Lopi freedom bay insert burn time

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Caruso293

Member
Nov 19, 2012
45
Connecticut
hello all. I am new the world of burning wood and this forum. I just purchased the Lopi Freedom Bay insert a few days ago. I am burning well seasoned red oak stacked and covered for 1 year. my home is a 2200 sf colonial. the stove burns nice and hot and is doing a tremendous job at maintaining a very comfortable temp on both floors. Im looking for some advice on extending my burn times over night. my goal is to have enough coals to restart the fire easily in the morning. I sleep about 8 hours. the temp down stairs when I go sleep is about 70 and drops to 62 when I wake 8 hounds later. upstairs is well insulated and maintains a 67 degree temp. any thoughts on getting a longer burn over night would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance. Caruso293.. also the stove was professionally installed and passed the local building inspection for the permit.
 
I would think 2/3 full would give you plenty of coals at the 8 hour mark, especially with oak. Others will chime in regarding oak season time of only a year. I'm running mostly black locust (its a little ways down on the BTU chart from your oak) and have coals if I load it up but weather is not cold enough here yet for long burns. You can extend burn times loading wood "east-west". You can get 24 inch logs in there but I seldom do. You have to pull the air control to reduce air for long burns. However, too much moisture in the wood won't let you dial down the air. Are you running a stove top temperature gauge? Our is happy at 500 to 650 which is a lot of heat and seems to be fine. Not sure where you live but that stove should be running you out of there this time of year on a full load.
 
thanks for the speedy reply. its not all that cold yet in CT. about 30-35 at night. will the colder weather provide longer burns? the wood is a nice dark color and sounds hollow when smacked against another log. its also very dry. its been covered well since September. I will be purchasing a thermometer in the near future. at what temp do you get the stove to before you dial back the air flow before going sleep? and do you completely pull the lever out on the air supply. thanks again.
 
You should have no problem getting overnight burns seeing that the insert you bought has 3.1 cu. ft. of space inside. Tips? Don't scoop out all your ash, just a few scoops every day. Having a layer of ash seems to help slow down these EPA stoves a bit. Also, get the stove good and hot but don't wait too long to turn down your air supply or you'll get the stove so hot you'll eat through your wood quick.
 
aansorge, I will definitely try those tips tonight. thanks for the response.
 
I'll run to about 550-600 before cutting back some air, takes about 15 minutes after start. You want the wood chared all the way around before pulling too much air back and turning in for the night. Read your manual on air conrol. Basically pull it all the way out to fully closed then push in desired amount. Light full open. When first reducing air go in about an inch for 10 minutes and watch how it does. I end up about a quarter inch in for overnight burns. Too little air causes smoldering and dirty glass. Good luck and keep reading other member ideas.
 
Here's the inevitable seasoned wood response: I have red oak that was cut down in late Winter 2011, then split and stacked immediately, and none of it is dry enough to burn well in my Lopi. Hickory from the same time is barely good enough. I'm burning cherry that was split early this year, not a problem.

Get a stovetop thermometer, and a moisture meter, they'll take so much of the guesswork out.

At night, as long as the stovetop is above 400F, I'll shut down the air to perhaps 1/4" open, maybe a little more depending on how the wood has performed during the day. My overnight goal is modest, I'd like the kitchen to be comfortable when I get up, and if I can re-light the fire with just some kindling and gentle blowing, so much the better. This was never a problem in my old smoke dragon slammer, and although we still haven't had a really cold night with the new insert, even some modest loads have been re-lightable in the morning.

TE
 
Thanks everyone. TE being my first time ever using a wood stove can you elaborate when you say your oak is not seasoned well enough for your lopi. Does this mean your stove does not heat up hot enough or fast enough. The wood I'm burning now takes about 1 hour after adding wood in the morning before the stove appears to be fired nice and hot. I get those bright red whispy flames at the top of the fire box, my screen is crystal clear. I will say I thought my wood would last longer. I find that I need to throw a couple logs on every 2-3 hours to maintain that nice hot burn. Is that about right or should I be waiting for than 2-3 hours before refueling? As far as my overnight burn, I stacked the box full last night at 12:30 before bed, got it nice and hot, and only had 1/4 opening for the air like people had suggested. When I woke at 9:00 am I had nice red coals, my downstairs read 66 degrees and upstairs held a great 68 degrees. I do have some oak that has been seasoning longer and I'm waiting to burn until the colder weather. I figured I could benefit more for the aged wood when the weather gets really cold. Not sure if having the blower on goes through wood faster but I turned mine off last night and had good results. Not sure what to think about that. Thanks again for all the replies. This site is great especially for newbies like me with lots of questions.
 
