Can I heat my home with my wood stove or wood insert when the power is out?
Yes — a Flat Rock wood stove or wood insert heats your home through a power outage on firewood alone. In a village of 1800s homes with grand old fireplaces, the catch is that those original open hearths give away most of their heat and often sit on aging clay liners — so how you go about it matters.
Grand Old Fireplaces, Modern Efficiency
Historic Flat Rock's oversized open masonry fireplaces are part of the architecture, but as heaters they're generous to a fault — a big open fire can actually run a net heat loss, pulling warmed room air up the chimney and cold air in around it. On a winter night that's the opposite of what you want.
A sealed wood insert solves it without touching the character of the room: it fits inside the existing opening, keeps the original mantel and surround, and turns a decorative fire into a heater running 70 percent efficient or better that keeps working when the power drops.
Aging Clay Liners Need a Look
Many of these chimneys still have their original clay flue tiles, and after a century-plus those liners crack, gap, and shed. A wood insert vents through a stainless liner sized and run to the appliance, which both makes the fire safe and lets it draft properly at Flat Rock's elevation.
We inspect the existing flue first and tell you honestly what it needs — no upselling a full reline where a sweep and a new liner will carry you through the season.
Preserving the House, By the Book
Work on a historic home is worth doing right. We pull the Henderson County permit, set the liner and appliance to clearance, and meet the inspector, so the job protects both the home's value and your insurance.
We're 30 minutes south of the Asheville showroom and install and service Regency, Lopi, Jotul, and HearthStone. Call (828) 545-0525 to have your fireplace assessed before the heating season sets in.
Fireplace help in Flat Rock
We install and service fireplaces throughout Flat Rock and the rest of Henderson County — just 30 minutes south from our Asheville-area showroom.