Quadrafire 7100 vs HeatNGlo Northstar vs others?

[ahreno]

I'm building a new 2700 sqft single story house in Northern California (zip 95470). it never drops below zero. I will also have infloor hydronic heating. Wood stove will be for ambience and to give a little extra heat on the rare days it drops into the teens or single digits (i've only seen this once in ten years) Trying to research fireplaces. I also own a home in Eugene, OR (97402) which i installed a quadrafire 7100 in a few years ago.

Through my current research i keep coming back to the 7100 that i already have. I honestly dont really like the one i have in eugene. I dont feel i get a very long burn time and i only burn madrone and a little oak. I can load the fireplace FULL at midnight-2am and barely have coals left at 9am... It does a good job heating the house but i really would like a longer burn time. The installer was a dick and ignored me until the warranty was over and then want $100 just to show up. I dont like that there doesn't really seem to be a way to "turn down" the fire, like cutting off the air so it doesn't burn so fast.

Long story short, should i just go with another 7100? Is there anything else worth considering for zero clearance fireboxes? The northstar by heatnglo seems to come up frequently as well. kick me in a different direction if needed...

 

[mminor]

(1) I put together a list of zero clearance fireplace options (attached).

(2) I agree with you - both the 7100 and Northstar have good feedback from members on here.

(3) I'm pretty sure the Northstar and 7100 have a mechanism to turn down the air flow for a slower / longer burn. Maybe member "Iron" can comment further as he's become a veteran with his Northstar...

Matt

 

[David.Ervin]

The Northstar is basically a slightly smaller version of the Quad 7100. In fact, they share many parts in common. I've got a Northstar in my living room and like it pretty well, and have had minimal issues aside from dirty chimney induced draft issues, but that's arguably my fault for burning "iffy" wood the first year I had it. When I'm keeping it loaded up in the dead of winter, it'll easily keep the house warm, especially when backed up by it's buddy Quad 4300 stove in the basement. If you want really long burn times, you'll be disappointed with the Northstar - I refill it two or three times a day in really cold weather, and it'll happily burn a load of oak or hickory down to embers you'll really struggle to relight from in 10 hours. A cat stove with a big firebox might do better for those really long burn times since you can "turn it down" farther and still get meaningful heat out of it. The tube stoves (i.e. Northstar, 7100) are meant to burn faster and hotter.

 

[mminor]

The FireplaceX Elite models (36 and 44) are zero clearance fireplaces with cat technology and should get longer burn times.

Members who own the Elite have a lot of positive feedback as well...

 

[Isaiah53]

If you are really interested in long burn times, you probably need to be looking at a stove. I am not sure any ZC is going to deliver what you are looking for - especially if you also want the ambience of flames. My FPX will deliver lots of heat, but I am constantly reloading (4 hrs) with pine. I only burn it on high, because it really blackens the glass on low. It can go down to very low air but I am fearful of the creosote being produced. I have heard N/S loading helps with this, but I have not yet cut my wood short enough to try this.

 

[mminor]

I was hoping you would chime-in Isaiah with all your FPX knowledge - nice work! I hope you're still enjoying your 44!