Getting lots of heat from the brick around my insert. Glad I did a block off plate

I've been running my Buck pretty hard the last few days (as most of us have with the weather) and I occasionally throw the IR thermometer on the brick around the insert. The whole fireplace heats up and stores and releases lots of heat. You can see the temps registering 2 and 4 courses of brick up from the insert. The inside of the fireplace is getting anywhere from 150 to 220 depending on where I shoot it. I can't help but believe the block off plate is keeping that heat inside the living area and radiating it back into the house rather than up the chimney. That much mass throws a lot of heat and does it for a very long time.

Anyone else ever measure this and what kind of results do you get.

Here's a picture of the blockoff plate. Got the idea from a thread here called 'Poor mans blockoff plate" or something like that. Thanks to whoever posted that. Not that hard and highly recommend for anyone doing an insert install.

I too have an insert in a brick fireplace. I have a home made block off plate in there as well. My brick works like a great heat sink. Long after the stove cools down it's still putting out a little heat.

Be green, i can't really vouch for a before and after because I changed so many things at the same time. Went from a 'slammer' install to a 25'liner with a BO plate and dryer wood. I'd never install another without it however. Oh yea, the other thing I did at the same time was remove the surround.

That's great! I have been digging around for a replacement for my insert and one thing I kept thinking was, it would be nice if I could get an insert that looked good without it's surround. Is that a Buck insert? Some of the inserts look good without their surround, and some others really expose a lot of nuts and bolts, yours looks great!

I'll be keeping this in mind as I run my liner and install my block off plate, more heat is always good!

And now you've got me surfing Buck's website trolling around for what inserts they offer, good job on that one.