Gonna get a heat n glow northstar

[williemon]

This will be new construction. I was deciding between napoliean, Security bis/lennox and the heat n glow. I like the heat n glo due to price mostly plus its high effiency. Styling is great without costing a ton as well. Going with the sl300 chimney pipe .

Is there anything I should know or tell the installers when they get to it? There is a local store that will sell to me and do the install for my builder.

 

[73blazer]

THe only thing I would watch for is the installer use the CAK4A Chimney Air Kit. Some installers like to skip that thing.

 

[Fsappo]

This will be new construction. I was deciding between napoliean, Security bis/lennox and the heat n glow. I like the heat n glo due to price mostly plus its high effiency. Styling is great without costing a ton as well. Going with the sl300 chimney pipe .

Is there anything I should know or tell the installers when they get to it? There is a local store that will sell to me and do the install for my builder.

Good choice. Enjoy the fireplace and post some photos when its installed

 

[williemon]

Installer used the CAK4A Chimney Air Kit and installed the fresh air as well. Install looks good. Should both air kits have used insulated or metal duct? What they used was a foil type non insulated flex.

The insulation crew did a great job as well insulating the house and the chase for the fireplace.

 

[73blazer]

Regular non-insulated metal duct is just fine for the outside air and chimney air kits.

Good to hear it's all done, enjoy

 

[williemon]

My first test fire in the northstar went well cept for a pretty funny start.

I had all windows open in the house since it was about 72 out. I had 8 pieces of 8" long pine 2x6 that were used on a crate. I loaded 2 of them in the firebox in a laying down teepee shape with newspaper on the inside of the teepee. A third 2x6 was on top of the teepee as well. I placed one ball of newspaper on top of the pile. Lit it and it started drawing pretty quick so I lit the bottom. I kept feeding newspaper to the bottom for a small time and once I saw the boards catch, I added more newspaper, let that catch and then closed the fp doors. i had the primary air wide open.

Pretty quick, the firebox fills with smoke and I could not see inside anymore. Smoke starts escaping out from under the bottom of the unit. I concluded that something had gone wrong. I decided to open the doors and just fan the smoke out of the house. Once it was cleared, I again used newspaper to light with, but this time, I left the doors open for a bit. Finally all three pieces were involved, I shut the door and and kept the primary full open. All was well.

I eventually over the time of about 3 hours added the other 5 pieces to the firebox and played with the primary air. As I read on these boards, it looks like the smoke at startup was my fault for not keeping the doors open long enough. I will test a few more times and see what I get.

A couple of questions: Mine is the all black. Is there supposed to be some kind of heat protecting coiled handle grip on the door handles? Mine has none and the steel handle bars are very hot.

Also, is the ACC lever, primary air adjustment and the damper open/close controls supposed to have any type of handle? The damper open/close is real tough since I have to grip it with pliars.

Thanks

 

[mitchinpa]

You should have received gold spiral handles for the doors. (I actually dont use mine as everything else in my house is brushed nickle. I use gloves to open and feed the unit.) Also, the outside air control should be a little plastic knob that makes about a quarter turn to open/close. The ACC lever is just a black lever and should slide back and forth very easily.

I never have to keep my doors open at startup. My chimney is about 24 foot high though, and it drafts very nicely.