History: In the early to mid 1970s, there was an energy crisis of sorts. Heating costs were going up, there were long lines at the gas stations, and everyone was looking for ways to cut fuel usage. Ron had already started selling and installing various brands of fireplace inserts and free-standing wood burning stoves, and had tried a few of them in his own home. The turning point for him came in 1978.
In 1978, Ron and his family lived in a big, drafty, old two-story house. At that time, the house was heated by a very inefficient gravity driven coal furnace that had been converted to gas. The heating bill for October-November of 1978 was over $200. That's a lot of money even today; in 1978 it seemed astronomical. At that time, Ron decided to take out the fireplace insert he had installed earlier that same year, and he installed a Fuego III woodburning fireplace insert by El Fuego Fireplaces into his home. He and his family kept the fire burning when they were at home, and the following months saw heating bills of less than $100 per month.
Ron was astonished and very pleased at the difference in his heating bills. He was sold on the efficiency and beauty of the Fuego III fireplace insert, especially when compared to results of the other inserts he had tried. While the other brands were not negligible in their heat output, he was so impressed by the performance of the Fuego III that from that time until until the time El Fuego Fireplaces went out of business he did not sell any other brand of fireplace insert.
Originally, the Fuego III fireplace insert was manufactured by El Fuego Fireplaces; the fireplace inserts manufactured by Fuego Flame Fireplaces and one or two others are very similar, in some ways improved. Over the years, as an independent small business owner, Ron has sold and installed many hundreds of very efficient inserts; he has personally installed over 500 El Fuego Fireplaces and Fuego Flame fireplace inserts, and uses Fuego Flame brand in his own home.
