What is the Napoleon Ascent series?
The Ascent series is Napoleon's line of clean-faced, direct-vent gas fireplaces — the everyday workhorse of their catalog. Our best-seller is the Ascent 36 (26,500 BTU, natural gas), which uses Napoleon's PHAZER log set for a convincing wood-fire look. Sealed combustion, no chimney required, and available with battery-backup ignition for heat during outages.
The bread-and-butter gas fireplace
Ascent is Napoleon's flagship everyday series, and it's the fireplace we install in more Western NC living rooms than any other. These are direct-vent units — sealed combustion, drawing air from outside and venting out through a coaxial pipe, so they don't need a masonry chimney and they're safe in tight, well-insulated homes and bedrooms. The Ascent 36 we stock puts out 26,500 BTU on natural gas and comes with Napoleon's PHAZER logs and glowing ember bed, which is the detail that makes people do a double-take: for a production gas fireplace, it reads a lot like real burning wood.
Sizing and style across the series
The Ascent line spans a range of firebox sizes, so it scales from a modest bedroom or bonus room up to a main living area — the number in the name roughly tracks the width in inches. A clean-face design, with no visible louvers, gives it a modern built-in look that takes stone, tile, or a simple painted surround equally well. As a rough sizing guide, figure around 20 BTU per square foot in a moderate climate — and WNC's cold snaps push that up — so we size the unit to the room during your in-home assessment rather than guessing.
Why it suits the mountains
Two things make the Ascent a mountain favorite. First, direct-vent means we can add a fireplace to a room that never had one — no chimney, just a sidewall or roof vent. Second, battery-backup ignition: order it so-equipped and the Ascent lights and heats with the grid down, which is the concern we hear most since Helene. See the Ascent 36 lit in our Asheville showroom, or call (828) 545-0525 for a free in-home assessment.
How we can help
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