We are going to build and trying to figure out wood fireplaces. Need help deciding between regency ex90 vs fireplace xtrordinair elite 36 or elite 44. Any help is appreciated.
which one to get
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For decent advice, you'll need to provide a bit more info. What is the floor plan for the house? How big is the room the stove is going in? Is it going to be a problem if this room is hot? Where in the house do you want to put it (living room, basement)? What are your heating goals (100% of the home's heat, supplemental, weekends / evenings) what sort of wood do you have access to? How long are people who are going to run the stove going to be away from it during work?
The vast majority of stoves on the market are good units, so long as they fit the home and the homeowner's expectations and the homeowner has the knowledge to run the unit well. The more info there is to work with, the better chance you have at getting a truly helpful response.
Good luck and welcome to the site,
pen
The vast majority of stoves on the market are good units, so long as they fit the home and the homeowner's expectations and the homeowner has the knowledge to run the unit well. The more info there is to work with, the better chance you have at getting a truly helpful response.
Good luck and welcome to the site,
pen
We will be building a ranch style home that is about 1700 Sq ft on the main floor. We will be putting it in the living room on the main floor. It will burn mostly evenings & weekends mostly. I might build one to burn all day if it's safe. My father has a bis that has been awesome but they were bought and are at limited availability. I would like the bis traditional but price comes into play. I'm will learn to use this site this weekend. Just looking for quick opinions. Also if there is another one i should be looking im open like the quadrafire 7100. Thank for your help.
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Isaiah53
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The FPX 44 is the closest to the Bis. The EX90 has a much smaller firebox (2.5 ft3) than either of the two FPX units (3.7 and 4.3 ft3). The FPX units are going to provide much more heat. Not sure if you really need it, but it is a significant difference. I would think the FPX 36 would be adequate for the size of your home unless you really like the look of the larger 44. I don't have any experience with the EX90 but I would be concerned it may not be large enough. Depends a lot on the specifics or your house. You mentioned that cost is a factor and I expect the FPX units will be more expensive. They are larger and catalytic. The base unit is probably going to be somewhere around $5-6K. The dealer install price for my FPX 44 was around $6400 three years ago.
My family and I have been very pleased with the FPX 44. It looks great and it puts out a large amount of heat. No problem keeping the living area in the high 70's with outside temps below zero. I think it would heat my entire 2700 ft2 home except for the reverse plan layout that has the living areas and fireplace upstairs (I added a stove downstairs). I really like the high capacity blower that comes with the FPX units. You can feel the hot air coming off the grill with your hand up to about 2ft away. I also really appreciate that the blower is located remotely in my attic, as opposed to the typical arrangement where the blower intake is along the bottom of the fireplace where it sucks up ash, dust and pet hair. It also greatly reduces the noise. Most blowers are rather noisy when running on high speed, which in my mind destroys the ambiance of a traditional fireplace.
You cannot turn down the air much at all on the FPX without blackening the doors rapidly. I tend to run mine on higher air settings and cycle the unit on and off to control the heat output I would expect the EZ90 to be better on turndown. I think the FPX units suffer in this area because of the large fireboxes and windows. Don't believe the burn times given by the manufacturer. Most of the FPX users I have heard from on this site get about 6 hours of burn time, which seems very low for the firebox size. The FPX fireboxes are rather oddly shaped so you really cannot easily pack them completely with wood, so it is not as bad as it sounds. I go through about 5 cords of wood (mostly pine and spruce) on mine burning from about mid Oct to mid May. It would be less on hardwoods. The free standing wood stoves will be more efficient on wood and cheaper to install. Most people on this site prefer them for performance, but I think most of the general public prefer the appearances of a traditional fireplace and the high efficiency ZC is a good compromise for that.
My family and I have been very pleased with the FPX 44. It looks great and it puts out a large amount of heat. No problem keeping the living area in the high 70's with outside temps below zero. I think it would heat my entire 2700 ft2 home except for the reverse plan layout that has the living areas and fireplace upstairs (I added a stove downstairs). I really like the high capacity blower that comes with the FPX units. You can feel the hot air coming off the grill with your hand up to about 2ft away. I also really appreciate that the blower is located remotely in my attic, as opposed to the typical arrangement where the blower intake is along the bottom of the fireplace where it sucks up ash, dust and pet hair. It also greatly reduces the noise. Most blowers are rather noisy when running on high speed, which in my mind destroys the ambiance of a traditional fireplace.
You cannot turn down the air much at all on the FPX without blackening the doors rapidly. I tend to run mine on higher air settings and cycle the unit on and off to control the heat output I would expect the EZ90 to be better on turndown. I think the FPX units suffer in this area because of the large fireboxes and windows. Don't believe the burn times given by the manufacturer. Most of the FPX users I have heard from on this site get about 6 hours of burn time, which seems very low for the firebox size. The FPX fireboxes are rather oddly shaped so you really cannot easily pack them completely with wood, so it is not as bad as it sounds. I go through about 5 cords of wood (mostly pine and spruce) on mine burning from about mid Oct to mid May. It would be less on hardwoods. The free standing wood stoves will be more efficient on wood and cheaper to install. Most people on this site prefer them for performance, but I think most of the general public prefer the appearances of a traditional fireplace and the high efficiency ZC is a good compromise for that.
I look through the reviews and the quadrafire seems to have the better reviews. I guess I'm between the fxp elite 44 and the quadrafire 7100.
No endorsement for any particular unit. Check the review section and the forum for actual experiences.
KozyHeat Z42, Pacific Energy FP30, Valcourt (probably the FP9), Napoleon NZ3000, Osburn Stratford or the similar Flame Monaco if you are on a budget, RSF has several efficient fireplaces: http://www.icc-rsf.com/en/rsf-woodburning-fireplaces, same for Superior: http://superiorfireplaces.us.com/products/t/superior-wood-burning-fireplaces, Heat and Glo Northstar, Hearthstone WFP-75
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