If you just got married and moved into a house with an old unused outdoor fireplace, you can spruce it up and make it alive again with a new fireplace insert that can give you a warm and glowing red fire. Or perhaps you fireplace is not providing enough heat. Again, a fireplace insert is a good solution. It would be a perfect place not only for newlyweds, but even for couples with young and grown children to bond with each other and enjoy the moon and the stars even on wintry nights.

A fireplace insert is a fireplace inserted into an existing masonry or metal fireplace. It could be fueled with wood, gas, or pellets. Fireplace inserts are usually made of heavy-gauge plate steel, sometime stainless, or cast iron. A decorative faceplate is installed at the front end, often with glass doors to keep the fire visible. The glass could be plain or etched with floral or any other design. Door trim may also be included and these could be in gold or nickel plating.

Running along the length of the chimney, from the fireplace insert up to its opening at the top is a pipe called a chimney liner that provide proper air flow and serve as a smoke vent. Without this, creosote can build up in the fireplace and thus become a fire hazard.

Some inserts exude radiant heat into an area with the help of blowers which could be either manual or thermostat-regulated. These are mounted at the front, or if the insert protrudes out of the old hearth, blowers can also be mounted to exude heat from the protruding sides. This results to better heating.

There are plenty of fireplace inserts in the market you can choose from. When purchasing one, be sure it matches the old fireplace you want to put it into in terms of the type of materials used, color, size and design. With the various designs ranging from plain and simple to extremely elaborate décor there is sure to be one that perfectly blends with your old fireplace.

If you like to watch dancing flames and to listen the crackling and popping logs as they burn and opt for the wood or pellet burning type, find out first if there are restrictions on them in your area. On the other hand, if you are not the kind that likes to clean up ashes the morning after, you might want to install a gas fireplace insert instead. These usually come with log sets designed to look like the real stuff but are fueled with either propane or natural gas.