GFK-160 Fireplace Blower Kit for Heat N Glo, Hearth and Home, Quadra Fire, GTI, Fasco, Regency, Royal, Jakel, Nordica, Rotom | Ball Bearing, Quiet, High Air Flow

No assembly required - all wiring is complete out of the box - meaning the fan control switch, AC power cord and thermal sensor are all hooked together and pre-wired. The only thing I had to do was mount it in place at the bottom back of fireplace and plug it in to existing outlet that came w/ the fireplace. It was a challenge logistically fitting it in my Heat-n-glo fireplace due to space constraints but after removing some brackets on the right side of the fireplace I was able to wiggle it in. The kit included a 2 to 3 prong adapter (which I needed) for the outlet and velcro strips which mount on the back of the blower and back fireplace wall to help secure it and prevent any movement, although it's heavy enough I probably didn't need to use them but nice touches to include them in the kit. Let me say... this blower does pump out a good volume of air - so much that at highest fan speed one might consider it a bit loud and overkill. I found myself turning it down to less than half speed which is very reasonably quiet and still forces plenty of hot air down and out through top vents of fireplace. Without the fan the heat would just roll straight up the wall. Now it's forced down and out into the room which greatly affects the fireplace's efficiency. I'm sure it will save on my overall gas bill since most of our time is spent in the living room and won't have to use the central heat system as much. While I was at it, I took off the front glass of the fireplace (held on by 4 spring mounting brackets) and cleaned both inside and outside of glass. This also allowed me to replace the "glowing ember" wool which is used to create the hot ember effect and adds to the aesthetics of simulating a real fire burning. The included thermal sensor is mounted by a magnet attached to bottom well of fireplace. It is heat sensitive and turns on the fan automatically when it reaches a certain temperature and shuts the fan off after a short time once you turn off the fireplace. I timed it and it was exactly 10 minutes after turning on the flame that the fan turned on and the fan runs about 10 minutes after shutting off the flame to help dissipate the last bit of heat into the room. In summary - it's all prewired and assuming you already have a live junction box in your fireplace then all you need to do is slide the fan in, attach the magnet/thermal control switch, mount the fan control knob in prexisting housing (which came with my fireplace) and plug in the AC cord. The unit seems very well built, solid and I hope it outlasts my time in this starter house. Buy it if you are on the fence! No reservations here...

Came exactly as described in the listing. I actually called the company before I ordered (they have a store in Wisconsin) because I found conflicting information online as to whether this blower would work with my fireplace, which is a Heat N Glo SL-750TR. The guy I talked to was friendly and helpful - he patiently answered my 2 questions about installation and told me to call again if I had any issues putting in the blower. After that phone call I felt confident that this was the right blower, so I ordered it on Amazon. Order experience was typical Amazon - quick, efficient, arrived right on time. As another reviewer noted, the blower was packed exceptionally well from the supplier - double-boxed with foam tightly securing the blower and included accessories. Installation was very straightforward - it's literally as simple as sliding the blower unit under the firebox of your fireplace. As is mentioned in several places online with blowers like this, your fireplace may have a very tight opening clearance - this was the only slightly difficult part of my install. First, I removed the rubber feet that dampen the vibrations on the blower bracket/stand, but even so, the blower would only go about halfway through the opening rotated at about 45 degrees. After unsuccessfully trying a few different angles, I realized that it was going to need some 'encouragement' to get all the way through the opening, so I grabbed a spare scrap of 2x4 wood and used that to gently 'expand' the opening under my fireplace. It couldn't have needed any more than a 1/4" of extra clearance before the blower slid through the opening, and I removed the 2x4. Once under the firebox, the rest was a snap. I had room to re-install the rubber feet on the bracket, and move it into position under the rear side of the firebox with the air-ports of the fans pointing upward. I plugged the blower into the outlet that was installed under my fireplace, attached the magnetic heat sensor to the underside of the firebox, and flipped on the fireplace, eager to see how it worked. It didn't - and to make an extremely long story of cussing and troubleshooting short, the original fireplace installers (my homebuilder, 19 years ago) never actually hooked up the under-fireplace outlet to an actual electric supply - the wires were wrapped up inside the outlet box and didn't go anywhere! Grrr. So, in the short term I plugged the blower into a heavy duty appliance extension cord for safety (probably overkill, this blower doesn't use a lot of electricity) and ran the cord to a nearby outlet. Once the blower actually had power available (grrrr to my homebuilder, again) it worked like a charm. I don't have any way to precisely measure airflow or anything like that, but my back-of-the-envelope heat output impressions are as follows: when blower is not on, the heat projects about 2-3" out from the top of the fireplace and goes straight to the ceiling. When the blower is on medium, the heat projects about 10" out from the top of the fireplace and spreads out more widely before going up. When the blower is on high, you can feel the heat about 18" away from the fireplace...so for us, this has been a fantastic improvement! As a related aside, our fireplace has a small angled "hood" that clips in front of where the hot air comes out (the top of the firebox) - it's angled downward, so I imagine the intent is to drive the air from the blower down. It does seem to lower the airflow a little, but it also seems to block some airflow, as opposed to when I remove the hood completely - the air doesn't go quite as low, but the flow feels a little stronger. We're going to go back and forth with the hood for a little while longer before we decide if we want to leave it on or off. At the end of the day, this is a great blower for our fireplace. Fits great, came pre-wired, everything I needed was included, and the blower is very quiet when operating. Happy!

I wish we had bought this sooner... we lived here for two years before I decided to splurge and get a blower kit. Our firepalce was old and didn't throw any heat. We have high vaulted ceilings, and the room is 30 x 42 - and ALL the heat went straight up. We spent a fortune on gas.This has cut our gas bill by about 30% (I've checked it year over year). It keeps the blower on after the fireplace has turned off, and keeps the room nice and toasty. It was easy to install, though a little tight when placing it in the right spot. It's also quite reliable- we bought this almost four years ago, and it's still running strong.

Just as described