The journey from fireplace to insert!

So I finally decided to do it.  I am having a Regency woodburning fireplace insert installed by Flame Tech.  Here's the deal, I grew up in a house with a fireplace and love the atmosphere the fireplace provides.  I go to our fireplace room for an "Attitude Adjustment" whenever life stresses me out.  When we bought this house, a big selling point was the fireplace...not many wood burning fireplaces around anymore.  It is time to turn that old, dirty fireplace into a HEATING MACHINE!  Stay tuned for updates on my new heat source from Flame Tech.  Join the WJBR Woodburning Brigade today and start saving money on your heating bills tomorrow!!!  

Do you think a woodburning stove is right for you?  Click HERE or the image below to find out.

I wanted to update you on the progress of our fireplace...IT'S IN!!!!  Bill and John came to our home yesterday and had the new insert installed.  They completed the install by lunch and the house was warm by dinner!  In case you don't remember, here is a picture of what our old fireplace looked like:

As you can see - we needed to do a lot of work!

After Flame-Tech came out to the house and installed the BRAND NEW Regency Wood-Burning Stove Insert, the look of our living room greatly imporved:

(My wife and I enjoying a quiet night by our new Regency Fireplace)

In all seriousness - I gotta tell you, Flame-Tech were on time for the appointment, had their own "drop blankets" they covered our floor with during the entire install and vacuumed the room after they packed up their tools.  Not only that, Bill started my first fire for me and demonstrated how to start the fire, load the wood, control the flame, and adjust the fan for optimal comfort.  I'm kicking myself as to why we never did this before.  The temp difference of the house - 5 degree increase in the first two hours.  As the temps dipped down to the 30's we never turned on our heater!  Contact Flame-Tech to schedule an in home estimate and to see if a stand alone, or insert is right for you.  Take control of your heating costs!

Update 1/21/13: We're looking at the coldest air of the season so far this week and our house is ready!  Since we had the Regency Insert installed last week, we've not used our gas home heating system yet and don't plan to throughout the cold snap.  I did learn that you DO NOT WANT flames in the insert if you are trying to heat the home, just the embers.  When your "fire" looks like this:

...your fireplace is working for you!  The fans are blowing warm air and the contents in the firebox last hours!

Update 1/24/13:  With the temps in the teens at night and the 20's during the day - my Regency insert keeps the house at 61 degrees WITHOUT the help of the gas heater.  Developing...