Gas fireplaces

After my first taste of the prices of gas fireplaces, I've realised I'd better not take the decision lightly. We are looking at (natural) gas-fuelled (wood-look), built-in fireplaces. All suggestions/reviews are welcome. Our gas fire will not be our main source of heat, and is primarily for ambience/aesthetics. Initially I liked the look of Chazelles, but the sales rep I saw was not raving about them and directed me toward Lopi ($6.5 - 8.5K), which I also like the look of. We will need a long flue as our fireplace will be in our main living area which will have a double height ceiling.

Given the prices, I could be swayed towards a wood heater, but I'm not sure the prices would be much better? If we picked wood, we wouldn't use the fire too frequently due to lack of easy access to wood, but still it would look great unlit.

I had a look at some other threads that mentioned ethanol fuelled fireplaces but I'm not keen on the look. I also checked out Choice, but they only reviewed 5 fireplaces and that was 4 years ago.

All help appreciated.

Love those gas "fires" .... some look awesome.

Jetmaster ( Australian made ) make some very nice gas fires but Real Flame ( imported from the US ) ones are even better as they take air from outside to burn the gas rather than air from inside the room.
Jetmaster sell both.
http://www.jetmaster.com.au/
I've known half a dozen people ( both friends and clients ) who have installed either and they couldn't speak high enough about them.

Stewie

We looked at a few difference ones. The Double Sided Lopi was our first choice, based on price more so than look. Jetmaster were our first choice based on look. We too are using it more for looks than heat. We did a LOT of shopping around, comparing noise levels (some are really noisy), heat output (becasue lets face it, if it is on it would be nice to feel the heat coming from it), price, warranty, and different reviews.

We were all set to buy the Lopi when my hubby called Jetmaster who just got in a new model. We went down and looked at it and Jetmaster gave an amazing discount (and then gave another discount because hubby said he was in the trade). It is well worth speaking to the manufaturer (where you can) and seeing what sort of discount they will give as our discount was about 40%

There is nothing better than wood fire heater for natural ambience and the feel but if you can't be bothered with timber gas log fireplace is good alternative. I have "Illusions" and have been delighted with it however dealing with them was sub par. Two years after I bought it they wanted to be paid for it again, lucky we has driver's signed docket for the cash. You figure

Thanks everyone. I'll put jetmaster on my short list - looks like that's actually HeatnGlo if I'm looking at gas options. They certainly look good.

Hi HBW I just read your blog re this and thought I would respond

We have a real wood fireplace in our house and I can be honest with you and tell you that sometimes it doesn't get lit for an entire year (and that's with us living on a 5 acre bush block)....some years we are just busier than others and by the time you light the fire place - get the fire going etc it just doesn't seem worth it. Incidentally winter is our busiest time of the year work wise and we wont get home until 8:30 - 9:30 most nights.

When you do light the fire tho and are drinking a nice red and its storming outside .....it is just magical.

Like you ours isn't our main source of heating (we have reverse cycle air con for that)......I really do think its how busy you are and how much time you have available to spend at home (we actually pulled put a wood burning stove from the kitchen as we were never home to use it and replaced it with a 900mm freestanding gas and electric stove.

Good luck with your choice

Hi There! Seems its been a while since anyone visited here but wondering if anyone has a Lopi Linear Direct Vent Gas Heater 4415 HO GS2? We were first looking at a Jetmaster Heat n Glo however these newest models of the Lopi seem much better quality, have a venting option to push heat upstairs and seem like a economical option. They are the latest 2014 model apparently. So hoping I could see what other people think as they are very expensive compared to the Jetmaster. Just want to be sure if we invest in the Lopi it will be worth it. Thanks

Hi MGardz, just wanted to know if your ended up buying the Lopi model linear fire place? I've been to jetmaster to look at the heat and Glo XLR plus, and impressions fireplace in castle hill to see the Lopi that your looked at. I'm yet to look at the real flames. So many decisions!



viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75739&p=1299716#p1299716

Hello! We ended up with the XLR Plus as the Lopi was just a lot more above budget, we had a few PCVs for our build so it ate up some of our contingency. Plus Our builder deals with Jetmaster all the time so it was very easy to organise what was required for installation. Good luck!


https://mandgbuildatmulgoarise.wordpress.com/

Thanks MGardz, which jetmaster centre are you dealing with? What did they charge you? We got quoted for the XLR plus - $8200 included installation with pebbles, and fuled to wall outside.

The Lopi was an extra $1000,



viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75739&p=1299716#p1299716

We went directly with Jetmaster in Castle Hill and was similar in price installed. We have the black metal front, logs, flue to outside. The Lopi we liked was more than 10k as it had fans to push the air upstairs and also logs and fancy lights


https://mandgbuildatmulgoarise.wordpress.com/

Did you look at the lopi, at impression fireplace castle hill? the sales man was this big guy, sound like the same info I got, but he was certain that jetmaster XLR plus once installed be too hot for the gyprock structure and would result in cracking of the walls, compared to their Lopi - which has another vent to the side, to allow extra hot air to escape and hence no wall cracking.



viewtopic.php?f=31&t=75739&p=1299716#p1299716

Yes and that sounds like the same guy. He bagged out the Jetmaster business too, rather aggressively. Obviously to get a sale. One reason we also didn't go with him. Couldn't justify the extra cash going to someone like that. The Jetmaster people will tell you what you need for the wall surround to prevent the cracking. There's a reason most large builders go with Jetmaster rather than others...the guy we are dealing with is a builder by trade

Jetmaster explained the difference of how it heats, the Jetmaster throws air out through fans and vents all the time, it doesn't allow accumulated heat within the firebox like the Lopi.


https://mandgbuildatmulgoarise.wordpress.com/

Hi just want to check if anyone has put a tv above there gas fireplace.
If so how did you insulate your cables for the tv?

Hi GSP07R,

When the fireplace is installed, the flue system you go with should be holding the heat behind the wall. We had more trouble managing heat rising infront of the wall and keeping that away from the face of the TV. To give a better idea, we have the fireplace at about waist height, then above that an indentation in the wall where we can put a dvd player / foxtel box, and then above that again will be the TV.

Now if we have the fire on, heat would rise up, travel into the indentation where it would pool before flowing out and up into the TV. In the end we decided to line the bottom of the indentation with some natural stone and have the stone come out slightly from the indentation. This way heat rising would hit the stone overflow and get pushed out slightly away from the face of the TV.

Hope this helps.

If we install an Escea fireplace and want the TV above the fireplace, should we vent out through the wall rather than straight up through the ceiling? (It's single storey.)

Either/or. Just have insulation between the wall and the flue.

Stewie