Installation of Fireplace Xtrordinair Question

[fireplacenewbie]

We were thinking of getting a Fireplace Xtrordinair 44 Elite (which was recommended by our dealer). After reviews of some of the posts, there were a lot of comments around problems with drafts with this model (albeit many were older posts).

Does anyone have any recent thoughts on this?

Also, does it matter that we WILL NOT be able to attach the "posi-pressure" system to the outside air? Our fireplace will be in the center of a large open room (with half of the room 2 story ceiling). There is no outside wall close enough. Our dealer said we could just set it up to take inside air, but I am wondering if that will affect the way the system works. Note - we can get the two cooling vents to outside walls by running it down through basement ceiling (if we go down instead of up, it apparently gets us long lead).

I appreciate any thoughts on this... I am new to all these fireplace issues and want to make sure we end up with one that is as energy efficient as possible!

Thanks!

 

[hdm2002]

I have just installed a 44 elite and I have not experienced any draft problems. As for the cooling duct you could pull the air from your basement as the unit has a knock out hole in the bottom to do such as this. I think this is a great fireplace the only problem I have with pulling the outside air is on a really cold day it does not heat the house as good using the outside air for combustion. Hope this helps. Good luck with your decisions.

 

[SpeakEasy]

Also, does it matter that we WILL NOT be able to attach the "posi-pressure" system to the outside air? Our fireplace will be in the center of a large open room (with half of the room 2 story ceiling). There is no outside wall close enough. Our dealer said we could just set it up to take inside air, but I am wondering if that will affect the way the system works.

I ran our blower duct straight down and into the basement, and I have the blower drawing "inside air" from the basement. It sounds like this is what you are planning to do? It's working fine for me, but there were a number of questions and issues that I had to iron out during the installation. One of the issues was my code enforcement officer. Since he was using the installation manual as code, and the manual is a little ambiguous about using the blower this way, I had to have documentation from Travis Industries (manufacturer) before he'd sign off on it. Through my dealer I was able to get this documentation. The biggest question is what is your basement like? If it's airtight, you may have a problem. If you have some appliances (like a gas furnace) that use flame, you have to consider whether they'll be able to get enough air. The FPX blower will be moving lots of air out of the basement. Where will the replacement air come from? You can use this to your advantage (like I'm doing) to move cooler air from remote parts of your house into the basement to replace the air removed by the blower. Doing this helps circulate the warm air from the stove.

I did it this way because I had heard about and read about people in cold climates who have been unhappy with the posi-pressure and the way it functioned for them. One of these people was my dealer! My dealer is actually two brothers - both of whom have FPXs in their homes. One has the blower outside, and the other has it inside. The one with it outside is a little unhappy with it that way.

-Speak