Wood stove inserts installed and lined in Dover Shores East

A stainless liner from the collar to the top

The flue path most wood insert makers prefer is a stainless steel liner running unbroken from the insert collar to the top of the chimney. Pacific Energy rates a full liner as the safest way to install and credits it with a proper draft, so the fire starts easily and smoke does not roll out when the door opens.

A full liner also sizes the flue to the insert rather than to the original open fireplace, whose flue was built to carry a far larger stream of air. Your written estimate lists the liner, the connector at the bottom and the closure at the top as separate lines with upfront pricing.

Clearances measured from the insert body

Each insert manual carries a clearance table for combustible materials around the unit. The Pacific Insert guide measures from the insert body and gives separate minimums for an adjacent sidewall, a mantel, top facing and side facing, with a drawing of each.

Those numbers apply to your chosen model only, which is why we never quote an installation from a general rule. At the inspection we measure every combustible surface near the opening and compare it with the table, and anything that falls short appears in the estimate with the fix we propose.

• Wood mantel shelf above the opening
• Wood or painted trim at the sides
• A wall that meets the fireplace at a corner
• Shelving or cabinets built beside the hearth

What never goes into an insert

EPA lists what should never be burned in a wood heater: household trash, cardboard, plastics, foam, colored ink on magazines and packaging, and coated, painted or pressure-treated wood. Insert manuals add that no other fuel than the one listed may be used.

We leave a short list with you at handover and mention it again if we see a box of offcuts beside the hearth. Painted trim, pallets and treated lumber look like firewood, and they are not. Burning them fouls the glass, the baffle and the liner, and it sends pollutants into the neighborhood air.

Keeping curtains and furniture back from the front

The Travis manual asks for furniture, drapes, curtains, wood, paper and other combustibles to be kept at least 36 inches from the front of its insert. Other manuals give their own figure, and the one for your model is the one that counts.

We point out that distance on the floor at the walkthrough, so the sofa, the rug and the firewood basket can be placed with it in mind. A room arranged around an open fireplace sometimes needs a small rethink once an insert is running.