Transform Your Fireplace with a Wood-Burning Fireplace Insert

Masonry fireplaces are lovely amenities in a home, but many homeowners aren’t thrilled with the way they perform. Felgemacher would like to share a great way to solve this performance problem for homeowners in the greater Buffalo, NY, and Rochester, NY, regions.

The solution is a wood-burning fireplace insert that will literally transform your fireplace experience and bring you a lot of special benefits.

What is a wood insert?

A wood fireplace insert is a pre-made unit designed to fit into the firebox of your masonry fireplace. It burns regular wood logs and drafts through your existing chimney. But that’s where the comparison between inserts and masonry fireplaces ends.

Benefits of a fireplace insert

Here are a few of the most important wood insert benefits.

More heat

Traditional masonry fireplaces are constructed with an “open” design. This leads to most of the heat they produce being lost up the chimney. Fireplace inserts run on a “closed-combustion” system that retains the majority of their heat and makes it available to the home.

Masonry fireplaces hold onto about 10% or 15% of their heat. Wood-burning fireplace inserts retain 70% or more, depending on the model. That’s a difference you’ll feel immediately.

Cleaner, efficient burns

All fireplace inserts on the market today are EPA-approved for efficient operation and clean burns. The closed burning system results in a more complete combustion of wood fuel – meaning you’ll use fewer logs and get better heat. Additionally, today’s inserts produce a very low level of emissions, which helps our air and atmosphere. 

Keep your original fireplace surround or framing

If your masonry fireplace has a lovely custom surround, frame, mantel or other amenity, you can keep it all when installing an insert. You don’t have to start from scratch and rebuild the decor as you would when putting in a new fireplace somewhere else in the room.

Handsome designs

Fireplace inserts come in a range of handsome styles, sizes, finishes and colors. It will be easy to complement your room and the appearance of your hearth area with a new insert.

No chimney to build

As noted, fireplace inserts vent through your masonry fireplace’s chimney with their own specifically sized pipe. You don’t have to build a new chimney or modify your existing one when installing an insert.

Can I install my fireplace insert?

This question is more common than you might think. Because a fireplace insert is essentially a fireplace in a box that’s ready to be placed into an open fireplace, some people figure they can set it up themselves.

But inserts aren’t “plug and play.” Anything involving real fire should be installed by technicians who are familiar with the appliance and its fuel. There are a number of precautions that need to be seen to during the installation that the average homeowner simply won’t know about.

Is a wood-burning fireplace insert the right choice for your home?

If you’ve been struggling with an inefficient masonry fireplace but aren’t crazy about the idea of tearing out part of a wall to put in a new fireplace, then a fireplace insert is a perfect option for you.

The Felgemacher fireplace store carries a full line of powerful wood inserts, and our field crew installs these appliances across the Buffalo, NY, and Rochester, NY, regions. Visit our showroom at 2727 Broadway, Suite 5, in Cheektowaga, NY, and learn more about these amazing heat producers.

You can also reach us by phone and through our contact form.