OK how often have you heard a similar sales line, well in the case of Fireplace inserts it is true. Over the years there has been some redevelopment of the original fireplace, typically these designs were ugly, I mean really ugly. I still remember my grandmas old flickering plastic wood fire, heated by coiled elements. This wasn’t a way to show off your home.

Since 1992 however designs have really started to improve, both technically and esthetically. This can be seen by the styles and designs of fireplaces on shows like home makeover and homes of the rich and famous. Just about every lifestyle magazine or home decorating mag have had these in there article pictures.

The biggest improvements in the last few years have really been to improve efficient use of fuel, whether that be gas, wood, coal, electricity, or pellets. This design work has been driven by the major selling point that is the environment.

To give you an idea of the impact of fireplaces on the environment. The EPA identified that in the US there are 29 million wood burning fireplaces. This type of fireplace burns fuel only 20% efficient that means the other 80% goes straight up the chimney to warm the environment or pollute it with smoke. Thats the good news, it gets worse when you just have the embers burning at this point your fire is 10% efficient. As there are no flames to radiate the heat.

In comparison a typical modern fireplace insert with EPA approval typically has a fuel efficiency rating of 75% or above. That means for the same heat in your home, you are using nearly 4 times less fuel to generate it. To really be clear on this point that means for every 4 logs you would normally burn you would only need 1. It was this information that really caught my eye.

Other than fuel consumption, s fireplace insert have more immediate environmental benefits. The main one being smoke inhalation, how many of you don’t allow smoking in your house and get annoyed when you have to breathe in passive smoke? I imagine a resounding never, we are all strongly aware of the negative health problems that passive smoking can generate. Especially on small children.

Firewood smoke might smell nice and be traditionally accepted but just think what is the major difference between wood smoke and tobacco smoke???

Finally dust particles, with the increase in asthma, allergies reducing the amount of dust entering your home is a positive.  I suggest you weight 60 grams of flour, thats 1/2 a cup, this is how much dust is emitted by an old fireplace in an hour!!! Typically fires burn for 2-3 hours, that means your home has received 1.5 cups of dust into your home.
Buying a Fireplace insert with a modern system will reduce the mount of dust in your home to 2-5 grams an hour or 0.02 cups. This means you could run your modern fireplace for up to 25 hours before you would have the same amount of dust as a normal fire in an hour.

For more advice and help on Fireplace inserts please read the rest of the posts in my website. If you have questions or comments please share by filling in the form below