hello all. I am new the world of burning wood and this forum. I just purchased the Lopi Freedom Bay insert a few days ago. I am burning well seasoned red oak stacked and covered for 1 year. my home is a 2200 sf colonial. the stove burns nice and hot and is doing a tremendous job at maintaining a very comfortable temp on both floors. Im looking for some advice on extending my burn times over night. my goal is to have enough coals to restart the fire easily in the morning. I sleep about 8 hours. the temp down stairs when I go sleep is about 70 and drops to 62 when I wake 8 hounds later. upstairs is well insulated and maintains a 67 degree temp. any thoughts on getting a longer burn over night would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance. Caruso293.. also the stove was professionally installed and passed the local building inspection for the permit.

No specific advice that hasn't already been mentioned from T. Eddie and Next Endeavor . . . only that well seasoned wood = more BTUs heating a home and fewer BTUs going up the chimney. A thermometer could potentially help you out . . . that said . . . sounds like things are burning well enough with clean glass and secondaries which are good signs.

I did have a question though . . . ;) what if you don't have any hound dogs? ;)
 
I'm heating 2400 sf. I will typically load up about an hour before I go to bed. That way I can make sure the stove is behaving. Last night I loaded up with about 15 BioBricks, pulled the air out about half once the stovetop hit 400. After about 10 minutes (or sooner if the temp is rising quickly) I'll pull the air out a little more, until the secondaries are barely going, then push back in a little bit. I'll keep doing this until the secondaries are right on the line between disappearing and yellow flame. Last night this was around 550-600. Went to bed around 11:30 and downstairs temp was 72, and got up at 6:00 with no black glass, the fan still running, stovetop temp at 300, and great coals. It could have easily gone another hour or two. Overnight outside temp last night was 22. Downstairs temp was 65.
 
In the experience of most here, oak takes at least 2 years to season properly (below 20% moisture content), and red oak is the worst of all. My red oak is still about 23% after 20 months cut, split and stacked. If your oak was only split 3 months ago, you need to pass on your secret. If its burning as well as you say, either it's not oak, or it was cut and split long before you bought it. I have regular (non-bay) version, I expect 400F temperatures in less than 30 minutes from stone cold, and get at least 2-3 hours from two splits of cherry (still glowing brightly at that time).

Burning wet wood takes much longer to heat the stove up to proper operating temperature, resulting in more creosote, needs much more air to keep it hot, and it won't last as long. It will burn, but you're not getting nearly the heat that your stove is capable of and you may be building up trouble in the chimney.
This is why I suggest getting a cheap moisture meter and good stovetop thermometer ($40 total), you can use the best of your available wood, and run the stove at its most efficient, neither too hot nor too cold.

TE
 
In the experience of most here, oak takes at least 2 years to season properly (below 20% moisture content), and red oak is the worst of all. My red oak is still about 23% after 20 months cut, split and stacked. If your oak was only split 3 months ago, you need to pass on your secret. If its burning as well as you say, either it's not oak, or it was cut and split long before you bought it. I have regular (non-bay) version, I expect 400F temperatures in less than 30 minutes from stone cold, and get at least 2-3 hours from two splits of cherry (still glowing brightly at that time).

Burning wet wood takes much longer to heat the stove up to proper operating temperature, resulting in more creosote, needs much more air to keep it hot, and it won't last as long. It will burn, but you're not getting nearly the heat that your stove is capable of and you may be building up trouble in the chimney.
This is why I suggest getting a cheap moisture meter and good stovetop thermometer ($40 total), you can use the best of your available wood, and run the stove at its most efficient, neither too hot nor too cold.

