Comments on: Fireplaces vs. Wood Stoves vs. Zero-Clearance Inserts

By: Otto

Otto — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:23:27 +0000

We used a piece of marble that we had left over from the kitchen counters in the floor as a hearth. And yes, we have used the BIS Nova, and it worked great. The one thing I haven’t perfected yet is keeping the window from sooting up. The manual claims that if you burn the fire hot enough you don’t have any problems with the glass getting a brown film on it, but I haven’t gotten good at that yet. But the trick to cleaning the glass is to take a a piece of newspaper, make it wet, dip it in the ashes in the fireplace, and then clean the glass. Cleans right up.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 15:50:04 +0000

Hi-did you install a hearth in the floor in front of the fireplace? If you did what material did you use? It looks like you have something on the floor but I can’t tell if it’s a hearth or a mat. Also, have you used the BIS Nova yet and if so how is it working out for you?

By: Otto

Otto — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:31:29 +0000

I’m no expert at this, but this is what I believe: A zero clearance box doesn’t need masonry to keep it from burning down the house, it has its own masonry/fire protection built in. But it doesn’t give you very good heat production. For that, you need a wood stove like the BIS Nova. A masonry fireplace is a traditional fireplace. Beautiful, but extremely inefficient and very expensive.

By: Joann

Joann — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:13:25 +0000

We are building a house and want to know the pros and cons of zero clearance, vs masonry
other than cost. What type of maintenance is necessary? Is the firebox lined with masonry if it is a hearth type opening. Can the opening size vary? If you want the traditional masonry look, how would you acheive that?

By: Otto

Otto — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:55:49 +0000

To be honest, we haven’t fired up the stove yet. We haven’t lived here during winter yet! But it looks real nice in the wall. The one thing I can add is that shortly after they installed the unit it was really cold outside and I could feel cold air coming in through the fresh-air intake vent and pouring out in the little gap at the top of the stove, where the hot air would normally come out during use. It remembered that a friend of mine had a similar wood stove and had a similar problem like that. He had to cut a felt pad to stuff into the gap. So since i still had my walls open I had the wood stove installer come back and add a duct flap inside the fresh air intake duct. It has a little handle that i can use to open and close the intake vent, so when I’m not using the fireplace I’m not faced with cold air coming in. Something to think about.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:04:14 +0000

Hi – great blog! Just checking to see how the BIS Nova is working for you. We are in the market for a high efficiency wood burning fireplace for our new home and also like the lines of the Nova. Thanks, Danielle bbetts@maine.rr.com