This varies depending on how much area you’re trying to heat. Most manufacturers indicate the square footage each unit can heat. Other factors include the age of your house and the condition of its windows and insulation.

If your home is fairly open with good circulation and you’d like to heat your whole house, you’ll want something bigger than if you’re just looking to heat one or two rooms. Visit us and we’ll help you make the right choice.

Yes! Making a fireplace conversion is more energy efficient because a modern wood, gas, or pellet fireplace insert will prevent the flue from drawing the warmth out of your home.

Fireplace inserts are designed to fit into existing wood-burning fireboxes and can be made to blend with the surrounding masonry.

Your best option is installing an EPA-certified wood-burning insert with a stainless chimney liner running up the flue. 

Be aware that adding glass doors makes almost no difference in energy loss, and other accessories for boosting heat aren't much better. Instead, let us show you a fireplace insert that turns your decorative fireplace into an attractive and efficient heat source.

Your stove or fireplace, whether burning wood, pellets or gas, can warm your most-used rooms to a comfortable temperature while not wasting energy on rooms that do not need to be as warm. For example, you can be toasty warm in your living room running a stove at 30,000 BTU, leaving your 100,000 BTU furnace off.

Pellet stoves and inserts are easier to vent than those of any other fuel. They can be either direct vented straight out the wall behind them or fitted into the venting of a traditional chimney. Pellet vent pipe (or flexible liner for chimneys) is only 3 or 4 inches in diameter.

Yes, this is true if you're burning wood inefficiently. Wood smoke contains hundreds of chemical compounds, many of which have adverse health effects. This is why all older and homemade units should be replaced, and masonry fireplaces fitted with an insert that is EPA certified. Units certified by the Environmental Protection Agency actually burn these toxic gases while generating more heat. Another benefit of this combustion: It helps prevent a build-up of flammable chimney deposits called creosote.

Cast iron holds heat better than steel and is sealed at its joints with bolts and caulk. Steel stoves compensate for this by having welded joints and heat-retaining firebrick inside.

Starting in 1985, all EPA rated wood stoves were required to have a secondary burn system to make them more efficient. In the earlier years this was most commonly done with a catalyst. Catalytic combustors come in various sizes and shapes. They start working when you flip the bypass door handle on the unit. The gases and smoke (that would normally go up the flue and contribute to creosote in your chimney and air pollution) are burned by the catalyst. This creates additional heat, making the unit more efficient as well as clean burning.

These days the more popular way to achieve a secondary burn is to use a non-catalytic system, which usually has a stainless steel tube covered with little holes. These holes mix air with the gas and smoke, producing the desired secondary burn. This system lasts many years and may never need replacing (unlike a catalytic combustor).

Several Reasons:

Shipping: Don’t forget to factor in shipping costs. (Fireplaces and stoves are not light!) Think also about how you’re going to unload the unit from the semi-truck when It arrives. If you don’t have a Bobcat or lift, you’ll have quite a challenge ahead of you.

Warranty: If warranty issues arise, it’s likely no one from California or Texas will be dispatched to examine and resolve the issue. You may spend hours on the phone.

Parts: When you need a part, there’s the question of whether you can get it, if you’ll get the right one, and if the wrong part can be replaced. Not having a dealer to look at your problem and figure out just what you need is big.

Shopping: It’s hard to make the best choice just by looking at pictures. Color and size always look different. Then there are the many variables that affect your heating unit choice, for which an experienced dealer can be a tremendous help.

All factors considered, you'll probably find it's not cheaper to order online. At Jim’s Country Fireplace, we honor all warranties of our units, can order you any part you need, and will help you choose the right unit for your home.

Yes, if installation is needed, we have an installer with over 30 years of experience that we confidently recommend.