Wood-Burning Inserts
A certified wood fire inside an existing masonry opening. The fireplace you already have, burning wood the way a modern stove does.
Certified, model by model
An open masonry fireplace is a beautiful way to heat the outdoors. Most of the warmth goes up the chimney, the room air goes with it, and the smoke that leaves the top is what an old fire makes. A wood-burning insert changes all three. A sealed, certified firebox sits in the opening, a liner runs up the flue, and the fireplace becomes a stove built into the wall: the heat comes into the room, the glass stays clear, and the particulate leaving the chimney is a fraction of what it was.
Pacific Energy builds six certified inserts in British Columbia, from 1.4 to 2.5 cubic feet, every one tested at 1.6 to 1.8 grams an hour. Morsø’s 5660 is Danish cast iron, rated for 2,200 square feet on a 20-inch log and tested at 71 percent efficiency. Stûv’s 16-In is the steel, minimal version, engineered to disappear into the opening. Each is EPA 2020 certified and eligible for registration under Metro Vancouver’s Bylaw 1303, and the figure is on each page.
An insert is decided by the opening and the chimney. The height, width and depth of the firebox decide which models fit, the flue decides the liner, the hearth decides how far the insert can stand forward, and the municipality decides what it asks before the first fire. Maxwell Fireplace measures all of that first: we visit, measure the opening and the flue, help you choose among the models that fit, plan the liner, handle the permit and tell you what the bylaw registration asks, and install the insert with our own crew. Any stone or tile 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 which of these it can take.
The wood inserts we feature
Each one has its own page, with the certification and the figure beside each model.
Morsø 5660 Insert
Danish cast iron for the masonry fireplace you already have — 43,499 BTU for 2,200 square feet on a 20-inch log, tested at 71 percent efficiency, and certified for a wood fire here.
Pacific Energy Wood Inserts
Six certified inserts, from 1.4 to 2.5 cubic feet, that turn the open masonry fireplace you already own into a clean, registerable fire — every one at 1.6 to 1.8 g/h, built in British Columbia.
Stûv 16-In
The EPA-certified wood insert that retrofits into the masonry fireplace you already have.
Questions people tend to ask
Will a wood insert fit my fireplace?
If it is a true masonry fireplace with a sound flue, usually. Each maker publishes the minimum opening for every model, and between the three brands the range covers most masonry fireplaces. The measurement people forget is depth, and the one they cannot see is the flue. We measure both before we recommend anything.
Is a wood insert allowed in Metro Vancouver?
Yes. Bylaw 1303 does not stop wood burning; it asks that a new wood-burning appliance meet an emissions standard and be registered. Every insert on this page is EPA 2020 certified, which satisfies the standard, and we tell you what the registration asks in your municipality.
How much wood does it burn?
Far less than the open fire did, because the heat stays in the room instead of going up the chimney. The larger fireboxes take longer logs and burn longer between loads; the smaller ones suit a room rather than a house. We size the insert to the room, not to the opening.
Does the chimney need work?
It needs a liner, and it needs to be sound. An insert is installed with a stainless liner run up the flue, which is what makes the fire draw and keeps the chimney clean, and the chimney is inspected before the liner goes in.
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 wood 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 bylaw was answered before the first match — 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.