My wife and I are building a new house. We both grew up on farms and had real wood burning fireplaces. We wanted to do the open wood burning fireplace, but after careful thought, we decided to go to a gas DV, the biggest reason being to not pull all the warm air from the house while using the fireplace. Aesthetically a high efficiency wood burning is not an option.
We currently have a Vermont Castings DV unit. It is nice and all, but the flames are not super realistic and the high setting on the fan is not the sound we are looking for in a fireplace.
So, we went looking for gas DV fireplaces today and saw a few Mendota models in addition to Kingsman and Regency. We really liked Mendota DXV45 and FV46 options; brick patterns, lighting, log look, flame look, etc...
According to some, the DXV45 (with the vents/fans above and below, covered by a Prairie or a Bentley screen door), are "old technology". Although it is very accessible for relighting the pilot light, trouble shooting, etc...
We think the FV46 is too large for our 390sqft great room. It would be on a 7'-0" fireplace (stone & wood surround) with flanking 4'-6" cabinets on either end.
![[Hearth.com] Mendota DV Fireplaces](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/upload_2016-12-30_20-40-44-webp.191599/ "[Hearth.com] Mendota DV Fireplaces")
Looking for thoughts? We also understand that the FV46 / 41 both need to be accessed by opening the unit, removing the brick panel on the left side to maintain the unit (even simply relighting the pilot light). Is this true?
We also saw a FV41. Great unit and all, unfortunately the FV41's flame look/pattern were not realistic at all. We were told that every fireplace will have a different flame look, depending on the logs and the fireplace. Is there anyway to "tweak:" the flames on a FV41? The DXV45 and the FV46 looked much better than the FV41, funny, in that they are all made by the same manufacturer.
The Regency B41XTCE looks like a nice unit, any comments as to the quality and how that compares to the Mendota brand?
We currently have a Vermont Castings DV unit. It is nice and all, but the flames are not super realistic and the high setting on the fan is not the sound we are looking for in a fireplace.
So, we went looking for gas DV fireplaces today and saw a few Mendota models in addition to Kingsman and Regency. We really liked Mendota DXV45 and FV46 options; brick patterns, lighting, log look, flame look, etc...
According to some, the DXV45 (with the vents/fans above and below, covered by a Prairie or a Bentley screen door), are "old technology". Although it is very accessible for relighting the pilot light, trouble shooting, etc...
We think the FV46 is too large for our 390sqft great room. It would be on a 7'-0" fireplace (stone & wood surround) with flanking 4'-6" cabinets on either end.
Looking for thoughts? We also understand that the FV46 / 41 both need to be accessed by opening the unit, removing the brick panel on the left side to maintain the unit (even simply relighting the pilot light). Is this true?
We also saw a FV41. Great unit and all, unfortunately the FV41's flame look/pattern were not realistic at all. We were told that every fireplace will have a different flame look, depending on the logs and the fireplace. Is there anyway to "tweak:" the flames on a FV41? The DXV45 and the FV46 looked much better than the FV41, funny, in that they are all made by the same manufacturer.
The Regency B41XTCE looks like a nice unit, any comments as to the quality and how that compares to the Mendota brand?
