MistfireWater-vapour fireplaces · Calgary

Water-vapour fireplaces · Calgary

A fire wherever the renovation wants one.

Water and light, cool to the touch. No gas, no venting. We design and install Dimplex Optimyst water-vapour fires into old fireplaces, feature walls, half walls, kitchen islands and furniture, in Calgary.

See it in my space Where it goes
Concept render, not a photograph: soft, translucent water-vapour flames rising from a bed of dark river rock in a black-rimmed tray set flush into a pale quartz counter, mist dissolving above them. Concept render: a wide linear water-vapour fireplace set into a pale tiled media wall, a television mounted high above a clear band of wall. Concept render: a low water-vapour flame rising from river rock set into the end of a pale quartz kitchen island at dusk, two stools facing it. Concept render: a black 25-inch water-vapour insert with a log set and slim trim frame inside an old red-brick fireplace, a living room at dusk. Concept render: a three-sided glass water-vapour fireplace with a log set built into the end of a white knee wall between a kitchen and a living room.
Concept render
  • Dimplex Optimyst, every format Dimplex sells
  • Unit at list price, the build is what we quote
  • Cool to the touch, no gas, no venting
  • Heat on five of the seven formats
  • Calgary and the towns around it

What you get back

Your photo, with the fire in it.

An example pair. On the left, the kind of photo people send; on the right, what comes back: the fire placed where it would go, made from Dimplex's product photos of the unit, labelled as a concept, with a range for the build. The example room is itself a render, so nobody's living room is on this site.

Example of the kind of photo people send: a plain living room with a beige wall, a television on a low black stand, a floor lamp, a grey sofa and a window with a blind. This example room is a render, not a real home. Example photo (a render)

What you send

One phone photo from where you usually sit. A wall, an old fireplace, a counter, a corner. Blinds open, lights on, nothing tidied.

Concept render: the same living room with the television now on the wall and a linear water-vapour fireplace built into a new plaster section of wall below it, a grille slot near the floor; everything else in the room unchanged. Concept render

What you get back

The same room with the unit that fits (here, a Linear in a new section of wall under the TV), a note on why that unit, and a range: the unit at list price, the build as a bracket, and what a site visit would confirm.

Where it goes

Start with the spot, not the product.

Six ways people say it. Find yours below; each one has its own page with what fits, what the job includes and what it costs.

01 of 06

We have an old fireplace we never use.

Optimyst Revive, a 25-inch insert with its own water drawer and a fan heater. Gas capped, chimney blocked, a circuit into the opening, set and trimmed.

Unit $2,699.99 + build $700–1,500

The old-fireplace page

02 of 06

We're doing a feature wall or media wall.

Optimyst Linear 46, 66 or 86 in, the glass-fronted Pro Box, or the plumbed e-MatriX. A framed chase, the air path, the circuit, and the wall itself.

Unit $6,400–10,500 + wall $5–15k

The media-wall page

03 of 06

We're adding a half wall or opening up the plan.

Optimyst Aura, one box that installs one-, two- or three-sided, with a pull-out water drawer and optional heat; or the e-MatriX bay.

Unit $5,299.99 + build $3–6k

The half-wall page

04 of 06

We're doing the kitchen, the island or a bar.

Optimyst RGB Cassette, plumbed and hardwired into the counter: the Islandfire package. Cutout, fire cabinet, water, power, air, install.

Typically $7,500–12,000 installed

The island and bar page

05 of 06

No wall work: a piece of furniture, a condo, a cabin.

A console or plinth built around the cassette with its own tank, delivered and set; or the Mapleton stove, which plugs in.

Console $6.5–8k · stove $2,599.99

The furniture page

06 of 06

It's a restaurant, hotel or bar.

Cassettes in a row on one water manifold, Pro Box or Linear runs, spec support for your designer, and a service plan.

Quoted per project

The commercial page

How it works

Mist, lit from below.

A tray of water, a fine mist, and light. It reads as fire from across the room and feels like nothing at all when you put your hand through it.

