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A Creative FireSpace™ · 30 September 2026

Stûv 6-in Wood Insert — The Small Hearth, Brought Back

Stûv 6-in wood insert, a compact black steel insert with a wide glass door and a slim frame, shown unlit against white
Stuv 6-in insert with its door swung open, showing the cast-iron combustion chamber, the hinged door and the flue connection on top

Not every masonry fireplace is a grand one. Many of the old hearths in the homes we work in are small: a modest opening in a modest room, built for a single log, and closed off for years. The Stûv 6-in is the insert made for them — a wood-burning insert cut down in size without cutting down the view, so a small hearth can be lit again, and lit to today’s standard.

What makes the size possible is the shape of the firebox. The combustion chamber widens toward the front, flaring out to meet a slim door frame, so the insert can be recessed into a smaller opening while the fire still fills the glass. It is a patented form, and it is the whole idea of the 6-in: the fire at the front line, and the machinery out of sight.

Everything else is aimed at making it easy to live with. The lightweight support casing comes apart from the heavier cast-iron combustion chamber, which makes the insert far simpler to set into an old opening than its weight suggests. The flue can leave vertically or at an angle, useful when the chimney sits off to one side. Two metal plates at the base of the chamber expand at different rates as it warms and steer the air for a cold start. And the air is already set: the intake is calibrated at the factory, so there is no damper to nurse. You light the fire and let it be.

There are three sizes, named by the opening they suit in centimetres: the 66/50, the 76/55 and the 76/60. Stûv rates them to warm roughly 1,000, 1,300 and 1,400 square feet, with EPA efficiencies of 67, 68 and 69 percent, and publishes particulate emissions of 1.8, 1.9 and 1.2 grams an hour. It is a gentle heater by design: right for a smaller room, or for a house that is already well heated, where a wood fire is there for the evening and not for the whole winter.

A steel finishing frame closes the gap between the insert and the old masonry: a thin-edge frame for a near-frameless look, picture frames of 2, 4 or 6 inches for wider openings, or a three- or four-sided custom frame cut to the hearth.

It is also certified, and that is not a footnote. Stûv lists the 6-in as certified UL, ULC, EPA and CSA B415.1-22, which is what Metro Vancouver’s Bylaw 1303 asks of a wood-burning appliance, at between 1.2 and 1.9 grams an hour of fine particulate depending on size. Inside the Urban Containment Boundary it must still be registered, and since 15 September 2025 an unregistered appliance may not be operated at all.

At Maxwell Fireplace we measure the opening, inspect the chimney, line it to suit the insert, prepare the permit and the registration paperwork, and set the insert with our own crew. We WETT-certify the wood-burning appliances we install. For a larger opening there is the Stûv 16-In, the same idea at a bigger scale.

A note on our local rules: Stûv lists the 6-in as certified UL, ULC, EPA and CSA B415.1-22, so it is eligible to be registered and burned under Bylaw 1303. Registration is the homeowner’s to hold, along with the best-burning-practices declaration renewed every three years, and individual municipalities can add requirements of their own. We handle the measuring, permitting, lining and installation, and we will tell you honestly what is possible for your home before anything is ordered.

A small hearth deserves a real fire.

Questions people tend to ask

Is the Stûv 6-in legal to install in Metro Vancouver?

Yes. Stûv lists it as certified UL, ULC, EPA and CSA B415.1-22, and Bylaw 1303 asks for certification to CSA B415.1 or the EPA’s 2015 standard. Its published emissions run from 1.2 to 1.9 grams an hour depending on size. That makes it eligible to be registered and burned, and we confirm the exact size against the bylaw before anything is ordered.

Do I have to register it, and who holds the registration?

Inside the Urban Containment Boundary, yes: since 15 September 2025 an unregistered eligible appliance may not be operated at all. The registration is the homeowner’s to hold, along with a best-burning-practices declaration renewed every three years. We prepare that alongside the permit.

What is the difference between the Stûv 6-in and the 16-In?

Both are Stûv wood inserts for an existing masonry fireplace. The 6-in is the smaller: three sizes, the 66/50, 76/55 and 76/60, rated for roughly 1,000 to 1,400 square feet. The 16-In comes in the 16-58, 16-68 and 16-78, rated for roughly 1,400 to 2,100, with a larger view of the fire. Which one your hearth takes is decided by the opening, so we measure it.

Which size fits my fireplace?

It follows the firebox. Old fireboxes are rarely square, narrower at the back and often shallower than they look, so this is a measuring question rather than a catalogue one. We measure the opening on site, then choose the size and the frame, a thin edge or a 2, 4 or 6 inch picture frame, that closes the gap to the masonry cleanly.

Will it heat the room, or is it mainly a view?

It heats, gently. Stûv rates the three sizes for roughly 1,000, 1,300 and 1,400 square feet, and describes the 6-in as made for smaller hearths and for homes that are better insulated and already have a main heating system. It suits a small room or an evening fire; it is not meant to heat a large open house on its own.

How much does a Stûv 6-in cost?

The size and the frame matter, but the larger share is the hearth itself: the length and condition of the chimney that needs lining, what the original builder left behind, the permit, and how the new face is finished against the old one. Two homes with the same insert can arrive at quite different figures. Visit the showroom with a photograph of the opening and we will go through the options and the pricing with you there.

Do you install the Stûv 6-in in Whistler?

Yes. We are in Whistler regularly, and the measuring, the permit and the installation are ours, as they are on every Maxwell Fireplace job. Whistler is outside Metro Vancouver, so Bylaw 1303 does not apply there, but the Resort Municipality of Whistler requires a permit to install or alter a wood stove, insert or fireplace, and we prepare it. We WETT-certify the wood-burning appliances we install.

More from Stûv

This is one of the Stûv stoves, inserts and fireplaces we carry and install at Maxwell Fireplace in North Vancouver. See the whole Stûv range, or read on.

  • Stûv 6-H — the small, essential wood stove
  • Stûv 16 — the stove that hides its mechanism, in Cube, H and V forms
  • Stûv 30 Compact — the stove that turns to face the room
  • Stûv 16-In — the wood insert for the masonry fireplace you already have
  • Stûv 21 — the guillotine-glass wood fireplace, built in or Clad

Planning for a Whistler home? Fireplaces for Whistler homes.

Creative FireSpaces™

A fireplace is only half of it. The other half is who places it.

Maxwell Fireplace is North Vancouver’s Creative FireSpaces™ — and we stay involved in every part of the job. The fireplace itself is ours from the first conversation to the final flame: design and placement, permitting, delivery, installation, and the care that comes after. When the work runs to a surround, a mantel, tile or millwork, we plan it with the trades doing it — yours, or ones we bring in — so the fire and the wall are drawn as one thing rather than two. One point of contact, and nothing lost in the gap between trades.

It’s exactly why a small insert belongs with us. A smaller opening leaves less room for error: the firebox measured honestly, the flue lined to suit, and a frame finished cleanly to the old masonry — and that is the difference between an appliance and a centrepiece. We serve homeowners and contractors across Greater Vancouver, the North Shore, and the Sea to Sky Corridor — Squamish to Whistler and Pemberton, with Whistler a regular destination for us — and we’d love to show you what’s possible for your room.

Start with a photograph.

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