Gas Fireplaces

[onthebay]

I need to buy and have installed 2 gas firplaces for a house we are building. Does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with Energy Savers, Mr Fireplace, Abundant Life or Quality Insulation.

Any thoughts on what brands are best. I am looking at HeatnGlow, Lennox, Napoleon, or Fireplace Extrordinaire...Thanks

[T.H.E. Binz]

Having converted three fireplaces in the last four years, the biggest issue with your purchase is whether to vent (i.e., nicer aesthetics, but little heat capture) or not to vent (i.e., lesser aesthetics, but throws off much heat). Personally, I opted to vent on all three.

The biggest issue on installation is to get an experienced installer. I received better service when the gas fireplace dealer also did the installation as opposed to my local plumber who had only done a few of these installations.

As for gas fireplace vendors, the one in Meredith down from MacDonalds wouldn't install a non-vented unit (some B.S. about being dangerous which is false). I ended up buying one from a place in Concord, but installation was from a local plumber. If you buy from Concord, get them to install.

[jrc]

Our four year old house has two ESA brand fireplaces installed by Quality Insulation. They work great and have been trouble free.

Personally I would never install a vent-less fireplace even if the local code would allow it. All that carbon monoxide is going into your breathing air. Under normal circumstances it's not enough to kill you. But it sure doesn't help you.

A good sealed vented fireplace doesn't waste much energy out the flue. Ours vent horizontally throught the siding and the vent gases are barely warm.

[Highlander]

We purchased a Lopi gas stove from Abundant Life in Concord. They were a pleasure to deal with from the purchase to the installation that they did for us. Our unit is a direct vent stove that looks like a wood stove but runs on propane. It is a great source of heat and is very efficient. I'm not sure if that manufacturer makes fireplaces or not but the do have a web site that you could check out. I know that Abundant Life does carry fireplaces. Good Luck

[dpg]

My dad bought a non-vented model a few years back and had all kinds of problems with it. One of which was odors coming from it. Don't know the model off hand.

[codeman671]

I have a Napoleon and it works well. One of the places that you mentioned are an absolute nightmare to deal with, they trashed my house during the install. Pm me and I will give more details. I am in the middle of a lawsuit over this so I do not wish to name them publicly and risk any defamation.