Kozy Heat Z42

[SmokinDiesel]

Long story short . We bought a house that had a pre fab fireplace already installed . Ripped that out in the first week and put a Z42 in . Today was the first time firing it up and love it so far . Only thing that has me worried is that the bottom gets extremely hot . It is sitting on plywood in the hearth like the manual says is allowed . Does your Z42 get hot underneath by the blowers as well ? Maybe i'm just paranoid but would like to hear from other people with the same stove . Thanks

 

[Tar12]

I have no clue as to what model you have or what it is but if I concerned that it was getting to hot setting on plywood I would be doing it over putting something non combustable under it.

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Roxul board or something similar. Plywood + heat = bad combination

 

[begreen]

If correctly installed the fireplace is ok to install on a plywood base. The lower and upper grilles must be unobstructed. The hearth needs to have at least R=.8 insulation.

 

[webby3650]

How hot? Can you leave your hand on it?

 

[Eureka]

This is my 2nd winter with a new Z42 CD. I ran a Pacific Energy Super insert for 5 years before that in my old place.
My Z42 is installed in a wood framed opening sitting directly on a 3/4” OSB platform. It sees 600+ degree stove temps regularly (just above center of doors). The stove and its surroundings get very warm to the touch because it’s dumping tons of BTUs into the house. I’d say the Kozy Heat is twice the heater my PE insert was, although those are high quality stoves. They design these things for zero clearance to combustibles so burn on and rest easy and warm!

 

[SmokinDiesel]

Well we made it through the night without burning the house down . Maybe i'm just being paranoid . Our old house had a masonary fireplace with a Regency i2400 slid into it . This is my first time dealing with a wood framed fireplace . The bottom of the unit by the blowers gets hot enough to where i cant hold my hand on it . The sides and top stay nice and cool .
According to everything i've read and even in the manual it says approved to sit right on plywood or a wood floor . Still seems odd to me but i'll go with it for now . Maybe this summer i'll take the unit out and do some fireproofing under it . It was not a fun project getting the stove installed , certainly not going to be fun getting it out

 

[Eureka]

Nice looking fireplace! I also tend to be very paranoid with fires in the house but over the years I’ve learned that as long as I’m smart and use them as designed it is quite safe. Good manufacturers test for the worst case end user so as long as I’m burning good fuel, the chimney is clean, the air is regulated properly, and gaskets are good, I feel pretty safe, and warm. This is all assuming that things have been installed and maintained properly. Lots of things can be done carelessly to make wood burning very dangerous. I think that ash cleanout and disposal is probably one of the most risky aspects.

 

[begreen]

View attachment 222379
Well we made it through the night without burning the house down . Maybe i'm just being paranoid .

Looks great. All that's needed is some dwarves or vikings smoking their pipes by the fire. Is the ceiling fan running? It should be.

 

[SmokinDiesel]

Looks great. All that's needed is some dwarves or vikings smoking their pipes by the fire. Is the ceiling fan running? It should be.

Dwarves and vikings haha I dont have the ceiling fans running since its 72 in here without them on . I figure why pay for more electricity if i dont have to . My whole house is electric so the less things running the better as far as i'm concerned .

 

[begreen]

I would wager that the temps up near the ceiling would surprise you. Ceiling fans use very little electricity when run on low speed. With the heat better distributed, the fireplace output can be turned down and perhaps it's blower run at a lower speed. That could equal less wood consumed or less cost to heat.

 

[Eureka]

View attachment 222379
Well we made it through the night without burning the house down...

How has the burning been going? I know the Kozy Heat behaves much differently than my Pacific Energy did and I wish I could have come across more information and reviews of these units. Not a ton of info out there but it seems like you don’t hear a lot about things that work well. I’m very happy with mine but nothing’s perfect. Gasket on the door overlap fell off after three hot fires and so did anyone else who burns hot in these from what I’ve read. $5 and a half hour later I was back up and running. Whatever clear silicone they use to adhere the gasket is a poor choice. I have the double door ‘CD’ model so this isn’t an issue on the single door.

Heat output is unbelievable and I’m very impressed with burn time; 4 hours very hot and up to 6 hrs good hot coaling. I can come home after 10 hours and get it going again with a quick rake and a new load. Even after the fire goes lazy the blowers do a good job of wringing out any heat left in there. I’ve seen better glass air wash systems too but like I said, nothings perfect.

 

[SmokinDiesel]

How has the burning been going? I know the Kozy Heat behaves much differently than my Pacific Energy did and I wish I could have come across more information and reviews of these units. Not a ton of info out there but it seems like you don’t hear a lot about things that work well. I’m very happy with mine but nothing’s perfect. Gasket on the door overlap fell off after three hot fires and so did anyone else who burns hot in these from what I’ve read. $5 and a half hour later I was back up and running. Whatever clear silicone they use to adhere the gasket is a poor choice. I have the double door ‘CD’ model so this isn’t an issue on the single door.

Heat output is unbelievable and I’m very impressed with burn time; 4 hours very hot and up to 6 hrs good hot coaling. I can come home after 10 hours and get it going again with a quick rake and a new load. Even after the fire goes lazy the blowers do a good job of wringing out any heat left in there. I’ve seen better glass air wash systems too but like I said, nothings perfect.

So far so good . I called Kozy Heat and explained how hot the bottom gets and they said its perfectly normal . The guy said they test and retest these stoves way beyond what we would put them through . After speaking with them i sleep a little better at night . I really like this stove and the looks of it .

 

[begreen]

I saw the testing of a big FPX unit at Travis. It was fired up like a blast furnace in a way nobody would try at home. Alongside was a fellow sitting at a desk in front of a computer terminal monitoring the inputs from dozens of thermocouples.