Fireplace Insert Installation in Connecticut

An open fireplace is a poor heater. Most of the heat a fire produces goes up the chimney, and while the fire is burning the chimney is also pulling heated room air out of the house with it. On a cold night an open fireplace can cost more heat than it delivers.

An insert changes that. It is a closed, controllable firebox that fits into the existing opening, with the combustion sealed from the room and a blower moving room air around the hot firebox and back in. The same wood produces a great deal more useful heat.

It is a popular upgrade on Connecticut's older housing precisely because so many houses have a large masonry fireplace that is pleasant to look at and almost useless for heating.

Assessment first: the chimney's condition, the opening's dimensions, and what liner size the chosen insert requires. An old fireplace flue is nearly always far larger than an insert needs, which is exactly why the liner matters.

Then the chimney is cleared and the liner run from the top down, insulated where the situation calls for it, and connected directly to the insert's outlet. That direct connection is the difference between an installation that vents properly and one that fills the fireplace cavity with combustion products.

Then the insert itself, positioned, connected, sealed at the surround, and with the blower wired. Then commissioning, and a straightforward explanation of how it will need to be serviced — because an insert that is awkward to access is an insert that gets cleaned less often than it should.