Valor LX2 3-Sided

Quick Facts

• Heating Capacity: 900–1,800 sq ft
• Efficiency: 67.4% (EnerGuide)
• Viewing Area: 45½" across, open on three sides.
• Fuel: Natural gas or propane.
• Controls: Programmable remote with thermostat, included.
• Fan: None

Who It's For

An open floor plan has seating in every direction, and a standard fireplace faces exactly one of them—the fire ends up belonging to half the room. You need a fire you can see from every seat. If the fireplace is going to sit at the center of a living or great room where the kitchen, the dining table, and the couch all share the view, this is the one to look at. Choose a one-sided unit and the fire picks a side; choose the Valor LX2 3-Sided and the whole room gets the view.

What Makes It Special

This is a serious heater, not just a centerpiece. The fire radiates warmth into the floor, the furniture, and you—the way the sun warms your face—while natural convection carries warm air into the room with no blower running. And because the whole fireplace runs on four AA batteries as its primary power, it keeps making heat when the power's out.

Valor's HeatShift system sends up to 60% of the fireplace's heat through hidden ducts and back into the room instead of into the wall above. That means the wall above stays cool—cool enough to run drywall, wood, tile, or stone right up to the surround, hang a mantel lower than usual, and put the fire exactly where the room's design wants it. Built-in overhead lighting shows off the logs with the fire on or off, so it earns its spot in July too.

Possible Downsides

• There is no blower on the fireplace itself. Heat moves by radiance and natural convection, so it warms the room it's in; the optional HeatSplit system is the path for sending warmth to another room.
• Smartphone control requires the optional WiFi upgrade kit. The included remote handles the thermostat, timer, and lighting on its own.
• Liners come in two styles only. Fluted black or reflective glass.

If you want the fire to be the first thing people see from anywhere in the room, the LX2 3-Sided is the right decision. The open room you planned around becomes the room everyone ends up in.

Five fire beds—birch, driftwood, splitwood, rock and shale, and Murano glass—plus your choice of fluted black or reflective glass liner, with options including a steel framing kit and the HeatSplit remote heat distribution system, let it match the room you're building around it.