Concept render, close-up: fine white mist rising between dark river rock in the fire tray, lit orange from below so the vapour reads as flames just forming. Concept render

The flame is water

An ultrasonic disc turns water into a fine mist and light shapes it into flames that move the way real ones do, with a little smoke that drifts and dissolves. Nothing burns; the flame itself uses about 230 to 270 watts.

Concept render: the white water drawer below the fire's glass front pulled open to show the refill reservoir, with a jug of filtered water beside it and one cord at a wall outlet. Concept render

Water and power, nothing else

Either a drawer you refill or a line a plumber ties in, and a 120 V circuit. No gas, no venting, no chimney. Five of the seven formats add a fan heater you can run or ignore.

Concept render: an open hand passing palm-down through the low orange mist flames above the river-rock tray; the vapour flame is cool to the touch. Concept render

Cool to the touch

No open flame, no hot glass on the flame-only units, nothing to burn a child or a pet. It can sit in a counter with people leaning on it, in a half wall you brush past, in a room with no venting at all.

What it is

The fire is a Dimplex Optimyst, the water-vapour flame you have seen in hotel lobbies and restaurant bars. Dimplex makes it in seven formats, from a 20-inch cassette to an 86-inch linear. We did not invent the flame and we don't pretend to; what we make is everything around it: the opening, the water, the power, the air, the finish, the install. How it works, at length · which unit goes where.

Not actually fire

Nothing to burn, nothing to breathe, nothing to leak.

The flame is mist and light. What that buys you is not a slogan; it is a list of things this fire does not do.

Concept render: a grey cat asleep on a pale quartz counter beside the low mist flame, its tail near the cool vapour. Concept render

Touch it

Pass a hand straight through the flame: it is cool. The flame-only units (the cassette and the e-MatriX) have no hot glass and nothing hot at the flame at all, so the fire can live in a counter people lean on, a half wall kids brush past, a bar top full of guests. The five heated units vent warm air from a front grille, like any electric fireplace.

Concept render: a bright living room with tall houseplants and a window opened a crack on a snowy morning, the mist-flame fire tray on a low black console. Concept render

Breathe it

No combustion means no carbon monoxide, no nitrogen dioxide, no particulates and no wood smoke in the room, and no moisture load on a cold house. There is no gas line, so there is nothing to leak, and no pilot light idling all day. It is why towers that ban combustion appliances still allow these.

Concept render: a quiet living room late in the evening lit only by the fire's glow and one lamp, with a book and a cup of tea on a reading chair. Concept render

Run it all evening

The flame draws about 230 to 270 watts, a few cents an hour at Alberta rates, and burns nothing. Ambience from gas or wood means burning fuel for the look; this one does not. Where a unit has a heater it is an ordinary electric one, and its footprint is the grid's: Alberta's grid gets cleaner every year. A gas flame never does.

Pricing

The unit costs the same everywhere. The build is the difference.

Dimplex sets one advertised price on every Optimyst unit, so we show it as its own line and never mark it up. What we quote is the work around it.

1

The unit, at Dimplex's list price. Shown on every page in this site, in dollars, with the model number. It is the same number you would pay any dealer.

2

The build, as a range. Framing, trades, finishes and our design and install work. Ranges until we have seen the room; the range on each page says what moves the number.

3

Fixed before work starts. After the site visit you get one price, and nothing is ordered until you have agreed to it. The full pricing page has every line side by side.

Before you decide

What living with it is like.

The things we would want to know before spending this on a room. Each line page has its own list; these are true of all of them.

The eight illustrations are concept renders made from Dimplex's product photos of the units.

  • Concept render: the fire tray with the flame off and its river-rock top plate lifted off, a hand wiping the tray with a soft cloth, the small round mist disc visible in the tray floor.
    It is mist, so it needs a regular clean.

    You lift the top plate and wipe the tray and the small metal disc that makes the mist, with soap and water. A few minutes, every two to four weeks depending on the unit and your water. It is the one habit that keeps the flame full.

  • Concept render: inside a base cabinet, a hand twisting a small white softening cartridge on the slim water line to the fire, a chrome shutoff valve beside it.
    Calgary water is hard.