TE
Thanks TE. Maybe a slight mis understanding. My oak has been split and stacked for a bit over a year now. It seems almost everyone here is in agreement the oak should be seasoned for longer than the 1 year mark. My stove usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get going nice and hot. However a lot is probably user error as I as still trying to figure this thing out. I will be purchasing a moisture gauge in the near future, and I have already ordered a stove top thermometer. Unfortunately I have about 3-4 cords of this oak I have been speaking of. Exactly what type of oak it is, I am really not sure. The only reason I said red oak is because that is what a friend of mine told me when he saw it, but he is hardly a reliable source. I was able to find a completely dead tree that was still standing which I cut down a couple days ago. I cut into pieces today and from what I could tell I did not think it was possible to get it any drier. Man did this wood burn well. It caught immediately and one log went a long time. I am starting to realize now what everyone is saying about the lopi really liking the dry wood. So my challenge now is do i go out and buy some properly seasoned wood or stay with what I have. I just dropped 4500 for this stove installed cash, and with the holidays around the corner I dont have that much extra money to buy more wood. decisions decisions. I will most likely do the best with what I have and better prepare for next years burning. Again thanks for the helpful replies.
 
My red oak is going on two years old and I cracked one open the other day and tested the heart wood to see where it was and its still 26-27% moisture. I did burn it 10 months after I split it not knowing any better and sure it burned hot and it looked like it was burning clean with no smoke coming from the chimney but when I cleaned my liner I found a ton of creosote, I will burn what I have and with 20 cords I can be picky, Ill burn 21-22% and lower. I have only been burning for this will be my third year so the stackes will only get better.
 
Dry wood makes an almost unbelievable difference in lightups, BTU output, clean viewing glass and creosote. My chimney cap was a mess with the oak I used the first season. I was mixing it with hedge (highest output wood around) to get the heat needed. Wet oak also gave me more ash clinkers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: etiger2007
hello all. I am new the world of burning wood and this forum. I just purchased the Lopi Freedom Bay insert a few days ago. I am burning well seasoned red oak stacked and covered for 1 year. my home is a 2200 sf colonial. the stove burns nice and hot and is doing a tremendous job at maintaining a very comfortable temp on both floors. Im looking for some advice on extending my burn times over night. my goal is to have enough coals to restart the fire easily in the morning. I sleep about 8 hours. the temp down stairs when I go sleep is about 70 and drops to 62 when I wake 8 hounds later. upstairs is well insulated and maintains a 67 degree temp. any thoughts on getting a longer burn over night would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance. Caruso293.. also the stove was professionally installed and passed the local building inspection for the permit.

Red oak takes a long time to season out like 2 or 3 years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: etiger2007
The oak you have will eventually burn great so don't worry too much. Lots of strategies to deal with sub-optimal wood. Split it small, combine with some very dry wood like pallet wood, swap with a neighbor for more seasoned wood, scrounge dry wood, leave some near the stove to dry (not too close!), Craig's list (if you have a MM, everyone will say theirs is seasoned). Most of all, keep an eye on that creosote. Once you get a thermometer, there are lots of posts here on how to use it, but basically get the stove hot then use the lowest air that will keep the needle in the "good" zone, and don't reload too early. In daylight, look up at your chimney, if you can see smoke, the fire is not hot enough, if you see nothing but a heat haze, you've got it right.

Enjoy
 
Thank you very much everyone. My thermometer comes in tomorrow and I am anxious to see what the temp is of the stove. It seems to be burning well. My house is nice and warm, my glass is staying very clean and I am not seeing any smoke (except for when starting the fire) coming out of the chimney. I also ordered this powder for wood stoves which apparently help with the creosote build up. I am also scrounging seasoned wood when I can. I am going to toy with the bio bricks later on this season and see how they burn. This winter I am cutting down several very large oak trees and will have plenty of free heat for the years to come. Thanks to everyone here I know this wood will NOT be ready for 2013, so 2014 will be the goal. Thanks again to everyone who helped. The past few nights my overnight burns have gotten much better. Hot coals when I rise, and no match needed to restart the fire. Hope you all enjoy the Holiday.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.