I have a Lopi Berkshire freestanding direct vent gas fireplace. It is vented through an old interior masonry chimney. See page 43 of the installation manual for an image of my installation application.
We just bough the house and I've never had a gas fireplace before. The flames in my fireplace dance around quicker that I figure they ought to and lean toward the back where the vent is. They seem faster than a narural wood burning fire. Maybe like a wood burning fire onn a really windy day.
So I'm wondering if my draft is too strong? I'm afraid I'm losing more heat straight out the vent than I should.
And if so, is this mitigated by adjusting my vent restrictor?
The vent restrictor has 6 positions, with 1 being the most open. Given the length and configuration of my vent, the installation manual would normally have my restrictor in position 1 as indicated on page 14. But because my installation is retrofitted to an interior masonry chimney, page 43 indicates to use the chart on page 13 which would indicate no less than restrictor position 5. As it happens, my restrictor is currently set to position 4.
I asked the local dealer/installer and he suspects that would have been done for "fine tuning." I wish I knew what the flames should look like and what criteria are used to "fine tune" restrictor positions.
I will note that the difference between restrictor positions don't all appear to be equal. 1-4 are about the same distance apart, then 5 and 6 are a bit further from the rest. That is to way that there may be a bigger difference between 4 and 5, than say 3 and 4.
Finally, I'll note that all the different charts for restrictor posisions only ever recomend 1 or 5 (and sometimes 6 for the very tallest vent runs). Not even sure why the other positions are options.
Now here's the thing? Why don't I just move it to positions 5 and see if that works? I can't. It won't budge past 4. And when I try to move it the other way, I can't get past 3. It just sort of springs back. I was fiddling with the same unit at the showroom which did not have a pipe installed, and I didn't have much trouble moving the restrictor all around. So I don't know what the deal it is.
But any insight would be very appreciated!
We just bough the house and I've never had a gas fireplace before. The flames in my fireplace dance around quicker that I figure they ought to and lean toward the back where the vent is. They seem faster than a narural wood burning fire. Maybe like a wood burning fire onn a really windy day.
So I'm wondering if my draft is too strong? I'm afraid I'm losing more heat straight out the vent than I should.
And if so, is this mitigated by adjusting my vent restrictor?
The vent restrictor has 6 positions, with 1 being the most open. Given the length and configuration of my vent, the installation manual would normally have my restrictor in position 1 as indicated on page 14. But because my installation is retrofitted to an interior masonry chimney, page 43 indicates to use the chart on page 13 which would indicate no less than restrictor position 5. As it happens, my restrictor is currently set to position 4.
I asked the local dealer/installer and he suspects that would have been done for "fine tuning." I wish I knew what the flames should look like and what criteria are used to "fine tune" restrictor positions.
I will note that the difference between restrictor positions don't all appear to be equal. 1-4 are about the same distance apart, then 5 and 6 are a bit further from the rest. That is to way that there may be a bigger difference between 4 and 5, than say 3 and 4.
Finally, I'll note that all the different charts for restrictor posisions only ever recomend 1 or 5 (and sometimes 6 for the very tallest vent runs). Not even sure why the other positions are options.
Now here's the thing? Why don't I just move it to positions 5 and see if that works? I can't. It won't budge past 4. And when I try to move it the other way, I can't get past 3. It just sort of springs back. I was fiddling with the same unit at the showroom which did not have a pipe installed, and I didn't have much trouble moving the restrictor all around. So I don't know what the deal it is.
But any insight would be very appreciated!