    Dimplex says to use softened or filtered water. Plumbed installs get a quick-change softening cartridge; drawer units get a jug of filtered water and a slightly more frequent clean.

  • Concept render: a reading chair with a wool blanket pulled up close to the warm side of the three-sided fire in a knee wall, lamplight.
    Not every unit heats.

    The Linear, Aura, Revive, Mapleton and Pro Box have fan heaters. The 20-inch cassette and the e-MatriX are flame only. If warmth matters, it changes which unit we suggest.

  • Concept render: the slim dark air grille slot along the base of a finished media wall, the linear water-vapour fire glowing softly above it.
    It breathes.

    Every unit needs a stated fresh-air path, from 40 square inches under a cassette to 160 under the biggest Linear. We build it in; a wall or a cabinet that seals the unit off starves the flame and voids the warranty.

  • Concept render: the low mist flame leaning and flattening sideways as a sheer curtain billows from an open window nearby.
    Drafts flatten it.

    Like a candle. Not under a range hood, not in the path of a register or a door that stays open. Where a spot is exposed we add a low glass guard, or choose the glass-fronted Pro Box.

  • Concept render: a media wall with the linear fire low, a tall band of clear empty wall, and the television mounted high with open air between flame and screen.
    Nothing goes above the flame.

    The vapour needs open air over it. A TV over a heated unit follows the TV maker's own over-heater rule; we plan the height at the design stage, not on install day.

  • Concept render: inside a base cabinet, a slim water line with a small chrome shutoff valve in easy reach, running toward the fire unit above.
    Water: refill or plumbed, decide early.

    A drawer you fill is simple and needs no plumber. A plumbed line means never thinking about it, but it wants a cold line within reach and a shutoff you can get to. The form asks, because it decides the unit.

  • Concept render: a media wall mid-construction, the black firebox sitting in clean stud framing before drywall, a coiled cable and a work light nearby.
    Best planned, not squeezed in.

    During a renovation or a new build, all of this is easy. Into a finished wall or a finished counter it is possible, but it is quoted case by case with the trades on site.

After the install

We service what we sell.

A water-vapour fire asks for a little looking after: a clean every few weeks, a cartridge once in a while, a new mist disc when the flame thins. We do all of it, on the units we install and the ones already out there.

Concept render: a service deep clean, the fire's river-rock top plate and reservoir removed onto a white towel, a hand washing the tray with a soft brush.Concept render

Cleaning visits

The tray, the mist disc, the glass and the reservoir, cleaned and flushed, with the flame checked before we leave. Most homes want it once or twice a year: it is the habit that keeps the flame full, done for you.

Concept render: two hands holding a new white softening cartridge beside the identical installed cartridge on the fire's water line, mid-swap.Concept render

Filters and cartridges

Plumbed units have a softening cartridge that wants changing on schedule, especially on Calgary's hard water. We carry the cartridge, swap it in minutes, and note the next date.

Concept render, flat lay on a dark workbench: a round metal mist transducer disc, a compact fan, a small pump, a lamp module and a dish of screws, arranged neatly.Concept render

Parts, fitted right

Mist discs, fans, pumps and lamps: we supply Dimplex's own service parts and fit them without modifying the unit, so its listing and Dimplex's two-year warranty stay intact. Priced per visit, quoted before work starts.

Book a visit

Email hello@mistfire.ca with the model number (it is on the unit and on your quote) and what it is doing, and we will come back with a price and a time. Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks and Chestermere.

See it in my space

Send a photo of the spot.

You get it back with the fire in it, plus a rough price for the build that fits. Usually within a couple of days. No obligation and no sales calls unless you ask for one.

  • Take one photo of the wall, opening, counter or corner from where you usually sit. Phone is fine.
  • We place the right unit for your depth, water and heat answers and send the picture back, labelled as a concept.
  • You get a rough price: the unit at list price, the build as a range, and what a site visit would confirm.

Your photo is used only to make your render and is not shared. Prefer email? hello@mistfire.ca

So we know it's inside the area we cover.
Decides which units fit. Guess if you have to.
Linear, Aura, Revive, Mapleton and Pro Box heat; the cassette and e-MatriX are flame only.
Plumbed or refill: this decides it.
By sending this you agree to our privacy notice.

