Napoleon: Elevation X NEFB36LCD

A fire convincing enough to pass for the gas model it was captured from—no chimney, no venting, no gas line.

Quick Facts

• Heating Capacity: 250–500 sq ft
• Fuel: Electric.
• Controls: Remote with thermostat and 7-day schedule included; Napoleon Home app and voice control through Google Home and Alexa; wall-mount controller optional.
• Fan: Included

Who It’s For

You want a fire in the bedroom, the condo, the finished basement—somewhere a chimney or gas line isn’t practical—but most electric flames give themselves away in the first ten seconds. You need an electric fireplace that looks and sounds like a real fire. If the fire itself is the reason you’re doing this, or you’re framing a fireplace wall and haven’t settled on a fuel yet, this is the one to look at. Pick a typical electric and you get a flame you stop noticing by spring; pick the Elevation X Electric and the fire is the reason people choose that room.

What Makes It Special

Behind a set of glowing split oak logs, an LCD panel plays flame visuals captured from Napoleon’s gas Elevation X—the flames move like a real fire because they came from one. Layered flame technology builds the fire from front to back and side to middle, the ember bed modulates like settling coals, and built-in speakers match crackling and popping sounds to each flame pattern. Look away and it sounds like a wood fire; look back and it moves like one.

It shares its rough framing with Napoleon’s Elevation gas fireplaces, so you can frame the wall now and commit to a fuel later. No chimney or venting is required, which keeps installation quick, and it either plugs into a standard outlet or hardwires at 240 volts for twice the heat. ECO mode runs at half heat to use less energy; BOOST runs the heater at maximum with a faster fan.

The included remote runs everything—power, thermostat, 7-day schedule, flame, ember bed, and top lights—from the couch. The Napoleon Home app adds favorite settings and more flame, ember, and light combinations, and Google Home and Alexa take voice commands.

Possible Downsides

• Full heat requires 240-volt hardwiring. On a standard household outlet it delivers half its rated heat.
• It warms the room it’s in, not the house. If real heating range is the priority, the same framing takes the gas Elevation X.
• The wall-mount controller is an optional extra. The handheld remote comes in the box; the wall control does not.

If you want a fire that reads as real in a room where a chimney or gas line is off the table, the Elevation X Electric is the right decision. The room it’s in becomes the room the house lives in.

Choose gas-style flames with reflective panels, wood-style flames over a herringbone panel, or a no-flame log glow; set the ember bed to scarlet, tangerine, red, dark orange, or yellow and the top lights to any of 13 colors; a frameless finishing flange and adjustable finishing trim are included, with a black or white wall-mount controller available as an option.