace inserts use a sophisticated secondary combustion process that ensures a more complete combustion of both the wood, and the combustion gases and smoke.  This increases the insert's operating efficiency and reduces emissions from the firebox.

Advanced combustion inserts use separate preheated paths of combustion air. One source feeds directly into the burning wood while the second is aimed above the main fire to capture and ignite the incomplete combustion gases that would otherwise be released into the air. This creates two simultaneous combustion zones and flame patterns.

The use of two separate combustion zones reduces emissions by ten fold compared to a conventional fireplace. This enables the environmentally friendly use of wood, a renewable energy source. As an added benefit, low levels of creosote and incomplete combustion products virtually eliminate the potential for chimney fires.

In case of an electrical power failure, a wood fireplace insert can still operate as emergency heat source for the house. Even though the circulating fan will not operate, the heat from the fire will radiate from the fireplace insert into the house by way of natural convection, supplying a significant amount of heat to the home.