Does anyone have an RSF Opel fireplace?

[oakcutter]

I am thinking about putting one of these in my house. Any thoughts or experiences with this model? Thank you.

 

[steved]

I am thinking about putting one of these in my house. Any thoughts or experiences with this model? Thank you.

 

[steved]

That's a single door Opel, with the stone front kit and forced air (which causes you to lose the drop through ash pan). Its connected with their 7" Excel insulated stainless.

It does a pretty good job on our 2850 sq ft home...but we have a pretty well insulated home and decent air circulation. We have had 1.5 heating seasons...this will be the second full season.

 

[snowdingo]

I have a 2 door model with the catalyst and central air blower (blows air through the existing furnace ducts). We have a 3500 sq ft house and it keeps us warm. I don't have a removeable pan for the ashes either, but its design makes it easy to shovel the ashes out.

I put the opel in over an add-on wood furnace. The functionality of furnace heat circulation with the look of a traditional fireplace is nice.

I will say that the opel blower won't move air as good as a furnace, it takes a bit longer to even the heat in the house. We're still happy with our choice

 

[daleeper]

The specs show that as a 3.6 cu. ft. firebox. How often do you guys reload if you are running 24/7? If I were to install a fireplace the Opel would be my top choice I think.

 

[snowdingo]

I'm burning west coast softwoods mostly, and I'm reloading every 6 hours or so in the thick of winter.

 

[steved]

The specs show that as a 3.6 cu. ft. firebox. How often do you guys reload if you are running 24/7? If I were to install a fireplace the Opel would be my top choice I think.

Sorry, I wasn't able to get back on because of the site issues...

Depending on the wood, if I stoke it good at 11PM with hardwood, its still got hot coals at 630AM...usually its just shutting the blower off as I'm reloading (below 121*F). Its definitely not a "long burn" option, I would say that every five to six hours is probably about right depending on how hot you run it and the type of wood. Mine is supplemental heat, backing up a whole-house propane furnace and a heat pump, so if it dies before morning its not a big deal. My wife is home a couple days during the week, and she runs it all day. Last year we burnt a single 500 gallon tank of propane, the year before we burnt a tank about every four weeks; so it does work well.

Mine does NOT have the catalyst, it was an option on mine but the installer said it could plug off if you didn't burn it hot and that it only gained you about 5% in efficiency. So we opted not to have it.

 

[Fyrebug]

One thing you havent mentioned is the size of your house. How well insulated it is, where you gonna put it etc...

If I may suggest the Valcourt FP10 Lafayette . It comes EPA Washington State (below 4.5 gr/Hr 78% efficient) out of the box. Yet it retails below $3,000 Kitted Black.

It comes standard with the following features:
* Includes dual Blower
* Molded Refractory bricks
* One Large Single Door. Largest Viewing area in its class
* Lifetime Warranty on the glass. Even it the kids break it
* Lifetime Warranty on the burn tubes. Even if you overfire it.
* 6" flue size on any chimney brand. (Opel is 7" on ICC only $$$)

You can also get the following options:
* Gravity kit to heat the room upstairs
* Multi-Speed 360CFM blower (heat dump system) with dual zone heating with thermostat control. That feature is only $600. To get something close on RSF it's well above $1,200.

So for below $4,000 you get a fully loaded high-efficiency ZC you can use to heat most of the house.

Let me know if you have any questions. We make those and are a sponsor on this site.

 

[Zeus]

I am thinking about putting one of these in my house. Any thoughts or experiences with this model? Thank you.

I know it's a bit late, but here's my photo essay on my installation of the Opel 3:
http://photo.sagerquist.net/Display...entHouse/Improvements/Fireplace/Fireplace.txt