Gas Inserts
For the masonry fireplace you already have. A gas insert sits in the opening, vents up the existing chimney, and turns a fireplace that looks the part into one that heats the room.
Three makers, one idea
Most older homes have one: a brick or stone fireplace that was built to burn wood, draws beautifully, and sends most of its warmth up the chimney. A gas insert keeps the fireplace and changes what happens inside it. A sealed direct-vent firebox sits in the opening, a pair of liners run up the existing flue for exhaust and combustion air, and a surround closes the gap between the new steel and the old masonry. The room gets a fire that lights from a remote or a thermostat, burns clean, and puts its heat into the house rather than the sky.
The three makers we feature approach it differently. Enviro builds nine direct-vent inserts in British Columbia, from a fire for a small opening to a heater for a great room, with a clean face and no louvres. Regency’s Atmosphere LE comes in three sizes with the Infusion Burner and a steel-stud reface kit that lets the whole fireplace wall be rebuilt around it. Valor’s G3, G3.5 and G4 are radiant inserts in three sizes with twelve fire options, and they run without electricity, so the fire stays lit when the power goes out.
An insert is only as good as its measurement. The opening’s height, width and depth decide which models fit, the chimney decides the liner, the hearth decides the surround, and the room decides the output. That measuring is where Maxwell Fireplace begins: we visit, measure the opening and the flue, help you choose among the models that fit, plan the liner run, pull the permit and install the insert with our own crew. Any stone, tile or mantel work around it we plan together with the trades doing it — yours, or ones we bring in. Send a photograph of the fireplace with a tape measure across the opening and we will tell you what it can hold.
The gas inserts we feature
Each one has its own page. Read the story, then come and see it.
Enviro Gas Inserts
Nine direct-vent gas inserts, from a 20,000 BTU fire for a small opening to a 42,000 BTU heater for a great room — built in British Columbia to make the masonry fireplace you already have heat the house.
Regency® Atmosphere LE
Three sizes of gas insert with a new Infusion Burner — and the steel-stud reface that lets you rebuild the whole fireplace wall.
The Valor G3, G3.5 & G4
Twelve fires in one fireplace. Three sizes. One unmistakable Valor flame — and no power, no problem.
Questions people tend to ask
Will a gas insert fit my fireplace?
Almost always, if the opening is a true masonry fireplace with a working flue. Each maker publishes a minimum opening for every model, and between the three brands the range covers most masonry fireplaces built in the last century. The measurement people forget is depth, and the one they cannot see is the flue. We measure both before we recommend anything.
Does it use the existing chimney?
Yes. A direct-vent insert runs two flexible liners up the existing flue, one carrying the exhaust out and one bringing combustion air in, so the fire is sealed from the room. The old damper is fixed open or removed, and the chimney is inspected before the liners go in.
Does an insert actually heat the room?
That is the point of it. An open wood fireplace loses most of its heat up the chimney; a sealed gas insert is a heater with a view. Outputs across the three brands run from about 20,000 BTU for a small room to more than 40,000 for a great room, most with a fan to push the warmth, and the Valor models heat by radiation and keep working through a power outage.
What happens to the brick around it?
It stays, if you want it to. A surround covers the gap between the insert and the masonry, in sizes and finishes to suit the opening, and Regency’s steel-stud reface goes further and lets the whole wall be rebuilt. Either way the stone or tile is planned with the trades doing it, and the insert, the liner and the gas are ours.
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 gas insert belongs with us. An insert only pays off if the opening was measured before the model was chosen, the liner was planned to the chimney it has to climb, and the surround was drawn to the hearth rather than around it — 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 — and we’d love to show you what’s possible for the fireplace you have.