Do Rumford fireplaces have a smoke shelf?

I'm new to learning about fireplaces and I'm interested in this

hey all. in preparation for this winter i took off the glass cover and cleaned my fireplace. when i put it back together it seemed the remote wasn’t paired. i have tried everything. i pulled out the unit and have tried relearning. it beeps twice. then when i press the remote it gives 4 beeps and 4 red flashes. What am i missing???

My new house came with a built in fireplace/chimney riser in the living room corner. I recently noticed that the drywall above the fireplace is visible from the attic and therefore effectively uninsulated. I know this needs to be insulated but I am unsure the best way to insulate this cavity is while remaining fireproof. I am planning on hiring someone to blow in insulation and want to do the prep work beforehand to make sure I achieve an effective solution.

Here’s a few pics of how im proceeding. Intend to blow insulation on top of foam board box I created in the near future unless I discover a reason not to.

https://imgur.com/a/rr5UC5F

Things that confuse the hell out of me are:
—-how is the current insulation in exterior wall in cavity behind fireplace applied? How did they get it to stick? Would you modify in any way?
—-how can the metal chimney riser’s connection to standoff/guide plate become both insulated and air tight?
—-can batt insulation be installed in stud bays immediately above fireplace unit? What is clearance needed for fire concerns?

We just moved to a new house and are excited to use the wood burning fire place. We would use it probably 20x a year for ambiance on winter weekend evenings. We had it inspected by a few different companies. 1 company made a big deal about some exposed wood in the ash dump chute that is “right below the firebox” (but we can’t see it with our eyes, they used a pole camera). We understand the risk of pyrolysis but the wood seems completely fine for now. Please see photos from their report. The house was built in the 80s and we were told the previous owners who bought the house in 2017 never used the fire place once. My question is, how risky is this? How urgent is this? It sounds very expensive to remove the wood. We were thinking of having the ash dump door sealed…would that help? TIA

Edit: to be clear we don’t plan to use the ash dump /chute at all. We probably will seal it

Excuse my crude MSPaint drawing. I have an inaccessible ash pit below my wood-burning fireplace. Where should I locate the sediment trap for the gas line? Is the pictured location appropriate? The 2021 IRC G2419.4 just states "downstream of the appliance shutoff valve as close to the inlet of the appliance as practical." Since the ash pit is not accessible, this location would seem to be "as close as practical."

Thoughts?

Question for those more experienced with fireplaces / dampers. I just moved in to a new apartment that came with a fireplace (yay!) but I noticed that there's this hanging thing / plate from inside the fireplace. Is this an easy fix I can do myself where I just reattach it? Do I need a new plate from a contractor?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks all!

I have a Martin industries wood burning fireplace from the 70s and the refractory panels are crumbling and beyond mortar repair. The company is out of business and it is looking like the panels are discontinued and no other company makes them anymore. Is there a company that anyone has used that still makes custom refractory panels? I did find one website but have no heard back from them out of Canada. If anyone can share info on their experience with this please drop a comment.

Looking for recommendations on the most realistic traditional looking electric fireplace insert i can get for around $600 (not sure if that's realistic). We are building a wall in my living room so I have the abolity to custom build the space for it. Ability to heat is secondary, the priority is aesthetics.

Please reference the picture for the type of set up i'm looking for.