Local chimney help for San Marco homes

Fireplace inserts turn an open fireplace into a closed appliance, and the insert is only as good as the fireplace and flue it goes into. A wood insert is a solid-fuel room heater tested to UL 1482, and a new one sold today meets the EPA 2020 emission standard for wood heaters. A gas insert is a vented gas appliance tested to ANSI Z21.88.

An electric insert needs no flue at all, only a suitable outlet. For wood and gas inserts, the flue is the heart of the job. The listing calls for a liner running from the insert collar to the chimney top, sized to the insert and made of material the listing allows, which is where a UL 1777 liner comes in.

A gas insert may use a pair of liners, one for exhaust and one for combustion air. The damper is removed or fixed open where the listing calls for it so the liner can pass, and a block-off plate or sealed top closes the old flue around it. Before any of that, the existing fireplace has to be sound.

Cracked firebrick, a failed smoke chamber or a leaking crown gets fixed first, because the insert will hide them once it is in. The hearth extension also has to meet the insert's listing, which can ask for more floor protection than the old fireplace had. The estimate lists the insert model, the liner size and type, the hearth requirement, and any repairs that come first.

An insert also changes how the chimney is swept later, since the liner is cleaned from the top or through the insert as the manual describes. An insert fitted without a full liner, or with its liner stopped short of the top, is a safety item we flag, because exhaust can cool and condense in the old flue.

An insert project in San Marco starts with the liner, since an insert is only as good as the flue it vents into. Reach us at (904) 920-5495 with the room and the fuel, and we will set a time in San Marco.