PE FP 30 questions; saydinli mcdougy bfast250 poconos53

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Drewman

Member
Aug 10, 2015
91
Ohio
Hey folks that have installed the FP 30 I need some wisdom.

I am about to pull the $15,000 trigger on the FP 30 + Craftsman surround but I have some questions/concerns.

  • 2800sq ft home built in 2005
  • 17 foot great room ceilings lofted to 3 upstairs bedrooms
  • master,kitchen,office,great room, den on first floor
  • additional 2000 sq foot unfinished basement
  • FP30 will sit on exterior wall with 20ish foot chimney in a newly built chase
  • home has geothermal hvac
  • ohio - on 30 acres of hardwoods, Stihl.
questions:
  • we assume we are going to finish part (1200sq ft) of the basement so I am now considering the duct to the basement directly below the unit
    • is this worth it? - seems like a small investment to move some heat down, if possible
    • the great room and upstairs will be easily heated and the basement not to much so this may be an economical way to get heat down there
    • is the fan as noisy as others say?
  • outside air kit (OAK)?
    • installer said he would install one if I wanted it but he could argue both ways
    • install it and cover 3/4 of it up like others have done?
  • if we do add the remote heat transfer to the basement could I pull air from the basement as well?!
    • have the heat exiting by the basement floor and an intake 10 feet away on the basement floor?
    • could the basement be my "outside air kit"
Thank you
Andrew
 
My opinion - your 1st floor has lots of volume, forget about the basement. Your will be using the stove pretty hard to heat the main floor and upstairs. Get the OAK connected to the outside, plug it during the summer and yes tape off at least 1/2 of it in winter. If I did it again would not connect the "snap disk" thermostat in the fan circuit, it's pretty much useless unless you want the fan to cycle on and off 15 times on startup and cool down.

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Appreciate your input Mike. My previous ZC fireplace, HeatNGlo Northstar had a wall switch that was a dial. When clicked on the fan would default to the thermodisc and come on when hot and go off when cold. When turned to the end the dial would click again and the fan would be forced on. I typically used the forced fan on after about 10 min. Hoping for a similar install here. Is this what you were getting at? You would want the ability to manually turn the fan off and on bypassing the thermodisc?
 
Correct exactly, you want control of the fan. I don't want to sound negative, this is a great heater. The large glass throws awesome radiant heat and the fan is adequate to heat my house in sub zero Wisconsin winters. We are happy with the purchase, best thing it takes up almost no living room space other than the hearth floor protection. Fires are easy to start and easy to control. Often I don't even mess with the air setting, leaving it open about 1/4in from fully closed when doing hot reloads in cold weather (0 or below).
 
Install the OAK. Just block it off a little bit. You definitely want to bypass the thermo disk and control the fan via dial switch. Thermo is poorly designed and shut off on full loads with me. Very dangerous. I didn't duct anything so I can't comment but the fan isn't that bad. It heat my 2100sf cabin when it was -3 outside...just took time to get house temp up since it's a vacation home.
 
I'm by no means an expert but I'm coming to the end of my first season with our FP30. The entire winter was a learning experience and we love the new fireplace. The foot print of my house is 26x40. The main floor has a 17' cieling with the master, kitchen, dining, and 2 baths. Also a 14x14 four season room off the great room. Loft upstairs with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. Basement is fully finished with a large family room, 1 bed, 1 bath, and large mechanical room.
The two upper levels are always very warm. It's hard to keep it under 75 and there's alot of glass. I ran the auxiliary heat run to the basement and it runs off a snapdisc and rheostat. The basement maintains mid to upper 60's depending on the outside temp. Once it gets below 10 it just couldn't keep up. We have a l.p. fireplace in the basement so I'd supplement with that when needed.

The main blower isn't too loud. I have it wired to a dial on the wall and leave it at about 60%.
I have 26' of icc excel and no low draft issues. It pulls hard enough that I have close to 75% of my oak taped off.

The only issue to speak of was completely my inexperience. My wood supply wasn't the greatest. All I had was 3 cord of soft maple and ash I css early last spring. It wasn't ideal but it got us by this first winter and the flu never had anything more than fly ash the 3 times I swept.

It was alot of work but totally worth the effort and money.
 
Hey there. I am very happy with my stove thus far.
Remote heat duct....I feel it serves it purpose ok. Mine goes straight down with no extra elbows. Noise level on high fan is acceptable. My suspicion is that adding extra elbows would increase noise considerably. The noise is not from the fan but actually from the air moving in the pipe. Do not let the pipe be in contact with any plywood or joists either.
The biggest purpose my remote heat duct serves is that I use it more as a heat dump when I'm getting more heat than wanted on main level.
Any more questions I will be happy to answer. Fire away :)
 
Oak...very necessary for me in a new build. House is sealed very tight and I would have trouble getting any sort substantial fire. I would guess you can decide wether you want one or not. A oak could be added later but would probably be a PITA.
 
I have no cycling of fans. Once mine heats up from ice cold start it has always stayed on. Currently it is on a straight on/off switch on the wall. Which puts the fans on high speed at all times. I will add a variable speed switch at a later time.
 
Your house sounds very similar to mine in size and layout. My house is only six years old and very well sealed and insulated so for me an OAK was mandatory but I had to block off about 2/3 of it to control the burn better due to my 26ft straight up chimney.

Not that I would need it all the time, but the one regret I have is that I didn’t install the second heat dump so I could pull more heat to the basement when needed. I’ll use an electric space heater occasionally to help the basement . We get very high winds in the winter where I live which can be hard for the one heat dump to keep the basement above 65. At least with 2 dumps I’d have the choice to run one or both fans.

Other then that , after 2 seasons it’s an awesome heater.


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Your house sounds very similar to mine in size and layout. My house is only six years old and very well sealed and insulated so for me an OAK was mandatory but I had to block off about 2/3 of it to control the burn better due to my 26ft straight up chimney.

Not that I would need it all the time, but the one regret I have is that I didn’t install the second heat dump so I could pull more heat to the basement when needed. I’ll use an electric space heater occasionally to help the basement . We get very high winds in the winter where I live which can be hard for the one heat dump to keep the basement above 65. At least with 2 dumps I’d have the choice to run one or both fans.

Other then that , after 2 seasons it’s an awesome heater.


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Thank you for the insight! It sounds like I'll plan for the two basement heat dumps. Ideally we would have a switch upstairs by the fireplace and in the basement where we could turn the fans off/on and in between you think?
 
Thank you for the insight! It sounds like I'll plan for the two basement heat dumps. Ideally we would have a switch upstairs by the fireplace and in the basement where we could turn the fans off/on and in between you think?


You’ll need each fan on its own switch for sure. I added a 3amp rheostat to the main FP30 fan upstairs. The remote fan kits for the FP30 come with a rheostat in the box so you wont have to buy one for your heat dumps.



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Sorry, Drewman. I didn't see your post in the spring.

You have received a lot of good advice. I am excited to see pics of that craftsman surround! I am quite confident you will love the fp30.

I did my install myself. Let me know if you have questions and I will do my best to answer them.
 
I believe I have read all of your post regarding your PE FP so I feel pretty informed, thanks for posting!

The unit is currently in and I should be making a fire soon, tonights low is 46 so it will be good to cure the paint and open the windows. Mason doesn't come for a month though so it's not too aesthetically pleasing. I'll post a pic once it's done done.

This is my drawing for what it will look like. The top cap wood beam should be about 13 feet from the ground.
upload_2018-9-27_5-57-24.png
 
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