Its now Novermber, 2007 and I finally made a fire. The new fireplace works great. No smoke in the room, no smokey smell, great draft, draws air from outside, and still radiates a good amount of heat into the room. But best of all it does not leak cold air into the room like the previous fireplace did. So those nasty drafts and cold feet are a thing of the past. Well worth the expense of replacing the old unit with a new one. Also, the new baseboard heat registers provide plenty of heat to the room, even though there is about 30% less register, and no freezing problems becaue the pipes do not go under the door or under the hearth anymore. Hope you enjoyed viewing this family room makeover!