north central Iowa, Hampton | we took out a '70s vintage wood firebox and installed a very nice gas fireplace setup--sort of like you've pictured--about 5 years ago. Mendota brand, serviced by the same dealer that installed our furnace.
There were several types of "wood" available. What looks like logs is really some sort of ceramic and I can't see any soot or ash yet. Ours has a fan, which we rarely use. It has a remote and we can set it to be run thermostatically by the remote. There are three burners and we usually use only the lowest setting, otherwise it gets too hot too fast. The firebox is sealed and vented up the old chimney, it transfers heat through tubes surrounding the firebox and general radiant heat.
It has a standing pilot which is electronically sparked. Seems like overkill to have the standing pilot and ignition, but it works. Most importantly to me--we can run the electronic ignition through a dongle with AA batteries. If the power's off, we can run it on any of the three burner levels and I think it'd keep the main floor warm enough not to freeze anything, even without the fan. I've thought about one of the big battery pack inverters--that would let me run the fan quite a while as well.
Seems like it was $6000 or so installed and ready to run. Kind of pricey but we use it most winter nights, so I'm ok with the cost. |
Home fireplace