For trades

Framers, fabricators, cabinet shops, designers, builders.

One planning sheet per unit: framing, air, water, power, clearances, every figure Dimplex's. Bring us the job and we supply, set and commission the fire; you keep the wall, the counter and the millwork.

Planning sheets and referral terms

Questions

Questions people ask.

Is a water-vapour fireplace safe?

Yes. The flame is water mist lit from below; there is no combustion, no hot glass on the flame-only units, and you can pass a hand through it. Every Dimplex Optimyst unit is a listed appliance (UL 2021 / CSA C22.2 No. 46) and we install it unmodified so its listing and warranty stay intact. The heated units have a fan heater with a front vent, like any electric fireplace.

Does it heat the room?

Five of the seven Optimyst formats have a fan heater you can run or leave off: the Linear, Aura, Revive, Mapleton and Pro Box. Two are flame only: the 20-inch cassette and the e-MatriX. The heaters are supplemental, roughly a space heater's worth (up to about 1,000 sq ft on the Aura and Revive per Dimplex, about 400 sq ft on the Mapleton), not a furnace.

What does it cost to run?

The flame itself draws about 230 to 270 watts, a few cents an hour at Alberta rates, plus a small amount of water. Running a heater adds what any 1,000 to 2,400 watt electric heater costs.

Where does the water come from?

Two ways. Drawer or reservoir units (Revive, Aura, Mapleton, and the Linear and cassette if you choose) are refilled by hand with softened or filtered water. Plumbed units (the e-MatriX always; the Linear, Pro Box and cassette with Dimplex's plumb kit) tie into a cold line and top themselves up. Calgary water is hard, so plumbed installs get a softening cartridge and drawer units get filtered water.

Do I need a gas line or a chimney?

No gas, no venting, no chimney. If you are replacing a gas fireplace, a licensed gas fitter caps the line and the old chimney is cleaned and blocked off, as Dimplex's Revive manual requires. Every unit needs a 120 V circuit; the Linear takes 240 V for full heat.

Can I have one in a condo?

Usually, yes. It is electric, needs no venting and burns nothing, which is why many towers only allow electric fireplaces. Check your board's rules on plumbing and electrical changes; the Mapleton stove and a console with its own tank need neither.

Can a TV go above it?

Often, with care. For the heated units Dimplex's rule is the television maker's own rule for mounting over a heater. On every unit the vapour rises a short way and dissolves, so we keep a clear zone above the flame and set the TV height with that in mind at the design stage. On a media wall the Linear is the usual choice under a TV.

Which one fits my old fireplace?

The Optimyst Revive, a 25-inch insert with its own refill drawer and a fan heater. It needs an opening at least 25-1/4 in wide, 25 in high and 12 in deep, and Dimplex sells two trim kits (36 by 32 and 40 by 35 in) to cover the old opening around it. Bigger openings get a facing, quoted.

Is it noisy?

There is a small fan that moves the mist; in a very quiet room you may hear it. Dimplex rates the Aura and Mapleton at 50 dB. The crackle sound effect is optional and can stay off. A heater fan sounds like any fan heater.

What is the warranty?

Every Optimyst unit carries Dimplex's two-year limited warranty, which we keep intact by installing exactly as the manual describes. Workmanship terms for the build are set out in your quote.

Is it better for the environment than gas or wood?

The flame, clearly: it is water mist and light drawing about 230 to 270 watts, so an evening of ambience burns nothing and puts nothing in the room. Where a unit has a heater it is a resistive electric heater, so its footprint is whatever the grid's is; Alberta's grid is mostly gas with a fast-growing share of wind and solar, and it gets cleaner every year. The honest advice: buy it for the flame and treat the heat as a bonus.

Do you service it after the install?

Yes. Cleaning visits (tray, mist disc, glass and reservoir), softening-cartridge changes on plumbed units, and Dimplex's own service parts: mist discs, fans, pumps and lamps, fitted without modifying the unit so its listing and two-year warranty stay intact. Priced per visit, quoted before work starts. Email hello@mistfire.ca with the model number.