all heaters and stoves should have very specific installation instructions including distance above the stove to any mantlepiece and i suggest you start with advice from local suppliers and then confirm with specific written instructions from each manufacturer that you can usually find on line...There are a number of heaters that have wood fires that are designed to be inbuilt in a purpose made wooden frame so hopefully this can be done inside your opening

I've used fireplace paint before. Bought from BBQ's Galore. Our fire was black cast iron though. I'd check with the paint manufacturer if you can use it on powder coat. The paint is really smelly (toxic)...seriously, the last thing you'd want is it burning and peeling off because it doesn't adhere to the powder coat.

Hi. I have read these comments and am really surprised - although a couple I share - i have the ten installed in room that is completely open on east side so on a minus 2 evening that’s what it is under the roof. the heater does smoke on start up so we leave the door open and wait until the fire is established Some may think this is a design issue and maybe it is but the cold steel will not draw warm air up until it’s warm. once that’s achieved the fire is beautiful. I don’t like the vermiculite tiles so am having a steel floor and back made with 50mm risers/dogs to life the kindling off the base and enable airflow underneath. That’s a choice not a fault. I have a Ned Kelly and it needs cleaning frequently too and its burn is far less efficient than the Scandia. I don’t burn 800mm logs but use standard RedGum and Sugar gum and the latter requires more heat energy to get going but once it’s burning it is also beautiful. the burn leaves almost no coals and logs retain shape but just turn to ash So in my view its more efficient than a few others I’ve seen and used inc the Ned BUT Customer service is useless and uninformed I was told the heater had fans and of course it doesn’t hence the thermals on top deck I can see people have had horror stories and experiences and that’s terrible but I’m happy as and would buy again I didn’t want to spend 10-15k as I wanted a large heater not a smaller one

There seems to be few reviews on small freestanding wood fired heaters. In our research their is a significant price difference between brands $1100 - $6000 for similar sizes and simply looking at efficiencies doesn’t always correlate to price. Any thoughts on what Brand might be best value ?