Kozy Heat Fireplace Review

Kozy Heat was launched as a private and family business back in 1976. In fact, it grew out of necessity during the oil crisis, providing alternative heat sources for a small town.

It’s come on a way since then, and now includes gas and wood fireplaces, gas inserts, and direct valves among its range of products. The company still has an ethos of efficient heating, but it’s also gained a particular style and aesthetic along the way.

Focusing on a single niche for over 40 years has made Kozy Heat something of an industry expert in the art and science of fireplaces. Setup, overlay, mantels, doors, you name it, Kozy Heat has probably forgotten more about it than you’ll ever know.

With a dealership network trained to steer customers to the fireplace solution that’s right for them, and a limited lifetime warranty on its fireplaces (if replaced by a registered dealer), it’s developed a sales operation more akin to a car dealership than most fireplace makers in the market.

But are the Kozy Heat fireplaces actually worth buying?

Let’s take a whirlwind waltz through the range and find out.

Alpha 36S

The Alpha 36S is an efficient fireplace with an old-fashioned look. It delivers a large viewing area, which means it adds a great traditional fireplace feel to any room.

A bonus though is that it comes with an automatic ignition system, so using and maintaining the fire is much easier than it would be with open fires.

It puts out an impressive 48,000 BTUs per hour, which is more than enough to heat most regular rooms, and can efficiently heat some larger spaces too.

Easy ignition, coupled with an automatic shutoff means it combines effective heating, ease of use, and energy efficiency.

A gas-based fireplace using logs and lights to give a cost but slightly grand feel, the Alpha 36S is more efficient than it looks.

Bayport 36

The Bayport 36 has a more up-to-date, relatively chic look, and comes in a range of options, including a version with birch logs.

It’s something of a chameleon, the Bayport 36, with options that can fit into many styles of room and décor. That’s one of the things that makes it popular with even first-time homeowners.

Power-wise, the Bayport 36 is a big step down from the Alpha 36S, with just 26,000 BTUs per hour, but as most standard rooms only need around the 15,000 BTU mark to consistently heat them, it’s still significantly more than you need.

The electronic intermittent pilot ignition system makes its way down from the Alpha to the Bayport though, maintaining the convenience and the fuel efficiency of the fireplace.

Another element of the Bayport that makes it popular with first or second home buyers is that it’s a direct vent fireplace, so you don’t need a mansion with a working chimney to use it – it has its own sealed combustion that releases its exhaust gases outside.

The wide range of aesthetic options with the Bayport 36 makes it a friend to almost everyone, and a flagship of convenient fireplace technology to the younger end of the home buying market.

Bayport 41

Another direct vent fireplace, with a similar set of aesthetic options as the 36 – including that unusual birch log set – the Bayport is noted for its heat efficiency.

It brings an inner brick lining to the party though, for a classier finish and, importantly, brick can’t rust, so it defeats one of the foes of some other models in a single swoop.

More powerful than the 36, the 41 puts out 30,000 BTUs per hour, so again, if you have larger rooms, you might choose the 41 over the 36 as it puts out double the heat you need for a standard room.

Direct venting still aims it at a wide variety of householders and importantly doesn’t deter younger buyers. Remote control lets you set the heat as you want it, rather than simply going full power, so you can both practice energy efficiency and not turn into jerky when that 30,000 BTUs per hour hits you.

While it might feel like there’s little to choose between the Bayport 36 and the Bayport 41, there are important differences, like the 30,000 BTUs and the brick inner lining that make the Bayport 41 the ‘better’ option of the two if you can afford it.

That tends to be the question, though – whether the 41 brings enough difference to the party to warrant paying the extra cash for it.

Bellingham 52

When you’re looking at the Bellingham 52, you’re looking at a style statement as much as you are a heating solution – if not more so.

The slim, dark wood looks of the surround draw the eye, and you can use it underneath a big-screen TV to create a centerpiece in any room.

If your décor style is modern contemporary, it’s likely that of all the fireplaces in the Kozy Heat range, the Bellingham 52 is likely to be your most appropriate choice.

Using logs as media, it comes with two separate BTU inputs, and can range from an already impressive 18,500 BTUs per hour up to a maximum of 59,000 BTUs per hour, which gives you a wide range of room size that the Bellingham 52 can effectively heat.

It also of course gives you control, so if you don’t need to run the Bellingham 52 on max all the time, you can mellow it out all the way down the scale to 18,5000 BTUs per hour and still be perfectly comfortable.

Using accent lighting to increase the chic elements of the design, the Bellingham is less of a chameleon than either of the Bayport fireplaces, but more of a statement piece, designed to both set off other decor elements and make the most of both the styling and the heat production it brings to your room.

Callaway 40

The Callaway 40 is the smallest linear fireplace Kozy Heat makes, and it brings together conventional heating technology and a contemporary style that won’t age on you for years to come.

In a sense the very opposite to the Bellingham 52, the Callaway is the master of customization and disguise.

You can choose almost every element of the fireplace from a range of options – the hearth itself, the inner lining, and even the media are fully customizable.

That’s not something Kozy Heat has done on a whim, it’s a canny piece of thinking, because by making so many elements customizable, it means that the Callaway 40 can fit into a whole range of homes, large or small, and still look perfectly in place.    

It even comes with a vented cavity and a comfort zone kit. What does that add, we hear you cry. It means you can hang a TV over the Callaway 40, just as you can over the Bellingham 52, and not worry about heat or distribution.

You also have the option of adding extra kits, like a heat transfer kit and a power vent system to the Callaway.

For the first time in the range, that might be worth considering, because in terms of raw room-heating power, this is the first time when, if you have larger rooms, you might find the Kozy Heat fireplaces lacking.

That’s not hugely likely, but it is for the first time possible, as the minimum BTU output on the Callaway 40 is just 16,500 BTUs per hour.

That said, you can dial it all the way up to 31,500 BTUs per hour, so unless you have an especially large room, you’re unlikely to be shivering enough to really need the extra kits or power vent system. They’re nice additions to have to hand, but they’re probably unnecessary.

The vertical Callaway 40 fireplace has a modern design and highly customizable options. It’s one of the trailblazing styles that has led Kozy Heat to an established place in the market.

By offering all the potential customization possible, it makes the Callaway 40 appealing to a whole range of potential buyers, irrespective of the style, and largely irrespective of the size of their home.

With the option to mount a big-screen TV above the fireplace, it can create a feature wall that’s either subtle or dramatic, depending on your temperament, and it adds options like rock to your choice of fire media, and crushed glass to your choice of perimeter material.

By doing all this, Kozy Heat has created a fireplace that does its best to please all comers.  

Conclusion 

Kozy Heat has come a long, long way since 1976.

In the 21st century, it offers a range of fireplaces that never fail to put out enough raw heat to thoroughly warm at least a standard room, and frequently enough to warm larger rooms in grander, older houses.

It would be a mistake to say Kozy Heat has a fireplace for every occasion. But it has certainly done enough to the models it has so that they offer not only impeccable heat delivery, but control, variation, and customization, so that it feels like you can personalize your Kozy Heat fireplace specifically to your needs.