FP30 Up and Running

[Mike M.]

Well here is my new fireplace and I have to say, we are pretty impressed with the unit. Stove is very easy to light and holds a nice hot fire. This is a great unit for anyone looking for a high quality zero clearance fireplace. No super cold weather yet here but no rush for that. My chimney is straight up, mostly indoor and about 25 feet in length. I typically turn on the blower when the temp gauge reads 600, which is easy to accomplish with only a few splits.

 

[Fake coal burner]

View attachment 165558 Well here is my new fireplace and I have to say, we are pretty impressed with the unit. Stove is very easy to light and holds a nice hot fire. This is a great unit for anyone looking for a high quality zero clearance fireplace. No super cold weather yet here but no rush for that. My chimney is straight up, mostly indoor and about 25 feet in length. I typically turn on the blower when the temp gauge reads 600, which is easy to accomplish with only a few splits.

Nice clean fire place set up. Hope you have enough seasoned wood. Stay warm this winter.

 

[begreen]

That's a very good looking installation. Thanks for the picture. Keep us posted throughout the winter on how well it's working out for you.

 

[Mike M.]

Thanks, this year's wood is not the best. We sold our last house with about 5 full cords of maple and ash. I was cutting last winter to try and get some wood put up for the new house. We have about 2 cords of softwood that seasoned all summer and one pallet of bio bricks from tractor supply.

 

[Drewman]

Beautiful looking fire and stone work - thanks for sharing!

What is that orange thing-a-ma-jig above the door?

Could you elaborate a bit more in regards to your chimney. I am wanting to do this setup badly but with a baby we are pushing it back to spring/summer. You mention the chimney is mostly inside but I see what looks like an exterior window. Is it in a newly built chase?

Do you have an outside air kit installed?

I have never loaded wood north to south only east to west. How is the north to south loading....if that terminology is understandable.

 

[Mike M.]

The orange thing is a temp gauge for the unit (magnetic).

The stove is installed in an interior wall, our bedroom is behind the fireplace. There is a chase out the roof also. I have another stove in the basement that uses the same chase in the wall and roof.

Yes the outside air kit is installed and works awesome. I always close the door all the way on startup and never have a draft problem.

We almost always load wood north south. Its just so much easier and the wood doesn't roll and hit the glass.

 

[Drewman]

Nice thanks for the information!

I notice you have a wall switch beside the unit. Could you tell me how that operates? I am curious if it is a manual switch to turn the fan off/on. I know it has a temperature actuated variable speed fan. Do you find this works well enough or do you find yourself perhaps forcing the fan on earlier? Previously I had a manual fan over ride that I always turned out as I felt that the temperature actuated

How is the air output from the fan in the unit. It seems pretty low at 120 CFM but wanted a first hand review.
(just trying to get myself and mminor some more info https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...eplace-by-pacific-energy.101528/#post-1996172)

 

[Mike M.]

Yes the switch on the wall controls the fan. I will likely try to replace it soon with a fan dimmer. Right now the unit fan just runs on full speed, but it actually is not very loud. The FP30 fan moves a good amount of air but I think my old Napoleon 1402 moved much more air. However the more air you move the quicker the stove cools and that equals more wood. I have never had the fan turn on or off yet with the fireplace temp sensor. I always wait extra long on startup - around 600 degrees, before starting the fan. Then I usually shut it off for reloads and when the stove cools down to 400 or so. We have 60in fan in the living room which does a nice job keeping the heat off the ceiling. The ceiling fan is mounted at about 18 feet. I should note that yesterday we had a bunch of people over for Halloween and many thought the fireplace, while burning, was "fake". Really glad no one walked up and put their hand on it.

 

[Drewman]

Thank you and great information!

We used a dimmer switch on our previous Heat and Glo Northstar and it worked well.

I wonder why they thought it was fake?

Did you install remote heating kits to your bedroom behind?

 

[Mike M.]

