replacing builders grade fireplace, need insight

[burgandy25]

Good afternoon,

We have decided to replace our homes builders grade fireplace (29 year old Majestic RC36
).
The house is new to us and being in MI I want to be able to get useable heat from it.
I have two outstanding questions I'm looking for insight on.

This is our current setup:

The fireplace currently sits in the middle of the house, directly in the living room, as you can see in the top left corner of the first picture, there is a bedroom on the second floor right behind the wall that the metal chimney is in. down the hall farther to the right is another bedroom. What you can't see is the farthest left, our staircase going up to the second floor is open, with a small balcony (which is why you can see the bedroom in the first picture.

My first question is if I have a good idea or if I can achieve a better solution: I was looking at the possibility of a fireplace with the option of adding a powered vent or gravity vent. I like the Valcourt fireplaces as they appear to be of good value. With the Valcourt Lafayette I could have the built in fan, and add the gravity vent vent the second floor to keep the two far bedrooms warm. The natural draft would keep the master warm.

The second question would center around a fireplace like one from Pacific Energy like the FP 25 or 30. I'm afraid the weight would be an issue. The PE is about 200lb heavier than a Valcourt unit or an RSF unit. I'm afraid we might not have enough support in the basement to keep it safe on the first floor :-/ When the time gets closer I will have an engineer come in to look, but in the meantime I wanted to hear about all of your experiences with heavier units.

 

[begreen]

Weight is unlikely to be an issue. It is spread out over a large footprint. Two installers working in that area would weigh more.

 

[burgandy25]

Weight is unlikely to be an issue. It is spread out over a large footprint. Two installers working in that area would weigh more.

I've read that before on this forum, but the FP30 is 626lb before installation materials and fascia applique that people in a small area would be equivalent, I'm worried about long term weight in one spot. The main metal beam in the basement that runs the length of the house is directly under it, with a metal post right there, my idea for my own reassurance would be adding a second metal beam next to it if I was to add the FP30 (which is my favorite option if weight is no issue).

I guess another question in regards to gravity vents is thisL when you add gravity vents with a fireplace with a blower, will the blower also blow air out the gravity vents? That is I assume gravity vents also connect to the same vacant space around the firebox where ambient air is drawn into and warmed up to be distributed.

 

[begreen]

Weight definitely will not be an issue as described. No need to add additional support.

That's a good question about the vents. With a blower I would think that both vents would be pressurized.

 

[burgandy25]

Weight definitely will not be an issue as described. No need to add additional support.

That's a good question about the vents. With a blower I would think that both vents would be pressurized.

That's good to hear thanks, It definitely puts the PE at the front of our list with all the great things I've read in this forum.