Best Water Vapor Fireplaces: 8 Models Compared

A water vapor fireplace makes its flame out of mist and light. Water sits in a tank, a transducer vibrates it into a fine fog, and LEDs light the fog from below. It rises and curls the way real fire does, and because nothing is burning, you can put your hand straight through it.

It is the most convincing fake flame you can buy. What sells it is depth: the flame takes up real space in the firebox instead of sitting on a screen.

Two things actually separate these models, and neither one is the flame. Every one of them looks good.

The first is how the water gets in, which is the thing product pages tend to skip. The second is who made it, and that counts for more here than in most categories. The transducer that makes the mist is a wear part on all of them. So you are buying a part you will replace one day, and a company you will have to get it from. Dimplex developed this technology and patented it, and has supported the parts the longest. GlammFire and Malm build their own enclosures around Opti-Myst technology, so the part that wears is the same part. Litedeer is newer to the category and costs less.

Every specification below comes from the manufacturer's installation manual. If you are new to the technology itself, start with the water vapor fireplace buying guide, which covers how the mist and lighting actually work.

Anastasia walks through the category on the Modern Blaze Show, including the questions people ask most before buying one.

Plumbed or refilled: decide this first

Water vapor fireplaces split into two groups, and the split does not follow price or size.

Refilled units hold water in a tank or a pull-out drawer that you top up by hand. On the models built around this, refilling is genuinely easy: the drawer slides out from the front and the unit keeps running. Most run six to twelve hours per fill, depending on the model and how high you set the flame. One unit in this guide runs twenty.

Plumbed units connect to a water line and run continuously without you touching them. That is the better experience by a wide margin, and on the larger linear models it is close to mandatory.

Here is why that matters. The Dimplex Opti-Myst Linear is designed to be plumbed. Its manual is blunt about the alternative. If you cannot run a water line, you fill it from a refillable container that Dimplex does not include. You need one container per flame module. Each refill lasts about six hours. And to do it, the front glass and the media tray have to come off. The wide sizes carry more than one module, so that is more than one container. Refilling by hand is not a small chore on that fireplace, it is a dismantling job every evening.

So if you are putting a wide linear vapor fireplace into a wall, run a water line to it while the wall is open. It is a small job at framing stage and close to impossible afterward. Our Opti-Myst installation guide walks through what the rough-in involves.

Water vapor fireplace reviews: the eight worth considering

These are the eight we would actually put in a house, drawn from the full range of water vapor fireplaces and inserts we carry. Widths are the outside dimension, and heat figures are the manufacturer's rating at 120V unless noted.

1. Dimplex Opti-Myst Linear, for a wide built-in wall

Three widths, from about 47 inches to about 87. Adjustable flame baffles change the shape of the mist rather than only its color, which is what stops a very wide unit looking repetitive end to end. Flame intensity, color, heat and the crackle sound all run from the Flame Connect app.

Two things worth knowing before you buy. Plumb it, for the reasons above. And check the voltage: at 120V the 46 and 66 inch models heat, but the 86-inch model produces no heat at all on 120V. Its manual is explicit that the heat controls stay active and only the fans run. To get heat out of the widest one you need a 240V four-wire feed.

2. Dimplex Opti-Myst Revive 25, the water vapor fireplace insert for an existing opening

If you already have a masonry firebox sitting unused, this is the least invasive way to get a vapor flame into it. It slides in, plugs in or hardwires, and refills through a pull-out drawer at the front rather than a plumbing connection. It takes the Flame Connect app as well as a handheld remote.

The log set is molded from real wood with charring cast into it, which is where a lot of the realism comes from at close range. About 4,265 BTU with the heat on, and the flame runs on its own the rest of the year.

3. Dimplex Opti-Myst Aura 30, for corners and multi-sided walls

The most flexible installation in this list. The same firebox goes in front-facing, in a left or right corner, or as a bay, so you decide the orientation at install rather than at purchase. Six flame colors that blend, an optional crackling sound, cool-touch tempered glass, and a pull-out drawer for water. It runs from the Flame Connect app, the remote, or hidden controls in the drawer.

About 4,350 BTU. Dimplex rates it for roughly 300 square feet. At the usual twenty BTU per square foot, that is the optimistic end. Plan on it warming a small room, not an open plan one.

4. Dimplex Opti-Myst Mapleton 18, a free standing water vapor fireplace with no construction

The newest model here and the easiest to live with. It is a freestanding three-sided stove, so there is no opening to frame and nothing to cut into a wall. Set it where you want it and plug it in.

It also runs a long time between refills. Dimplex's manual puts the water bottle at nine to twelve hours of operation depending on flame setting, which is a full evening and then some. Running the flame with the heater off draws only 135 watts, which is the cheapest flame to run in this guide.

5. Dimplex Opti-Myst 500 Cassette, for a fully custom surround

This is the original Optimyst, and it is a bare cassette rather than a finished fireplace. That is the point. The flame is completely open, so the surround can be whatever you or your builder design. That includes a run with no front glass at all, seen from four sides.

At 20 inches each, cassettes join end to end and sync to one remote, so three of them make a roughly 60-inch fire. It runs from the Flame Connect app as well as the remote, and the version we stock has five flame colors. It draws 230 watts and one tank runs about eight hours. A plumbing connection kit is sold separately if you want it fed from a water line instead. No heater is built in. Dimplex sells one that recesses above the cassette and adds warmth for up to 400 square feet. Most vapor fireplaces do not give you that option.

