heatilator fireplace - is it meant for heat

[justaqustion]

Hi! I am not only new to the message board, but new to fireplaces. I just bought a home this past summer and it has my first working fireplace. I was very excited, as I always wanted a fireplace. I do have a few questions, and am not sure where to go. Just and FYI, I am sure these questions are very simple to answer, but I know very little about fireplaces.

Okay, I have a Heatilator ND4236 fireplace. This is a gas fireplace that is located in the corner of a room. I turned it on the other night and was disappointed in the fact that I didn't feel as though the room was heating up very quickly. If I was close to the fireplace, I could feel the heat, but any more than 5 feet away I did not feel anything. I want to use this as a heating tool. It does not have a fan. Is this something I would need to purchase to make heating much more efficient, or is this type of fireplace not even meant for heating? If I do purchase a fan, is this noisy? Approximately how much would the fan and installation cost and would it be worth it?

Any info you could pass along to me would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if I left out any needed info, but I am really uneducated on this topic!

 

[elkimmeg]

from the manual page 4

NOT INTENDED FOR USE AS A PRIMARY HEAT
SOURCE. This appliance is tested and approved as either
supplemental room heat or as a decorative appliance. It
should not be factored as primary heat in residential heating
calculations.

this is a decorative fireplace meaning 50% or more heat leaves out the vent To be a serious heater it would be classified as an high efficiency fireplace and have an EPA efficiency listing

these are cheaper fireplaces for ambiance and never intended fo provide any serious heat called a decorative class fireplace

for a few dollars more a high efficiency class fire place could have been installed where 85% of the heat is circulated into your living space

 

[Metal]

I have always said that they need to hook this type of fireplace up directly to the door bell, so it ignites when guests arrive (Oh look, they have a fireplace). You would be ahead to just turn your furnace up a degree or two.

 

[Shipper50]

from the manual page 4

NOT INTENDED FOR USE AS A PRIMARY HEAT
SOURCE. This appliance is tested and approved as either
supplemental room heat or as a decorative appliance. It
should not be factored as primary heat in residential heating
calculations.

this is a decorative fireplace meaning 50% or more heat leaves out the vent To be a serious heater it would be classified as an high efficiency fireplace and have an EPA efficiency listing

these are cheaper fireplaces for ambiance and never intended fo provide any serious heat called a decorative class fireplace

for a few dollars more a high efficiency class fire place could have been installed where 85% of the heat is circulated into your living space

I wish the builder and owner of the log home I bought would have known this when he built the house I live in now. It has or had a wood burning heatilator fireplace and when I first used it I had to use my heat pump with full heat strips and the fireplace on high as they say and still wasn't getting the house temp above 55.

Something about thermal mass? heat in a log home and it didn't have warm temps for months before I bought. So know I have an insert that doesn't heat and will be listening very carefully this Friday to a fireplace store owner and what he has to say.

Shipper

 

[elkimmeg]

Same classification exist in wood burning fireplaces

decorative = little heat and most exits up the chimney does not need be EPA tested

High efficiency= productive heat and is EPA efficiency labeled and tested

 

[david Lee]

Your fireplace is tested to ANZI standard Z21.88 which is the heating fireplace standard not the decorative fireplace standard which is Z21.50. Can you describe the room size, ceiling ht, vent run , direct out the back or vertical through the roof. Location of the fireplace in the room. Is it in an outside chase, outside wall or interior of the room. All of these factors come into play as far the performance and what you may expect from your fireplace. Having said all of this, this model is considered to be a production builder grade model. The fan kit option is about your only option for more heat output.

The easiest way to see if your fireplace is prewired for a fan kit is to look for a J box or outlet plug in the valve compartment / lower grille area . If you have one, plug any house hold appliance into it to confirm you have power there. If you do, then adding a blower is very easy. You can also try removing the safety screen over the glass. That may radiate some additional heat into the room.

 

[Tink]

We removed ours about a month ago, and pulled down the huge wall section that it used. Now we have a nice open area between the dining room and living room, are using a cute antique stove for now, and will be getting our lovely soapstone stove possibly this weekend.

The heatilator fireplace, with the ductwork to blow the heat from the sides and back of the fireburning area into the living room didn't accomplish much in the way of heating anything. What a piece of JUNK!

Do yourself a great big favor and rip the thing out and replace it with a decent woodstove. You'll be so glad you did!