Why a Fireplace Insert Is Not Heating the Room

How an Insert Puts Heat Into a Room

An insert heats in two ways. The glass and the steel face radiate heat straight out, and a blower pushes room air through channels around the firebox and back out warm. If the fire is weak, the radiant half drops. If the blower is idle or the air around the insert leaks away, the convection half drops. Most complaints are one of those two halves going missing.

Work through the list below with a fire burning normally. Each check takes a few minutes, and several of them cost nothing to fix.

The Blower Is Off or Waiting

Many inserts have a blower with an automatic setting. The Regency i2450-2 manual explains that in AUTO the fan turns on only once the insert has reached operating temperature, and turns off after the fire dies and the unit cools. A short, small fire may never bring it on.

The same manual times it on a full load: with the air set high, the fan can go on high after about 15 minutes; on a low setting, the fan goes on low after about 30 minutes. If the fan never starts on a hot insert, check that its cord is plugged into a working grounded outlet and that the switch is not off. A fan that hums, rattles or runs weakly needs service; leave the wiring to a crew.

• Switch set to AUTO, not off.
• Cord plugged into a working, grounded outlet.
• Insert hot enough for the sensor to start the fan.
• Air moving out of the top grille when the fan runs.

Wet Wood Spends the Fire on Water

Wood that is not dry gives you steam before it gives you heat. The EPA says a lot of energy goes into driving water out of unseasoned logs before they burn, and that wood burns best when a moisture meter reads under 20. It recommends seasoning for at least six months, stacked outdoors, off the ground, with only the top covered. The Regency manual asks for the same meter reading for its start-up loads.

A moisture meter settles it. Split a piece and push the pins into the fresh face. Signs of wet wood without a meter: hissing, a dark, dull sound when two pieces knock together, heavy weight, and glass that blackens fast.

The Air Control Is Closed Too Soon

Turning the air down early makes a load last longer, and it also makes the fire smaller and cooler. The Regency manual says that from a cold start a medium to high firing rate must be kept for 30 minutes so the stove and fuel reach operating temperature, and it warns that burning too slowly is not efficient. A rule of thumb in the same manual: if the glass stays clean, the fire is burning hot enough.

Bring the fire up with the air open, let it settle into a coal bed, then turn the air down in steps. Our page on using an insert day to day goes through a full load.

Heat Escaping Behind the Faceplate

An insert sits in a firebox bigger than itself, and the space behind its faceplate opens into the old damper throat. If that throat is open, the warm air around the insert rises up the old flue instead of coming into the room. The fix is a sealed block-off plate around the liner, plus a faceplate that seals to the fireplace face; the Regency manual fits insulation strips there for that purpose.

Signs of this leak are a cold draft at the edges of the faceplate when the fire is out, a faceplate that sits loose, or an insert that feels hot but a room that never warms. Pulling a faceplate to look disturbs the seal, so leave the check to a crew.

The Room Is Bigger Than the Insert

Inserts are sized for a space. The EPA's buying advice says small stoves suit a family room and can zone heat one area, and it suggests bringing a floor plan when choosing a size. An insert picked for a den will not warm an open plan with tall ceilings, and heat drifts up stairwells and into rooms with closed doors.

Ceiling fans set to push air down, open doors to the rooms you want warm, and furniture kept off the insert's front all help. If the insert is simply too small for the space, no setting will change that.

Forcing More Heat Out of an Insert

Do not overload the firebox or leave the air wide open for hours to force more heat. The Regency manual says that if the connector, baffle or stove top starts to glow, the insert is overfiring, and that overfiring can warp it and cause premature steel corrosion. Do not run it with the door open, either; the manual allows that only for a few minutes while a fire takes hold.

When Dry Wood and a Working Fan Are Not Enough

If the wood is dry, the fan runs and the insert still will not warm the room, the problem is usually behind the faceplate or up the chimney: an open throat, a draft issue or a liner that does not match the insert. Our fireplace insert installation crew checks those during a free inspection and puts any fix in a written estimate.

Behind the work is a local family business, Proudly American and based in Spring Hill, whose experienced crew does every visit itself. The Proudly American family that answers the phone is the one that comes to the house.