Installing Heat That Earns Its Keep in Wallsburg

The insert case for an old farmhouse

If you have a large original fireplace and you would like it to actually heat something, an insert is the change that does it. A sealed firebox with a properly sized stainless liner running to the top of the chimney does three useful things at once. It stops the room air being drawn up the flue. It gives the smoke a correctly sized passage instead of a cavernous old one, which usually cures the smoking problem as a side effect. And it puts a lined, inspectable system inside a chimney that may never have had one.

Choosing between wood, gas and a freestanding stove

Wood is the right answer where the point is resilience. Power goes out in rural country and a wood appliance does not care. It asks for fuel handling, ash removal and annual sweeping in exchange. Gas asks for almost nothing and delivers heat instantly, but out here that means propane, which brings its own considerations. A freestanding stove sitting out in the room radiates from all sides and heats better than anything recessed into a wall, so if the goal is heat rather than appearance it usually wins.

Propane, not a gas main

Wallsburg addresses are on tanks rather than a distribution main. That affects appliance orifice sizing, the gas line run from the tank to the appliance, and where the tank can sit relative to the house. It is all routine, but it needs designing rather than assuming, particularly if the line is long or the appliance has a high input rating.

Shops, barns and outbuildings

Putting a stove in a working building is the install we see done wrong most often. The clearances on the appliance label assume nothing combustible within those distances, and a shop is a building full of combustible storage that moves around. Wall pass-throughs need a listed thimble, not a hole. Single-wall connector pipe has much greater clearance requirements than double-wall, and the space is usually tight enough that double-wall is the only sensible choice. We would rather install it properly than come back to inspect it after something happened.

Our part

Sizing, venting design, liner installation, and an install to the manufacturer's listed clearances with the documentation to show it. Licensed and insured, and we cover Round Valley and the rest of Wasatch County.