We have an FMI fireplace, a double sided one. It works well. We put a cold air intake on it to improve efficiency and a gas starter too. The exhaust pipes are a little pricey and require a large amount of clearance, it was like 18" diameter space going up through two floors and into the attic. But it's been a good product.

Thanks, bdpeck. Would you mind snapping a photo of your cold air intake? I hadn't thought of a gas starter, so I might consider that. I believe the unit I'm looking at requires a 12" pipe, but the double sided model sounds beautiful.

Well I've had both the wood burning (in a different house) and direct vent (2 in this house).

The wood burning was messy, a pain to build a fire (tedious after awhile) and we converted it to a gas log when both of my girls developed asthma and couldn't breathe well.

When we built this house we used a Fireplace Xtraordinaire in one room. Extremely good heat producer. Needs to be in a big room. So we don't use it much as it turns the room into a sauna. The other direct vent FP we don't use much because it's in a room we don't use much.

Fireplaces are just kind of useless honestly. Seems to suck the heat right out of your house. But, I will probably put one in our next house anyway. A more realistic looking Fireplace than direct vent with a gas log and a good door.

Not trying to discourage you--really. Just sharing my experiences. I love to look at a beautiful, blazing fire in a nice big fireplace...nothing quite like it.

bdpeck, regarding the cold air intake you installed, I should have asked: is that an outside air kit or an inside cold air collar? If it's the collar, is that something you can see from the front? I'm picturing air vents above the unit, but I'm unfamiliar with fireplace parts so I could be way off. I know the outside air kit is required for this unit.

red_lover, I know real wood can be messy, but over the years we've realized that for us it's better to truly use and enjoy the type of (energy sucking) fireplace we like rather than install a clean and efficient model we don't like only to have it sit unused.

Outside air. There's a little pull lever (like the flue, only smaller) on the side that opens a flap in the fireplace. It's got a 4 inch duct (like for a bathroom fan) going to the exterior wall. We capped it with a vent cover similar to the bathroom vents (it can't have a flapper though, because this sucks air the other way).

Ours is the 12" double wall pipe, but then you need either 2 or 3 inch clearance from that, so 16 or 18" diameter. We got a little creative and lost about 3 inches of our master shower to get it in.

Ok, I appreciate that clarification.

You might also ask on the Hearth.com forums.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hearth.com Fireplace forum

I don't have anything to offer but I just wanted to say how refreshing it is to hear someone who thinks like us when it comes to fireplaces. We converted our gas FP to woodburning when we bought our current house, and plan to put woodburning fireplaces in our new build as well. I can't imagine living without them!

We wanted to be energy efficient in our build, so we went with a wood stove and a gas fireplace. Wood burning fireplaces are terribly inefficient both when they are in use and when they aren't in use. But if you want one, you might look at rumford...they are supposed to be more efficient than other designs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rumford.com

Does anyone have an 'efficient' (EPA) wood burning prefab fireplace? We want a real wood burning fireplace (have always had one) but don't want to spend a huge amount of money on a traditional masonry fireplace- since they are so inefficient. Does any have this type of fireplace?

Here is a link that might be useful: Efficient Wood burning fireplace

We have the FMI Georgian. We move in to our new home in 3 weeks so haven't used it yet. Our heat has been on 67 for the last week and our house is very warm, so it definitely hasn't been taking any heat out. :)

Eden, I'd love to see a photo of your new unit if don't mind sharing.

We stayed at our place up north this weekend and built two beautiful fires in our masonry fireplace. We got so excited about building real fires in the house we're building.

Hi Jujubean,

I love building fires too in our current masonry fireplace. We definitely want wood burning in my new build, but were thinking maybe a more efficient wood burning model, with the doors that can either be open (less efficient) or closed (more efficient). Did you look into these? (I have a link above to an example). I think I need to get down to a fireplace dealer and see what these look like. I'm surprised more people don't go with these, rather than a normal prefab (like the FMI Georgian, which is lovely).

nepool, I'll have to look into this option a little more. I didn't realize you could have the doors open on the efficient wood burners. hmmm

About 15 years ago we moved in to a ranch and noticed the brick masonry fireplace had been converted to gas. We used it for a year and decided we just really didn't like it. So we capped the gas and donated the ceramic logs and fake "coals" underneath and made it into a wood burner again, though we kept the glass doors. We used them a ton and really liked how it kept down (reduced, definitely did not eliminate) the cold air coming down into the house when we weren't using the fire. We had an energy person come in and assess the fireplace, and he said it was so bad to have the glass doors there but nothing else that he recommended putting some sort of insulator over the fireplace when it wasn't in use. Haven't seen any of that but it got me thinking and now I'll have to look for something more efficient. Now we bought an old tri level that had a big fireplace in the lower level. We took it out but saved the insert. Now we realize we really want a wood-burning fireplace again, for all the reasons listed by jujubean, so we'll likely sell the insert on Craigslist. I thought we'd just have someone come in and build one adjacent to our living room on the main level (the other side of that wall is the garage) and now that I see the FMI Georgian I'm thinking that maybe we can just buy one of those and have the fireplace folks put in the rest. We also have a tile roof and aren't sure how to get an opening through that puppy. Finally, the wood burning fireplace is only allowed as a grandfathered one in this city. One can only put a gas fireplace in now, so there is that as well.

We don't have a Georgian fireplace but do have one that is very energy efficient.
We just started using our Heatilator Constitution wood burning fireplace last week and am very impressed with it. The fireplace has a cold air intake and the doors shut very tightly. It only takes several small pieces of kindling and a bit of newspaper and the fire gets started very easily.
Cost installed was right at $5,000.00 and I think it was worth every penny.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heatilator Fireplaces