Fireplace - Montana Owners Club

Chester · 12-20-2004, 03:49 AM

Sorry folks for asking so moany questions about various options but I know I'll get honest answers in this forum. I'll be ordering within a couple of weeks and am trying to settle on some options.

Do you folks with the fireplace find it to be worth the money? Does it kick out lots of heat?? I understand that it is a 5100BTU unit but am not sure if that will keep the trailer warm or not?

PS: I understand the need for furnace heat when below freezing.

Thanks again....

BillyRay · 12-20-2004, 04:12 AM

I wouldn't get it if the only reason is for heat! there is much cheaper and better options out there!!!

That being said, I would never go without one! we love ours and use it all the time. mostly for looks, but on a cold day it takes the extra chill out and is a cozy homey feeling.I even bought one for our new home instead of a real one!

if using it for heat only, the problem is that if you rely on it instead of your furnace, then it will take heat out of your basement. your furnace has ducts that run through your basement...the less you use them, the less heat going in your basement.....you can do it, but just be aware of what your doing.

Bob & Lee · 12-20-2004, 05:41 AM

We love ours, I think as said prior it may not be worth it for just the heat.It looks good and heats good and was there. We have ours on to heat the living room and the floor in front it is cold when it is below about 20 Deg and we get some cold from under the sofa glides and trying to figure how to block it off. It is handy and the gas heat runs to heat the underbelly. I have a new Digital Thurmostat on the gas furnance works great.

Parrothead · 12-20-2004, 08:53 AM

We love ours. We keep the heat on in the evenings so the furnace doesn't drown out the TV. Nice atmosphere also.

OntMont · 12-20-2004, 03:33 PM

Hi Brad,

We ordered one for our new trailer, and we do like it. It is an expensive way to get a 1500 watt heater, but it looks good and is very quiet. They will take the chill off a cool evening, but you certainly will need the furnace when the temperature approaches freezing. (BTW - They are made in Cambridge, ON).

John.

VanMan · 12-20-2004, 05:44 PM

BillyRay, The one you put in your home - does it run off propane or natural gas? We're total electric with a woodburning fireplace, but I'm wondering about drilling a hole and running off a propane tank outside. My sister-in-law purchased natural gas logs that are absolutely beautiful !!

Montana Sky · 12-20-2004, 10:15 PM

I love my fireplace and would not order another coach without it. On those cooler evenings in the summer when you want just that little amount of heat to warm things up without having to crank the furnace on the fireplace is the way to go. Plus as stated above, it sure looks nice.

Chester · 12-21-2004, 03:42 AM

Thanks John. You mention 1500 watts but the brochure says 5100 watts. Can you confirm your info since if it's only 1500 watts I'll do something else.

PS> I PM'd you a couple of times recently. Are you getting the messages?

sreigle · 12-21-2004, 07:09 AM

Maybe I can add a perspective from someone who does not have the fireplace but would like to have it, if conditions permitted. We needed the extra storage space and that's why we did not order the fireplace. At an RV show we sat in a Montana with the fireplace. It looked very realistic, much better than I expected. This one had the heat option turned on and it felt really good that cool day. It did a nice job of taking the chill off. If we didn't need the storage we would have the fireplace.

HamRad · 12-21-2004, 08:41 AM

Chester,
We have the fireplace in our 3295RK and it is the 1500 watt model. Perhaps they make a 5100 watt model but that sounds strange. We love the fireplace. But will tell you that when we first saw it we thought to ourselves that it would be useless and just take up space. Now I wouldn't buy a model without one!!

HamRad

kdeiss · 12-21-2004, 09:32 AM

To the best of my knowledge 1500 Watt is as large as they get.I think the 5100 is the BTU rating.

Chester · 12-21-2004, 01:24 PM

You're right Ken and Ginny. I guess I had a mind bark for a minute. The brochure does show 5100 BTU. Imagine....5100 watts would require almost 50 amps to run it!

rames14 · 12-21-2004, 04:09 PM

Chester -

Our 3400 has the fireplace. It was there on the lot and we took a unit the dealer had order on spec. I don't know if we would have ordered one with it, but it is nice on those cool evenings, just to take the chill off. For us (we use on weekends and trips) the 3400 has more than enough storage. If I fulltimed that might be a different story. Anyway, we like it and its neat to see people when you tell them you have a fireplace in your RV.

OntMont · 12-21-2004, 04:21 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Chester

Thanks John. You mention 1500 watts but the brochure says 5100 watts. Can you confirm your info since if it's only 1500 watts I'll do something else.

PS> I PM'd you a couple of times recently. Are you getting the messages?

It is 1500 watts or 5100 BTU. (That is about all you can get out of a 15 amp circuit). In our trailer, the fireplace and Microwave share the same circuit, so you can only use one at once, but that is not too bad since the MW is only used briefly. It is a bit of a pain that the MW loses its time setting every time you switch between the two, but it works without the time set, so we just leave the time unset (it does not flash digits at you), and use the clock on the wall if we really need to know the time.

It was curious when we visited friends in their new house in Alabama. We did a bit of a double take when we saw that they had installed the exact same fireplace in their home! They loved it too. In S. Alabama, it provided all the heat they needed.

I did reply to your PMs belatedly today.

John.

Montana_621 · 12-22-2004, 05:40 AM

We really like ours too and it does heat very well. We had it added by the dealer after the fact so we don't have the issue with the microwave that some others do. I remember seeing something about a switch, if you have the micro on you can't use the fireplace and visa versa. We can use both at the same time.

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Chester

Sorry folks for asking so moany questions about various options but I know I'll get honest answers in this forum. I'll be ordering within a couple of weeks and am trying to settle on some options.

Do you folks with the fireplace find it to be worth the money? Does it kick out lots of heat?? I understand that it is a 5100BTU unit but am not sure if that will keep the trailer warm or not?

PS: I understand the need for furnace heat when below freezing.

Thanks again....

Montana_2008 · 01-11-2005, 04:01 PM

We love ours. WE have a 3400RL 2005, we thought it was just for looks but it puts out good heat and takes the chill out on a chilly night. Looking into the fire even maks you warmer. Jerry Pwggy and cody, 2004 Ford deisel with 4 inch pipe, airaid, and air ride. 12 miles to gallon pulling 3400RL in hills of WV Have found some poor workmen ship in the shower, valves on wisher, small things that the factory missed or just didnt take enough time to fix.

RC and Samantha · 01-12-2005, 10:01 AM

We also love ours and wouldn't buy another unit without one. Like HamRad when we first saw one on the lot we thought what a waste of space. Then when we finally got around to ordering our Big Sky we decided last minute to add it in since we had so much storage space. It gives a lot of ambiance. Ours doesn't seem to heat up the camper very much, but then again we seem to camp when it is either very hot or cold outside.

I think in the 3400 it would do a nice job since the Living Room is a bit more closed in.

Patty

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