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Thinking of buying a new mobile home and am debating about getting a fireplace as an option. Are these factory built fireplaces any good? Is there enough draw to keep smoke from entering the home? Are they safe? How much does it drive up insurance costs?
I've got lots of wood, was thinking this could offset heating bills a little, but worried about the quality of build and safety of these things. Any comments or advise appreciated!

If you want to have wood heat, I would personally just go with a good wood stove once the home is installed. We have the factory fireplace in ours, and it is virtually worthless. It draws fine, so smoking is not an issue, but there is no damper or anything, so most of the heat goes up the chimney.

Believe it or not we use 2 electric fireplaces and it keeps our home nice. We use these on not so cold days and keep our reg furnace turned down. I think we got one on clearance for around $100 and paid around $200 for the other. They have mantels and etc.

IF you get a wood stove make sure that it is installed correctly and you purchase one that is MH approved.

Some MH fireplaces are not bad, my sons home has one and the fireplace has blowers on it so the heat is pushed out into the room.

Yanita

Yanita I agree with you. My fireplace is a mh approved one and no where close to new, as I actually salvaged it out of a mobile home that was being torn down for scrap.Checked it for damage and found none and put it in.Only thing I found is some of them have less than fantastic blower.
What I done with mine was install it then replace the tiny fan setup it had in it with twice as much fan and now it heats the front of the house like a champ on the coldest nights.
My suggestion to anyone buying a insert type is go to a fireplace showroom where they actually have them working and see how much it puts out before you buy it.

All HUD approved factory fireplaces are UL listed. That is as far as you can get when you ask if something is "safe".

They are the same units that are put in most stick built houses. The cheapest that can be bought. They are fine for pretty fires but useless for heat. And the second you try to mod it for more heat you void any UL listing and go against any local building codes. Not to mention NFPA (national fire protection agency).

If you want just the warmth and good feelings that come with an open hearth then they are ok. But if you want real heating power go with a HUD approved free standing stove installed by a certified chimney sweep.

Juice