Valor LX1 Pier

Quick Facts

• Heating Capacity: 650–1,250 sq ft
• Efficiency: 66.6% (EnerGuide)
• Viewing Area: 31⅛" window, open to three sides.
• Fuel: Natural gas or propane.
• Controls: Valor 10 remote with thermostat, included.
• Fan: None

Who It's For

Most fireplaces face one direction, so in an open room the seating on the far side gets the view at a distance and none of the warmth. You need a fire you can see, and feel, from three sides. If you're dividing an open space into two rooms—a living side and a dining side—or giving a smaller room a centerpiece that works from every seat, that's the job the Valor LX1 Pier was built for. Choose a one-sided unit instead and the fireplace defines half the room; this one defines both.

What Makes It Special

Three sides of ceramic glass make the LX1 a radiant heater in the middle of the room: the glass soaks up the fire's warmth and sends it into the floor, the furniture, and the people on every side, the way the sun warms your face. There is no blower—warm air moves on its own, so the fire is never the loudest thing in the room.

Valor's HeatShift system catches the warmth that rises and carries it through hidden ducts back into the room instead of into the surfaces above. The wall over the fireplace stays cooler, and the whole system works by gravity—no fan, no electricity.

Because the fireplace runs on four AA batteries and HeatShift needs no power, the heat keeps coming when the power goes out. Built-in overhead lighting shows off the fire bed whether the flame is on or off, so it looks finished in July, not just January.

Possible Downsides

• Smartphone control takes the optional WiFi upgrade kit. The included Valor 10 remote handles temperature, timers, and lighting on its own.
• The splitwood fire bed is LX2-only. The LX1 offers birch, driftwood, rock and shale, or Murano glass.
• Its 31⅛" window is the smallest in the LX line. If you want a wider three-sided fire, look at the LX2 3-Sided.

If you want one fire that both sides of an open room can call theirs, the LX1 Pier is the right decision. The floor plan you bought for the openness becomes two warm rooms people drift between all evening.

The LX1 takes a birch log, driftwood, rock and shale, or Murano glass fire bed and a fluted black or reflective glass liner, so the fire suits both rooms it faces.