GFK-160 Fireplace Blower Kit for Heat N Glo, Hearth and Home, Quadra Fire
The GFK-160 fan kit is a dual blower kit designed to fit a number of fireplaces, including models from Heat N Glo, Hearth & Home, and more. The blower kit includes all of the components you'll need to successfully install a blower into your fireplace for the first time. Our GFK-160 blower uses a much higher quality ball bearing motor vs. the cheaper sleeve bearing motors found in other competing blowers. The GFK-160 kit is designed using a thermostatic on/off switch, which will automatically turn the blower on and off at set temperatures. Because of this feature, the GFK-160 kit can be used with or without a designated blower wall switch. This blower is a beast. At 160+ CFM of airflow, you'll feel the difference!
I ordered this to (finally) get a fan/blower for my 14-year-old Heat N Glo fireplace. I went with this kit rather than other blowers/kits available through Amazon because I already had a finished outlet (actually two of them) under my fireplace, and this kit was completely wired and didn't require me to do anything more than get it in the right place and plug it in. I did have to use a 3-prong-to-2-prong adapter, which I bought separately at Home Depot for $0.69, but then I found that one came with this kit that is identical to the one I bought. So, please note that though the picture on Amazon seems to show a two prong plug for the power cord for this blower, it is really a grounded, 3-prong plug and the kit comes with a 3-to-2 prong adapter. I also bought a grounding pigtail wire at Home Depot and ran that from the grounding loop on the 3-to-2 adapter to a hole in the metal underside of the fireplace near the outlet, and secured that with a screw.
Total installation time for this was about 1 hour, most of which was spent vacuming out dust from under the fireplace and removing and reattaching the bottom grill part of my fireplace front, which swings opens downward and which I had to unscrew at the bottom hinges and take out to make enough clearance to get the blower under my fireplace. Also had to remove the fireplace front screen, which is very easy to do. If you get this blower, or if you're thinking of getting it, I recommend that you visit the manufacturer's website and view the video there on how to install this. [...]. I did that and hardly needed to look at the instructions that come with the product.
After I got the blower in place, attached the ground wire to the adapter and plugged it in, put the heat sensor with the magnet on the underside of my fireplace box, turned on the round dial switch that turns the fan on and off and controls the fan speed (it clicks off to the left, and when clicked on to the right the highest speed is first -- speed lowers when turned clockwise) and lit up the fireplace, this worked like a charm. I had the fireplace on for less than 5 minutes, but the warm air this moved in that short time warmed up my family room area -- my house thermostat is on a wall approx. 25 feet away from the fireplace -- so much that the air conditioning kicked on. It was a cool-ish day, and I installed this around mid-day, and I don't think the A/C came on again that afternoon. If I have any problems with this when fireplace season gets in full swing, I'll come back to update, but so far I'm very pleased and impressed with this product.
Total installation time for this was about 1 hour, most of which was spent vacuming out dust from under the fireplace and removing and reattaching the bottom grill part of my fireplace front, which swings opens downward and which I had to unscrew at the bottom hinges and take out to make enough clearance to get the blower under my fireplace. Also had to remove the fireplace front screen, which is very easy to do. If you get this blower, or if you're thinking of getting it, I recommend that you visit the manufacturer's website and view the video there on how to install this. [...]. I did that and hardly needed to look at the instructions that come with the product.
After I got the blower in place, attached the ground wire to the adapter and plugged it in, put the heat sensor with the magnet on the underside of my fireplace box, turned on the round dial switch that turns the fan on and off and controls the fan speed (it clicks off to the left, and when clicked on to the right the highest speed is first -- speed lowers when turned clockwise) and lit up the fireplace, this worked like a charm. I had the fireplace on for less than 5 minutes, but the warm air this moved in that short time warmed up my family room area -- my house thermostat is on a wall approx. 25 feet away from the fireplace -- so much that the air conditioning kicked on. It was a cool-ish day, and I installed this around mid-day, and I don't think the A/C came on again that afternoon. If I have any problems with this when fireplace season gets in full swing, I'll come back to update, but so far I'm very pleased and impressed with this product.
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