six months later better than never? maybe not.....we just purchased a True 42 last weekend. It will be delivered next week. Would you share your experience regarding framing, venting and how you like it so far? Too late to change my mind,...............so........

I have a couple of the Heat n' Glo Escape fireplaces. They have an internal adjustment on the gas valve where you can trim down on the gas a bit. Regarding the claim made to you that they have "a decent flame for ambiance on the lowest setting" I have my doubts. I have a commercial gas range that has 7,500, 18,000 and 22,000 BTU burners and I cannot imagine that would be enough gas to make a decent looking flame in a firebox. See if you can see the fireplaces for yourself before making the decision. When the room gets hot, I just shut the thing down for a while. These things all run hot so you cannot leave them on for a long period of time except in the winter. One thing I do to distribute the heat is to swith the fan switch on the house thermostat from auto to on. That way, the heat gets circulated through the house. A ceiling fan would also help to distribute heat around.

Tagging along...we are having two new gas DV fireplaces installed in our home renovation. We just got the plans for final bidding and the architect spec'd out the "Majestic khldv600 Marquis." It looks nice but it is very expensive. He seems to have strong opinions based on his past project experiences so when he specifically specs something out it typically means he likes it a lot. I'm interested to hear other people's thoughts on brands, features, and quality.

We bought a fixer-upper home that was built in 1933. At some point during the life of the home, a giant beast of a wood-burning insert had been installed. We removed it, along with the broken tile hearth and replaced it with a Heat-n-Glo gas insert (and oak flooring in the hearth to match the original floors). It came with a remote control to turn it on and off and adjust the flame and fan. Even without the blower on, it puts out an amazing amount of radiant heat. It also has a thermostat setting where it will adjust the fire automatically to maintain a specified temperature. We replaced our furnace and had central air installed at the same time, so I don't recall specifically what the fireplace cost, but I believe it was right around $4500-$5000. Money well spent! Before with wood insert and once it had been removed: And after: