seeking woodburning fireplace comparison

[Bob W]

I'm in the process of building a new home and plan to have a woodburning fireplace installed. Do you know where I can find a comparison of brands? I'm not as concerned with price as with the things not addressed in brochures, such as maintenance and reliability.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Are you looking at a EPA fireplace or a decrotive open fireplace?
what part of the country do you live in?

 

[jtp10181]

There was a "Mega Query" someone posted not too long ago which is around 10 different posts all with very detailed questions.... check those posts out.

 

[Bob W]

Dear MountainStoveGuy,
I'm looking for an EPA fireplace. I have specs on Fireplace Xtrordinaire and Lennox. I can get specs on others and compare those, but I find that just comparing specs results in lots of "good" fireplaces. I'd like some info on reliability and maintenance. I live in northern Virginia.

Dear jtp 10181,
I didn't see the Mega Query you mentioned when I first checked, but I'll look again. Thanks for telling me about it.

Regards,
Bob W

 

[youngstr]

I have a Fireplace Xtraordinaire 44 Elite.

Pro's;
The unit puts out a lot of heat and is beautiful.
Quiet blower when blower is mounted in a remote location.

Con's;
The glass does get dirty on slow burns.
In cold climates you cannot use posi-pressure(not a problem in VA).
You'll go through a lot of wood, unit is slow to heat up.

 

[Bob W]

Dear youngstr,
We have considered an Elite by Fireplace Xtrordinaire, but we are also looking at a Lennox. The Lennox is cheaper, but I'd hate to base my decision only on price. Any ideas?

Bob W

 

[youngstr]

Hey Bob,
I'll be honest, I've never looked at the Lenox unit. When shopping this past summer my wife and I liked the Fireplace Xtraordinair units as well as the Regency units. I know the Regency fireplaces are considerably less expensive than the Fireplace Xtraordinaire fireplaces. Additionally, you could downsize from the 44' Fireplace Xtraordinaire to the 36' Fireplace Xtraordinaire to save some money as well. When I get home tonight I'll try to post a picture of my fireplace.....

 

[Bob W]

Dear youngstr,
Thanks for the info. I look forward to seeing a photo of your fireplace. Why did you choose the Fireplace Xtrordinaire over Regency?
Regards,
Bob W

 

[fishboat]

I was looking into the same EPA fireplace options a few months back & settled on a Lennox or Bis (Security Fireplace)

The Lennox Montecito-types are renamed Bis Traditions...as Lennox bought Security. From what I could gather, Bis was-is a good name. Lennox had an iffy name, but they are building their market-product line...the "iffy" may or may not last. For different appearance options compare the Lennox & Bis models.

I looked at the Xtrordinaire...didn't work for me or some reason...too much heat for my needs maybe..?

 

[Bob W]

Dear Fishboat,
Thanks for the input. I check on Bis.
Regards,
Bob W

 

[youngstr]

We chose the Fireplace Xtraordinaire(FX) over the Regency(R) for a few reasons;

The 44"FX had a larger fire box and was spec'd as having a slightly longer burn time. From talking with FX and R dealers both are "overly optimistic"on their respective burn times.

My wife didn't like the look of the R. There are horizonal louvers over/under the firebox that really turned her off.

The 44"FX can take slightly longer pieces of wood over the R (something like 32" vrs 22" ????).

The fan on the R is built into the fireplace which seemed to make the R louder. The fan on the FX can be mounted away from the fireplace and connected via ductwork. In the demo's of both units we found the FX to be much quieter probably due to the remote fan mounting.

I wish I knew about the Lennox before we bought the FX. I definately would have checked them out.

I attached a couple of pictures of our FX. You can probably notice I still have a little touchup work left but for the most part it's finished. Sorry about the crooked pictures. I had a 5 year old "helping" me.

Y

 

[Corie]

I think that looks fantastic!

 

[Bob W]

Dear youngstr,
Thanks for the photos. It's good to know about the location of the fan, too. I think you and the 5 year old did a fine job of framing the photos.

Regards,
Bob

 

[begreen]

Nice work Y. The installation and FP looks extraordinary.

 

[youngstr]

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone. Although I did the stone/finish/framing work I was glad the experts set the unit and installed the chimney. I felt(and still feel) their expertise was worth it for the most critical stage of the installation.

I believe someone wondered about how the airwash worked as well as cold air intrusion through the fireplace.

The airwash works well when burning with the air intake wide open. When you shut down the air intake for an overnight burn, by morning the glass will be opaque and somewhat covered with soot. After about a week of this you can barely see through the glass which means....I get to clean the glass one a week. It's a pain but since I empty the ashes and vacuum the catalytic converter at the same time it seems like routine weekly maintenance.

I've heard that some people have issues with cold air intrusion through their FX. Although the face(metal parts) get cold when the unit is not in use I have yet to notice an abundance of cold coming from the fireplace. Also, I have the fireplace running constantly on weekends and on weekdays from dusk til dawn. As such, if there was a cold air intrusion issue I might not notice it anyway.....The next time I'm down for a day or so I'll pay extra attention to the fireplace to see if I notice any cold air coming from it.

Y

 

[Corie]

Yeah I had asked those questions, but then actually took the time to read your previous posts and saw that you had already mentioned it!


Thanks for the info though! How do you feel about operating the catalytic combustor? Easy to light off, etc?

 

[youngstr]

Corie,
Actually the converter is easy to get going. Unfotunately I have a lot of pine on my property which burns fast and hot. I guess in this case it works to my advantage since it warms the unit up quickly and gets the fireplace to the point where I can engage the converter. I'll admit going into this whole thing I was a little skeptical about how the catalytic converter would work. But when the converter lights up it's truly amazing how much extra heat the fireplace puts out. I also find myself running outside once in a while to see very little smoke coming out of my chimney.

I'll have to see if I have any pictures a few minutes apart showing the catalytic converter engaged/disengaged.....It's very cool to see.

Y

 

[Corie]

Sounds good. We like pictures!

 

[youngstr]

OK everyone. I took a couple pictures tonight with the catalytic converter engaged and disengaged. The pictures were all taken within 5 minutes of eachother....

Here's with the converter disengaged;

Y

 

[youngstr]

Here is a couple minutes later with the converter engaged. I'm afraid the pictures don't really do it justice......I wish I could post BTU output from the fireplace with the converter engaged/disengaged....

Y

 

[Corie]

Great pictures!

Anyone who has operated a stove can appreciate that!