Top 5 Reasons You Should Upgrade to a Wood Fireplace Insert

1 - Save Money on Heating

Purchasing a fireplace insert is not only a long term investment in your home, but it can also result in short-term energy savings as well. A win-win!

Fireplace inserts are zone heaters, meaning that they heat specific areas of your home. These areas are typically where people are spending the majority of their time – living rooms, bedrooms, and other common areas. Zone heating allows you to turn down the furnace, which heats your entire home, and focus the heat into the areas of the home where you are spending the majority of your time. Regency wood fireplaces produce radiant heat warming up everything in the path of the fire to aid in raising the ambient temperature and can be combined with a blower to more effectively heat more of your home.

In addition, open fireplaces are responsible for a significant amount of heat loss. Even with the damper closed warm air can escape your home and cold air can enter. This means you need to continually heat more cold air just to maintain the temperature. A fireplace insert will seal your home and significantly reduce the amount of heat lost. Regency fireplace inserts help preserve the temperature in the room when not in use and generate warmth and comfort while in use, translating to cost savings without sending you scrambling for a sweater.
 

2 – Increase Efficiency & Reduce Waste

With a traditional open masonry fireplace, heat loss can be a real issue. An open wood fire or gas log is only around 10-15% efficient, this means that around 85-90% of the heat generated immediately rises through the chimney and outside your home. In addition, this inefficient burn results in ineffective use of fuel and as a result you have to tend to the fire every few hours.

Fireplace inserts solve the issue of heat loss by containing everything in a sealed box. This stops drafts from coming in and from heat rising directly out the chimney. In addition a sealed box allows for a much more efficient burn – around 70-75%. This increased efficiency also creates longer burn times. A single load of wood will burn for an average of 6-8 hours and even up to 14 hours in some cases!

Use less wood, manage the fire less, and generate more usable heat with a fireplace insert.
 

3 – Go Green: Help Reduce Emissions

Many municipalities are banning older wood fires or traditional masonry chimneys due to their negative environmental impact. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created standards around what emissions, measured in grams per hour, can be released into the environment.

A traditional fireplace uses the available oxygen in the room as part of the reaction required for fire and to produce heat. However, the burn with a traditional fireplace is what is called an incomplete combustion. This results in an ineffective burn and the production of black smoke. Black smoke contains many particulates and is the result of other gases being produced during the burn process. These gasses and particulates are major contributors of air pollution and are the key focus of many cities clean air programs.

Ci2700 wood insert shown with low profile faceplate

PRO TIP: You can save even more money by checking your local area for upgrade or conversion programs where you can get government rebates for upgrading to a more efficient stove or fireplace.

Regency’s innovative Wood Inserts introduce a second stage burn and, in the case of our Eco-Boost Pro Series inserts, a third stage burn. The second stage burn uses air tubes to inject secondary air into the firebox to create a re-burn. This re-burn helps to burn the off-gasses and particulates created during the primary burn. The secondary burn creates more heat, increases efficiency, and reduces total emissions. The Eco-Boost repeats this process by filtering the remaining particulates through a catalyst, further increasing temperatures to over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and further reduces emissions. In addition to the environmental benefits of second and third stage burns, it also results in a spectacular looking fire.

Help to protect our environment by installing an environmentally friendly wood fireplace insert.
 

4 – Fireplaces that Work, Even When the Power Doesn’t

If you lose power your Regency wood insert will continue to safely produce radiant heat. If a winter storm knocks out power there is no need to worry – you’ll still be nice and warm, even if you are in the dark. All Regency Wood Fireplaces work safely without electricity. A wood fireplace insert will be able to provide radiant heat keeping you and your home warm, no matter the weather conditions.

 

5 – Transform the Room

Adding a fireplace insert to your home can dramatically transform the visual look of a room without needing to do a major renovation.

The fireplace is the focal point of most rooms. By adding a fireplace insert you can experience the warmth and comfort of a fireplace on a regular basis while adding a visually pleasing permanent feature to your home. Designed to fit within your existing masonry, a fireplace insert can update your room design, clean up your mantle and hide any unsightly soot and ash.

Before and After shown with Regency I2450 wood insert

Regency’s high quality fireplace inserts come in a multitude of customizable design options, from traditional to contemporary, and we offer a wide range of fireplace accessories to help your new fireplace insert blend well with your existing décor. This allows you to get the perfect fireplace insert that best suits your home and your style.

For a high efficiency wood insert try one of our most popular products from Hampton HI series. Most Hampton HI models are available with a choice of finish, cast iron faceplate, and decorative window grill.

Hampton HI300

• This Hampton Medium Wood Insert installs easily into your existing fireplace, adding the timeless beauty of cast iron while eliminating drafts from an open fireplace.

Hampton HI400

• Delivering 14 hours or more of heat with a single load of wood; fuel is used to its full potential with an efficiency of over 86%!

Regency is committed to designing and manufacturing exceptional and high-quality fireplace products in our world class facility. By choosing to invest in a Regency fireplace insert you are choosing to create a lifetime of memories and add new levels of warmth and comfort to your home.

Need design inspiration? Check out our idea gallery for inspiration and to see some of our more striking before and after images.