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bjolish

Need advice: too many btu's for room?

bjolish
16 years ago

Hi,

I hope you can take the time to help with my direct-vent fireplace choices.

I'm building a new home in San Francisco. It never freezes here, but its in the 50's and 60's for much of the year (even the Summer).

In any event, I'm planning to heat two rooms exclusively with direct vent fireplaces. The first is a 17'x22' living room (with 10' ceiling). The second is a 14x21 Master bedroom (with 8' ceiling). This strategy will allow me to minimize ducting, and give me better zoned control.

My mother-in-law works for a plumbing supply company, so I can get Kingsman Industries fireplaces at a discount.

Here's my question: I really like the look of the Kingsman "Designer Clean View" fireplaces. (They have no louvers.)

These only come, however, with BTU outputs exceeding 20,000. By my sqaure footage calculations, I need only about 9,500btus for the bedroom, and 11,000btus for the living room.

Is this OK? Will the oversizing mean that the fireplaces will just operate at a constant low burn, or will they cycle on and off?

Also, since these units are being used as heaters, should I get blower units? Or is this unnecessary given the high btu outputs?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

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