Kozy Heat or Mendota? Please help me decide

[Wendy]

Hello,

My husband and I are planning on converting our wood burning fireplace into a natural gas fireplace. After checking the dealers and installers near us we've narrowed our selection down to the Mendota FV-44i or the Kozy Heat Jordan series. We do like the variety of trim options of the Mendota, the fact that we can choose cracked glass media, and a black enamel interior. When I first went to the Kozy Heat dealer I was told that I could choose any front and any media, but when I brought my husband in the next week to look we were told that we could only choose logs and only choose one front grill or clear glass as our options. My husband and I don't really like the look of the fake logs and prefer the more modern look of the cracked glass, but I'm unsure if the second guy at the Kozy place was uninformed or the first guy was just trying to make a sale.

The price of the Mendota with exactly what we want was about $800 more than the one at Kozy in the one configuration they quoted. This is a big splurge in the first place, and another $800 is hard to swallow just for looks.

So I'd like opinions on performance to help me decide. This is going into a daylight basement that is a good 10 degrees colder than the main floor in winter (we live in NJ). So it will be used as a main source of heat in a 15 x 22 ft room. Sometimes we will be sitting 6 ft away on the sofa watching a movie. Other times we will be 12 feet away playing a card game.

Is one more reliable than the other?
We want a black enamel refractory - does one stand up better than the other?
Is one more adjustable than the other for comfort either near or further away?
Which is actually true of Kozy Heat - options or just what's in the brochure we were given?
In your opinion is Mendota worth $800 more than Kozy (that price includes installation for both dealers and I don't know if one is charging more for their labor than the other)

Thanks for your help and any insights.

 

[mygasfireplacerepair]

I'm not extremely familiar with Mendota, but I can answer your questions about Kozy Heat.

I'm fairly sure that all enamel liners should hold up about the same. Just make sure the installers wipe their fingerprints off before the initial burning. A good quality glass cleaner and a soft cloth should be used to help maintain the liner as well as clean off the white carbon deposit that will eventually form on it.

Both brands will come with the same SIT Proflame "smart" remote system where you can set a temperature and the unit will raise and lower the flame to maintain the temperature. Both have similar BTU ratings and approximately 50% turndown, So both will fit your heating needs.

The Kozy Heat units are only designed to work with the glass bead media. We have tried the crushed glass inside of them but have had a few delayed ignition problems. You can choose any of the Jordan series fronts as the Minneapolis, Rockford, and Jordan are all the same chassis and they are all compatible.

I think quality is the same. It may just come down to a personal preference as to what look you like better.

 

[Ironhorse74]

There are a lot of differences in the construction. Mendota uses Neo-ceram glass KOZY uses float glass. Mendota will be 20% heavier than KOZY. You will never have a firebox issue with a Mendota. I don't believe the KOZY has a rear burner shut off. So the Mendota will be more adjustable. 40k to 15.3k btu. The flame is better in the Mendota. Kozy is a Chevy, Mendota is a Caddy.

Brad

 

[Wendy]

There are a lot of differences in the construction. Mendota uses Neo-ceram glass KOZY uses float glass. Mendota will be 20% heavier than KOZY. You will never have a firebox issue with a Mendota. I don't believe the KOZY has a rear burner shut off. So the Mendota will be more adjustable. 40k to 15.3k btu. The flame is better in the Mendota. Kozy is a Chevy, Mendota is a Caddy.

Brad

Thanks, I'm leaning toward the Mendota but I feel a little more comfortable with the installer from Kozy. He seemed more thorough.

Do you know if the BTUs is the same on the Mendota if you put the glass in vs. the fake logs? The Kozy dealer told me that it's 37,000 BTUs for logs, but you can't burn that hot if you put in glass, so the unit that comes with glass is 25,000 BTUs. Also that you must use glass beads, not crushed glass. The Mendota dealer said it's 40,000BTUs no matter what you put inside, and that there was no problem swapping out glass beads for crushed glass. I can't find any info from Mendota about the BTUs for different media. Do you know?

Also, I use NG for my furnace, stove, dryer, and gas grill now. Kozy dealer told me a should run a second line for my FP because the one going to my gas grill was too small. Mendota dealer told me no problem to run off current gas line to the grill. I'd hate to have this whole thing put in and then find out that it can't work properly, or that our inspector won't pass it.

Thanks so much for the help!

 

[Ironhorse74]

Wendy

There is a big difference in btu's between the traditional and contemporary units from Mendota. 40k traditional and 28k Modern.

Brad

 

[Ironhorse74]

Flame is just OK. Which is the biggest issue. Uses float glass. The way HNG puts the units together, they sound like a kid shaking a tin can full of rusting nails, when they heat and cool. Not a fan of their remotes. Temp is all over the place.

 

[sticks]

Not sure how HNG got brought in to the discussion. I am a big fan of the Kozy from a reliability stand point. Never had any issues with them making any noises and the glass is the same as what they use on their wood products.