Have you been noticing your heating bills increasing each winter? Have you been wishing your home was warmer? If you have an older masonry fireplace, the answers to those questions is most likely yes. While these fireplaces provide the sensory experiences of burning wood, most of the heat from the fire exits out the chimney, which causes the increase in your heating bills and the decrease in heat provided to your home. Ashbusters can solve this problem with the installation of a new fireplace insert. These new heating appliances can reduce your heating costs by as much as 40 percent. We sell and install several different fuel types: wood, gas, and pellet. To help you decide which type of insert would work best in your home, we would like to tell you more about these fireplace inserts.
Wood-Burning Inserts
If you love the scents, sounds, and sights of wood-burning fires, you will love the option of a wood-burning fireplace insert. Designed to fit into a masonry fireplace opening, Ashbusters can professionally install it, along with a new stainless steel chimney liner that will provide a correctly-sized flue for the insert. According to HouseLogic, a wood-burning insert can heat up to 3,000 square feet. And, you will enjoy more heat from this type of insert because most models are equipped with fans that can distribute the heated air throughout your house. If you have an older prefab fireplace, however, a wood-burning inset is not an option as those chimneys are not made to handle the high temperatures produced by a wood fire.
Gas Inserts
For those who love the convenience of starting a fire by using a remote control from your couch, gas fireplace inserts are popular choices. You will not have to deal with chores like bringing in wood or cleaning up ashy residue as you would with a wood-burning insert. These inserts have excellent efficiency ratings, provide warm and cozy heat, and produce very little pollution. Honestly, the only downside to gas fireplace inserts is that they do not give you the wood fire sensory experiences, but we can show you models that burn with very realistic looking flames.
Pellet Inserts
Is being environmentally conscious important to you? You should consider a pellet fireplace insert. The pellets, which are used as the fuel, are made from recycled wood. Small and compact, pellets are available in 40-pound bags. To operate a pellet insert, all you have to do is load the hopper, set the thermostat, and turn it on to enjoy a fire for the day. However, the hopper requires electricity to work, so if the power goes out during a bad winter storm, you could be without heat. We do have some models, though, that are equipped with battery backup.
Considering updating the heating appliance in your home? Contact us at Ashbusters to learn more about your fireplace insert options.