We recently installed a Jotul direct vent gas insert into our 20 year old prefab fireplace. It throws off a lot of heat into our 25 by 15 living room here in North Carolina, and we use it early in the morning and in the evening. We're very pleased with the performance of the system although we have a cosmetic problem with its installation that the installer has yet to fix. Jotul also makes a direct vent gas fireplace that we considered, but we decided against it because we would have had to tear out our existing fireplace, and that seemed like overkill. I would go to the Jotul website and check out the gas fireplace. But I would also hunt on Google for other brands of direct vent gas fireplaces. I think your questions about the right size that you need for that wall where the fireplace will be built are best answered in terms of the appearance, not the performance. Of course, you may need a certain minimum size to get the amount of heat that you want, but once you go over that minimum size, you have plenty of wiggle room to select what will look right. There are plenty of websites accessible from the google search engine. Unfortunately, Consumer Reports does not rate these things by brand like they do refrigerators. So once you have narrowed down your choices to a couple of brands, post another message on this forum and see what people think. Happy hunting.

We own two CAT stoves; one has been keeping us warm for nearly 18 yrs. now, the other is brand new (Woodstock Soapstove Co.). You DO have to pay attention to how you treat the catalytic combustors to keep them functioning effciently for as long as possible; this means not burning a lot of trash in the stove, not burning painted or stained wood, etc.. And they do require periodic replacement (we have averaged 3-5 yrs. between replacements). But day to day operation of CAT stoves is no big deal, it's really easy. I wouldn't let a CAT mechanism be a "non-starter", personally. But do make sure you follow the manufacturer's directions if you purchase one. It makes a big difference in long term performance.

Thought I'd bring this up to date. I have given up on installing a fireplace because of the above mentioned problems and have settled on installing an insert. Has anyone installed the fireplace xtrordinaire 33 elite insert, or its sister (brother) the "declaration" by LOPI ? salbwil

Going on my 2nd year with the Quadrafire 7100. Although the weather has been mild so far this year, I've already learned some things in regards to heating with the 7100 the previous year that I know will benefit me this year. First, as some have already pointed out, the fan kicking on randomly appears to be a feature in most of the units. So... when I sense that the unit is hot enough, I just kick on the manual fan switch and let it run. Although we have 3 floors including our basement, the upper floors have about 3100 sqft. The first floor has 9 ft ceilings and the foyer is open space (2 story). The system does a great job of raising the temperature a good 6 to 7 degrees in a few hours if you run it with the fan. Letting the fan come on randomly (which it seems to do) it takes much longer. Before installing the 7100, primary heat on the main floor was propane with a heat pump upstairs. Unless the temp dips into the teens, the quad heats both upper floors - a savings on propane and electric. The quad is in a great room. When the fan is running and the heat has been distributed well, you can walk around some on the end opposite of the quad and pass through, what I call, little hot pockets. It would be interesting to somehow be able to follow the air flow (like with a colored spray). I have noticed that if a little bit of smoke escapes when I open the doors, just a few moments later, I can smell the smoke the most at the top of the stairs and that's on the other side of the house. So it rises quickly. Oh, that reminds me - I've learned to open the doors slowly and let the draft settle the light ashe first before opening all the way. That keeps it a bit more clean. Other tips: - Burning good seasoned hard wood with bigger splits (as others have suggested) is a really good thing. I don't have to damp it down all the way and still have good coals left in the morning up to 8 hours. Like others, I don't know where this "up to 16 hours" burn time came from. Not having to damp it down as much saves on glass cleaning as well. I used to spend a lot of time cleaning the glass. I've cleaned it once this year. If there is not much of a coating on the glass, a good hot fire burns it off anyway. - To get a fire going from coals in the morning, I just crack the door a little (leave the handle in the down position and let the draft pull it closed) and a fire kicks up in less than a minute in most cases. - The timer does a decent job most of the time, but there are times when it seems to hang. That might be due to the air intake lever being a little too far to the right. - I do take up ashes every two to three days. I'm thinking of buying an ashe vac, but don't know if it's worth the cost. - I still feel a little uncomfortable about leaving a fire going when we're not home, but the more I learn about the system, the more comfortable I am. And as long as I have the chimney inspected and cleaned every year, I think we'll be fine. Overall, I'm happy with the 7100. I am thinking of buying a humidifier. Burning does dry the air out quite a bit. Happy heating to all out there.