I have no idea why they thought it was fake. I had the same comments in my last house. We live in Wisconsin and it is crazy how many people don't understand wood heat. Every new home comes with a gas unit these days. Any mention of a wood fireplace and people think you are a cave man or something.

Per installation manual we did install the 2 gravity vents. They come out just above the mantel in the picture. I think if I could start this whole install over, I would have bought the arched door FP30 with the vent above the door. I am pretty sure that unit doesn't need gravity vents. The vents are okay, its just something that is not the most pleasant to look at. I plan to paint the wall the fireplace is on, then paint the vent covers the same color. When we are not burning we usually have something on the mantel that hides the vents.

 

[Drewman]

Do you know if you got the most recent Series of the unit: Series B? Series B does not require the gravity vents. It looks like on the manufacturers website Series B has the blower venting on the top of the unit for both the Straight and Arch - granted the Arch does seem to have a bit more.

Unfortunately my dealer does not have a unit and they didn't seem to know of one in the entire state of Ohio that I could drive to...

 

[Mike M.]

Well if you ever want to take a ride let me know, your welcome to come look at ours. I have a series A model. One thing I noticed is the gravity vents do nothing when the fan is on. All the air from the fan vents out just above the door. However if you turn off the fan, or don't use the fan the gravity vents pour out heat. I mean so much heat that I am kind of worried about the drywall by them. I have no idea where the heat would go on the series B model like mine with no gravity vents. The arced door model has a vent that is much larger than mine, our dealer had one I inspected.

 

[mminor]

Hi Drew.

From reading your posts above - it sounds like you had a Northstar fireplace at one point. Did you like the Northstar, what was your experience with that ZC fireplace? Out of curiosity, will you be switching to the Pacific Energy FP30?

I'm looking to purchase Heat and Glo FP and it's great to hear from those who have or had the Northstar fireplace.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Drewman]

Hi Drew.

From reading your posts above - it sounds like you had a Northstar fireplace at one point. Did you like the Northstar, what was your experience with that ZC fireplace? Out of curiosity, will you be switching to the Pacific Energy FP30?

Thanks,
Matt

Hey Matt - I wrote a review here:https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/heat-and-glo-northstar-review-with-pictures.146175/

We did like the Northstar. Our propane bill went from $3000 down to about $800 with it - that would not be so dramatic now as propane prices are half what they use to be for me! I made a fire at night and the furnace would kick on about 5 or 6 AM just before I got up.The only drawback was a piece would fall down inside between the ceramic blanket and top baffle. We moved after two heating seasons otherwise I would have found a more permanent fix/got the dealer/manufacturer involved.

We are strongly considering the FP30 - I like the fact that it's a single door with more viewing area. The Northstar would not match the design of our current residence. Feel free to ask any and all questions about the Northstar!

 

[mminor]

Hi Drew,

Thanks so much for all the details on your time spent with the Northstar - your information is super helpful and really helps me and others confirm our decision to purchase the Heat and Glo fireplace.

I was also considering the Pacific Energy FP30. I think PE is a very reputable company. The unit looks great, puts out a ton of heat (according to specs), weighs a lot (good quality), has real fire bricks, and has that nice large viewing window. The one small downside is there's not a lot of reviews from owners yet.

The only reason we took the FP30 off our personal list is due to aesthetics - it's a bit too modern for our decor (even the arched version is squared off on all four sides) and my fiancé requested we get a fully arched-top unit for that traditional fireplace look - similar to the Northstar, Quadrafire 7100, NZ3000, etc.

Thanks again for all your help. And please let us know which zero clearance FP you ultimately purchase.

Matt

 

[mminor]

Hi Drew - did you decide on the FP30 yet?

 

[Drewman]

...one year later. I never purchased the fireplace. We still have no fireplace. We did purchase an additional 15 acres of woods beside us though and had a second child!!

FP30 is still at the top of my list and am now putting it on our 3-4 year list.