6. Malm Zircon, a free standing water vapor fireplace as sculpture

A midcentury conical fireplace that happens to run on water vapor. It hardwires to a 120V circuit, needs no venting or chimney, and the flue pipe to the ceiling is decorative rather than functional.

It comes in five standard finishes, and Malm will do any RAL color to order. That is unusual, and it is the reason to pick this one. You buy a Zircon when the fireplace is meant to be the object in the room, not a slot in a wall. No heater, about eight hours per fill.

7. Litedeer Homes Mercury, for width in a single cassette

The alternative to joining Dimplex cassettes, if you would rather get the width from one piece. It comes in three sizes, roughly 39.5, 51 and 59 inches wide, so the largest is nearly a five-foot run in one piece. Stock sizes stop there, but larger ones can be made to order, so ask before you design around the limit. Flame height adjusts from 8 to 12 inches, which is a control none of the others give you.

It has the longest run of anything here that is not plumbed. Litedeer's manual states 20 hours per fill, or unlimited on a direct water connection. The reservoir holds between 11 and 16 liters depending on the size. Nothing else in this guide comes close on a single fill.

Plumbing it costs nothing. Direct plumbing is one of two choices on the product page, alongside manual refilling, and picking it does not change the price. That is worth weighing against the Dimplex Linear, where hand-filling needs a refillable container that is not included and you need one per flame module.

It also treats the water with UV-C, shuts off automatically when the level drops, and runs at about 45 dB. What sets it apart is getting all of it in one unit. It is the widest single cassette here, it has multicolor flame and app control like the Dimplex models, and it costs less than they do. An app on its own is not the difference: the Linear, the Aura, the Revive and the 500 cassette all run from Dimplex's Flame Connect app. What the Mercury adds is a touch screen on the unit itself, and a dry contact port so a building automation system can switch it. It installs free-standing or recessed. There is no heater: this one is flame only. Note that the manual says indoor use only.

8. GlammFire Prestige, for a specified luxury build

The most architectural option here, in three widths to about 88 inches, with fifteen flame shades plus natural tones and automatic color cycling. It is beautiful, and it is the one that most needs planning.

Read this before you fall for it. The Prestige requires a plumbed water supply, a dedicated 230 to 240V 13-amp circuit and an isolation switch, all per its manual. That is European mains voltage rather than a standard North American outlet. In a North American install it is a conversation to have with your electrician and with us before you order, not after.

Which water vapor fireplaces have heaters, and do they warm a room?

Mostly no, and you should buy one knowing that.

Several of these have no heater at all. The Opti-Myst 500 cassette and the Malm Zircon draw 230 watts, which is roughly what a couple of light bulbs use, and produce a flame and nothing else. The models that do heat land between about 3,900 and 4,400 BTU on a standard 120V circuit, which is supplemental warmth for roughly 200 to 300 square feet. That is a real effect in a small room and not much of one in a large one. Only the Linear goes materially higher, and only when it is wired for 240V.

If warmth matters to you at all, start with the water vapor fireplaces that have heaters rather than assuming a model has one. If you want a fireplace that genuinely warms a space, this is the wrong category and a gas fireplace is the right one. Water vapor is bought for the flame.

What owning one actually involves

This is the part that is hard to find before you buy, and it is the same across every brand here.

Five of the eight are Dimplex. They invented this technology and still make the widest range of it, which is why they take up most of the list. The full range is in Dimplex Opti-Myst, and the Opti-Myst buyer's guide goes through it model by model. The ownership rules below are the same whichever brand you pick.

Use normal clean tap water. Every manual says the same thing. In a hard water area use a softener or filtered water, because scale is what shortens the life of the parts. Never use well water or any unmonitored supply, and do not drink the water from the reservoir.

Clean it monthly, at minimum. The top cover, reservoir, refill container and transducer get washed with soap and water, and the air filters rinse and dry. More often if your water is hard. Plastic parts do not go in the dishwasher.

The transducer is a wear part, not a permanent one. It is the component that turns water into mist, and it collects calcium. Dimplex has you soak it in a half vinegar, half water solution for twenty minutes to clear the build-up. When cleaning stops restoring the mist, the transducer is replaced rather than repaired. The Aura ships with spares, and Dimplex sells the part separately (9601210100RP) for the rest of the Optimyst range. Nobody advertises this and everybody who owns one eventually meets it.

If you want to see the transducer and the heater doing their jobs, this episode takes an Opti-Myst cassette apart and shows what each part is for.

Going away for more than two weeks? Drain it. Empty every component that holds water and dry them. Standing water in a stored unit is what causes problems later.

One reassurance on that last point. Dimplex builds antimicrobial protection through the water path on Optimyst models, tested to ISO 22196. It is rated to inhibit bacterial growth by up to 99.99%. The water sitting in the reservoir is not the health concern people assume it is.

Who should skip one

Buy something else if you need real heat. Or if you want a wide linear unit and cannot run a water line to it. Or if nobody in the house wants to clean it. These need a little attention and they suffer without it. There is no shame in preferring an electric fireplace that asks nothing of you at all.

Everyone else: this is the closest thing to a real fire that does not burn anything, and standing next to one is what sells it. For what people actually do with them, from bar backs to room dividers, see these creative installation ideas.

Not sure which of these suits your wall? Talk to our team and we will work through the install with you.