High Efficiency Wood Fireplace
Hi All,
Looking for some help with choosing the best High Efficiency Wood Fireplace. These are the zero clearance EPA phase 2, non-catalytic types. Glass doors too hold heat, secondary combustion cahmbers to burn efficient and blowers to get the heat out.
I am in the process of adding an addition; a 45×35 great room. We will be heating with radiant, but I’d like to supplement with wood. From what I can see if I want a fireplace (over a wood stove, and I’ve ruled out masonry furnaces) the high efficiency prefab fireplaces are the way to go.
Does anyone have advice on who is making the best in the market (best being high reliability and quality, I’d like to do this once)? Been looking at Napoleon, Heatalator (heard some quality complaints from a dealer today), heat and glow, etc. Have ruled out models with catalytic converter, unless someone can convince me otherwise.
Dealers in the area (Massachusetts) will admit they don’t know much about the wood models as they are selling 90% gas.
Thanks for any help you can offer.
Mike
Replies
I've had a Quadrafire for 14 years and I burn it hard all winter. It's the only brand I'll ever buy. Clean burning is more important than efficiency, in my opinion.
Thanks Mike,
. . . now to find a decent dealer/installer in the area.
Mike
Try RSF Opel http://www.icc-rsf.com/en/fireplaces/foyer_opel.asp
or Cozy Heat http://www.kozyheat.com/
mcrowleynh,
I second what mike585 said! Used a quadrafire for 10 years as main heat. Not the fire place model, but think they are close to the same thing. They burn clean,long and are very nice looking. Have been checking into one , i will yank my gas insert out, and utilize some of the many trees that are down on the property. I believe they are made by Alladin, but could be wrong. They have a website.
Norhteastvt
Why non-catalytic?
We have the Fireplace Xtraordinaire and it is a heating machine. That is a huge greatroom you are building, which needs a large fireplace. The Xtraordinaire is a bigger fireplace than quadrifire as far as I know. (44" vs 36"). Perhaps that has changed in the 3 years since we bought ours.
We weren't overly thrilled with the catalytic thing either when we were looking, but after talking to people we changed our minds. It has a warranty and it isn't terribly expensive to replace. The Xtraordinaire just fit the scale of our greatroom better than the quadrifire.
They both seem nice and truly, well worth the money in my opinion. We love ours.
Paula
Hi Paula,
Thanks for your post, I appreciate your comments.
I agree the Extrodinaire is a much better looking stove, but it does not (to me - just my opinion here) look as well constructed. I really like the looks of the Napoleon High Country even more, but I can't find a single sole who has ever installed one, even the company can't direct me to somebody, kinda weird. Has anyone out there seen one of these??
On the other hand all the local shops have installed numerous Extrodinaires and Quadra-fires.
Catalytic - hmmn, . . . I've heard some say the catalyst might need to be replaced every 5 years. When a catalyst fail it can either fail open which means you do really know it and your no longer burning as clean or efficient (if I recall correctly either the EPA or Canadian website refers to this) or perhaps it blocks up? Perhaps someone will correct me on my understanding or set me straight.
The bottom-line, main reason I don't like the catalytic designs is they require an additional maintenance step and I don't see that they are necessary. 20 years ago woodstoves were all catalytic, and they had problems, most are now non-catalytic, I believe.
Do you have some idea what it costs to replace the catalyst? I don't really have a feel for that.
Mike
Mike,I think that the catalytic converter had a 6 year warranty and it was under $100 to replace. However, I'm going from memory, so something to look into.Here is a long discussion about the 7100 that will be useful.
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/firepl/msg1209522524987.html?62Finally, go with your gut. These are both great units and you will be thrilled with either one; I'm sure of it. The heating ability is amazing. We are still working on our place, so we don't have the heat on the main floor (only the basement where we are living). We have a huge greatroom with 25ft ceilings. The fireplace really warms things up and has exceeded my expectations. The Xtraordinaire has an integrated blower. I think on the quadrifire it is an option? If so, make sure you get it. It's nice to have sometimes.For us, the Xtraordinaire was the right choice. The unit may be more expensive, but the pipe is cheaper. They are different in how they operate. The Xtraordinaire has two pipes that vent to the outside to cool the chimney pipe, and a third pipe for outside air. Paula
I was reminded of one of my favorite features of the Xtraordinaire....and I really love this. I can't believe I didn't mention it earlier. You can buy an optional screen that lets you operate the fireplace with the doors open just like a "regular" fireplace, which lets you experience the fire in a different way. We love this feature and it gives the fireplace the flexibility to be a furnace, or give you more ambiance (feel of the fire, smell, sounds). I don't know if the others can operate with a screen, but I'd have to say it has been a great feature for us.
I put in a Jotul fireplace insert unit 3 years ago. Heating a 2500 sq/ft Cape. The unit is in a 24' x 36' great room. The house is oil/forced air heated.
We went with a non-catalytic unit to avoid having to let the unit cool every 2 weeks to clean the catalyst as recommended.
The Jotul unit burns clean enough that there is no visible smoke from the chimney and I empty about a gallon of ashes every 2 to 3 weeks.
We are very happy with the unit, as it will heat the whole house pretty well without the furnace coming on. Though we do keep the air handler off because I have found the warm air is cooled going through the cold coil in the basement.
I cut vents between the first floor and the bedrooms upstairs to help the warm air move up and put a 4" muffin fan in each vent to help move the air.
The one drawback is the burn time. When new the stove burned about 7 hours when filled, and there would be a good bed of coals to restart in the morning. Now the burn time is closer to 3 to 4 hours. I think the stove is burning hot because the seals around the doors need to be replaced and they are not sealing tightly. This is something that was recommended to be done every 2 years or so, so I guess that makes is overdue.
It would be a lot to burn about 4 cords between October and April. My oil deliveries are less than a quarter of what they were before the stove and that is mostly for hot water.
Overall we are very pleased with the unit.
We installed a Pacific Energy craftsman-style stove 4 years ago (see my earlier picture). It's smaller (EPA ~24Kbtu, max 16" logs), and it will burn for 4-5ish hours (often you still have some good coals to restart in the morning after around 6-7 hours, and it will still be quite warm to the touch). We chose that one for two reasons: style (fits so much better into our rustic contemporary than the typical victorian-esque or country styles), and clearance (around 6" with double-wall), so we could fit it into our narrow stone-floored sunroom with a couch in front of it.We preferred non-catalytic for few reasons: more flame, less complex startup, less maintenance (time & cost). Emissions are in practice almost the same as a cat, and efficiency is very close to a cat (this was over 70%). It throws heat forward and up; almost none to the back or sides. We run it 12-20 hours a day in the winter (now that it finally got cold); we go through 3-4 cords I'd guess. Burns very clean, totally clear exhaust. Easy to operate for my 74 and 79-year old in-laws, who tend it during the day usually (they never had even had a fire in a fireplace I think before they moved in with us).