Hi,

Mendota products are in fact great products to work with and to have as a owner, but sometime they need a little more tweaking and adjustment to get the best flame possible. To follow installation charts from the manual is also really important as yes they can have the best fires (mostly in the traditional units with logs) but they are not really forgiving on installation and adjustment. Too much air mwill mean lower flame, not enough air will mean higher flames but everything will soot up like you said. Have you had it checked by the Mendota retailer that installed it?

Can you post a picture of how your fireplace looks?

Here is a picture that was taken the first week we moved in....

Although I am not an expert regarding Mendota gas fireplaces (my expertise is in gas logs for wood burning fireplaces), what I am seeing here is pretty typical of a large fireplace with limited BTUs. They almost always look better in promotional pictures than they do in real life. Did you actually see one of these fireplaces burning before you made your purchase.

It appears that the picture of the fireplace you posted originally has a reflective background inside which gives an illusion of more flames. It may be possible that the reflective background is an upgrade option for your fireplace. Have you checked into that?

I would get Mendota involved directly, they may not want to read your negative feedback here on Houzz, so they should have an incentive to help you out...or at least make sure the dealer who sold you the unit provides some service.

Thank you...for your advise. I did not see this exact fireplace burning because the dealers say it is more contemporary and the linear lines didn't sell well in this area. Our house is semi-contemporary.But they did have other similar fireplaces that had a square firebox.
Yes, I did purchase the reflective background. It is in the fireplace picture. I will talk to Mendota and see if they will get involved and possibly come and evaluate my fireplace. Would be so nice to have the same look as the Mendota advertise.
Again thanks for taking the time to respond...

You are welcome...I only wish I could have been of more help. I hope you don't mind me putting in a plug for our company. If you do, let me know and I will gladly remove this post.

For others who read this thread, if you have a wood burning fireplace that you want to convert to gas logs, here are some examples of what we offer at Hansen Wholesale: www.hansenwholesale.com/gas-logs

Love the tile surround. Anyone know exactly what that is?