Zero clearance fireplace

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bhd21478

Member
Hearth Supporter
Oct 18, 2010
78
Missouri
My wife likes the look of a fireplace and and I want something functional for good heat for a 2400 sq ft single level new home.I have been looking at the quadrafire 7100.Are these good units or would I be better off placing a quad insert in the space.I could also build a hearth for a free standing stove.Im open to all ideas and hearth options since this will be for a new build.
 
A freestanding stove will do the best job of heating the area. It will also work better in a power outage. However, there are some advantage to a fireplace like a larger fireview, longer length wood logs, and some can have their heat output ducted to remote locations of the house.

The Quad 7100 is a good fireplace. There are also several others. Have you looked at the many recent threads covering this topic?
 
Are these good units or would I be better off placing a quad insert in the space.
In order to put n insert in you would need to build a complete working masonry fireplace. Then put the insert and liner in. It would cost a whole lot more the cheapest option is a freestander with a class a chimney
 
I am not sure if we can be of much help. We certainly cannot make the decision for you which unit to install. First you ask about a wood boiler system, then you go through several threads with stove models you are considering, now you are looking for ZC fireplaces or maybe still a freestanding stove? When you go through the various threads I think you already received a lot of good info. It is now up to you to decide first which system will best suit your needs and then what features you want to see in that particular system. At that point we can maybe help you in pointing to the units that fit your desired specs. Right now there is really not much for us to go on and we would be shooting in the dark. I think I have answered to at least four of your threads yet and it feels more and more like you are wasting everyone's time. We are a helpful bunch here but how can you help someone who seems to change his wishes on a daily basis?
 
Any and all options are a topic of discussion.When ya go through a new home build these are the questions you have to ask to end up with things ya like that work well.My wife just dropped a bombshell on me that she hates a class a chimney going straight out the top and through the ceiling.I wasn't aware of this since she never mentioned it.I told her we could build a nice masonry fireplace setup since it was in the original house plan.Our exterior is already going to be brick and stone.Then she says well I also prefer a nice big fire viewer so that's where the zero Clarence scenario comes in.I know they are expensive I just am trying to work with her and also get something very functional.These concepts also have an air duct kit that could vent to additional rooms.Im not trying to waste people's times just have tried to work with my wife thanks
 
My wife just dropped a bombshell on me that she hates a class a chimney going straight out the top and through the ceiling.
Not sure what she is visualizing, but normally one doesn't see any class A chimney. The chimney starts at the room ceiling. If it is a high room and the stove sits in an alcove, then the chimney can be dropped lower to the alcove ceiling, but then one would have the chimney enclosed in a chase that would be covered so one still wouldn't see the chimney.
 
My wife just dropped a bombshell on me that she hates a class a chimney going straight out the top and through the ceiling.

You see that is important info. If your wife does not like seeing stovepipe going up in the room a ZC fireplace will help with that. However, a rear-vented stove with class A going up at the side of the house will do the same. You can build a chase around the class A if she does not want to look at it from the yard either. The Explorer 2 you looked at earlier could be installed that way; the BK Ashford 30 not. A rear-vented cat stove that would work is the Woodstock Progress Hybrid.

You say here single story but in other posts you considered putting a stove in the basement. Where is it going in now? Do you have a proposed layout of the house with a potential location for the stove/fireplace? Any idea about the budget? A heat-load analysis? What's your preferred design other than hiding the stovepipe? If you want to look at available efficient ZC fireplaces many have been mentioned in this thread: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/which-one-to-get.145391/
 
Thanks for the feedback.We have settled on a single level home which is 2500 sq ft.It will be a fairly open floor plan.The option of placing a chase to cover the class a pipe makes good sense.We were thinking of doing a brick and stone hearth but I've heard,that's big bucks.Ive also read there are venting options with this unit.
 
Any and all options are a topic of discussion.When ya go through a new home build these are the questions you have to ask to end up with things ya like that work well.My wife just dropped a bombshell on me that she hates a class a chimney going straight out the top and through the ceiling.I wasn't aware of this since she never mentioned it.I told her we could build a nice masonry fireplace setup since it was in the original house plan.Our exterior is already going to be brick and stone.Then she says well I also prefer a nice big fire viewer so that's where the zero Clarence scenario comes in.I know they are expensive I just am trying to work with her and also get something very functional.These concepts also have an air duct kit that could vent to additional rooms.Im not trying to waste people's times just have tried to work with my wife thanks

With a zero-clearance you can use Class A all the way from stove to ceiling and frame the chase in around it. This is what I did with my kozyheat. PM me a phone or email that you can receive picture on and I'll send you a couple pics of what we have...

My wife and I LOVE the ambiance, and we heat our 2200 SF main floor (and partially heat the basement) with nothing except the ZC fireplace with the heat ducted to the more extreme areas of the house.

The one thing we hate is the mess... if/when I ever build my ideal wood burning setup will be a boiler in the attached garage with an easy access door so I can just dump wood straight into a wood bin or bring is crates of wood with a forklift. I can go out in the garage in my skivvies and load the boiler if necessary, the waste heat from the boiler heats my garage/shop, the mess stays out of the house, a lot less handling of the wood.
 
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