Fireplace Inserts in Hastings Ranch: Gas, Wood and Electric

An open masonry fireplace is a beautiful thing to look at and a poor heater. Most of the warmth goes up the flue, and when the fire dies down, the open damper keeps pulling warm room air out of the house. An insert is a sealed steel or cast-iron firebox that slides into the existing opening. It burns gas or wood behind glass, pushes heat into the room with its own surfaces and often a fan, and vents through a liner that runs up the inside of your chimney. The old fireplace becomes a shell, and the room actually gets warm.

Where you land in the price range depends on the insert you choose, the size of the opening, and the venting and gas work your house needs. Wood inserts and electric inserts are quoted after we measure. Electric units need only an outlet and no liner, which makes them a good choice when the chimney itself is in poor shape or you simply want the look without the burning.

Before we recommend any insert, we check the chimney. The firebox has to be sound enough to hold the unit, the smoke chamber needs to be clear, and the flue has to be clean and free of nests, since we will be running a liner straight through it. If there is old nest material, a wedged branch or a heavy creosote layer, it comes out first. A lined insert does not care much about cracked flue tiles, since the stainless liner carries the exhaust, but it does need a clear path.

At the top, the liner is sealed to the crown with a plate and finished with a cap with mesh. That cap matters more with an insert than with an open fireplace, because a bird or squirrel that gets into a narrow liner can block it completely, and a sealed unit will shut down or vent poorly as a result. For gas inserts, we connect the gas line with a shutoff valve and test it. We register the warranty with the maker, take a carbon monoxide reading once it is running, and walk you through lighting and care.