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you have convinced me to forget about an electric unit. my next question is ventless or direct vent. this is new construction, all brick, 3000sq’.fireplace is in the family room which is open to breakfast/kitchen area. not really necessary for warmth, but i want it to warm the area as well as look good. as i said before, this is an area i know nothing about. if you good people will be kind enough to educate me a little on the pros and cons of each as well as any cautions and personal experiences i will be grateful. i’ve got to meet with hvac tomorrow am so time is of the essence.this is my first effort at building independently. i should have researched this earlier but just missed the boat. i have learned a lot from this forum and thank you experienced professionals for sharing your knowledge.
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Then get a vented unit - the looks are great. I would also recommend a nearby wall switch to turn the unit on. Rationale being I have to reach over my nice FP screen to turn mine on and it is a pain when for "X" dollars more I could have had a wall switch. I happen to have a "ventless" unit but code here in MD requires a 3" hole in the damper or crack the damper an equivalent amount + CO detector which is a good idea in any case - vented or ventless
There MAY be some units that are sold with a heat recovery feature such that all those BTU's don't go out the door, er chimmney. Do you live near a large city? You should have a FP shop nearby where you and/or your customer can view/decide.
*Timberlake:There are a few classes of gas fireplaces. Since you have new construction, you would probably be happiest with a zero-clearance fireplace, which means that you can frame it easily into existing walls using conventional framing techniques with the wood frame directly against the fireplace unit.There are 3 types of venting options, which in the order of desirability (at least in my opinion): vent less, B-vent, Direct vent. Vent less is obvious... you are simply burning gas in the room, and all of the pollutants (ex: carbon monoxide, and lots of water vapor) just dump into the room. This is similar to running a stove in the room with no venting. B-vent actually vents the pollutants outside, but the combustion air is taken from the room. Direct Vent is the best, and external air is used for combustion, and the exhaust is vented to the outside. Both exhaust and combustion air share the same double wall vents.You need to check with your building codes to see what they allow.I am putting 5 fireplaces in our new home... one huge model (58K BTU's) in the great room, and 4 smaller units, one for each bedroom. All will be DV models. This is particularly important for bedrooms, and many (if not most) building codes require DV in bedroom.In our case, this is a vacation house which will not be occupied 100% of the time. One thing that you can do with a gas fireplace is to have it controlled by a milli-volt thermostat. The nice thing is that they require absolutely NO electricity to run. So if we are away from the house, and the electricity fails (killing the main heating furnace)... our house can still be heated once the thermostats kick using the fireplaces as a backup heat source./Jim Pappas
*thanks for the info. on your recommendations i will use direct vent.