Hey All,
I’m new to the wood burning scene and just recently completed the install of a new Lopi Republic 1750i w/ 6” FlexPro liner. It replaced an E-Z-Insert slammer that was original to the house, which had a large, maybe 9” long, crack in the back of the firebox. My wife and I discussed having it welded and making it through the winter, but I just couldn’t come to terms with myself to allow that thing to run in the house, especially while I would be at work during the day. So, we opted to redo everything the right way, even if it was fairly expensive. We saved a good bit of money, and I got to know the install very well, by doing the work myself. I insulated the entire length of liner and fed it through the existing 13” masonry chimney without any issues. I had to cut the middle part of the damper out to allow the liner to fit through…it just cleared. I fastened a block off plate with some 22 gauge sheet metal to tabs that clip over the inside of the damper, which is then held up by long 3/8” all thread and wing nuts. No insulation behind it currently as it was going to be a special order from Lowes and we kind of needed to get this stove up and going as fast as possible, it’s our only form of heat right now. I’ll stuff some Roxul up there once I move it out to clean.
When we started looking for a replacement insert we were originally looking at used stoves, due to the lower cost. We had a good used Osburn 1600 lined up for $200, but the deal end up not working out. The seller removed it from the fireplace it was in and discovered that it was actually a 2400 model. Still for $200 none the less, but it was too big for our fireplace unfortunately. So, that was after about 1 – 1.5 months of looking. After that we finally broke down and felt we just needed to get something since it was starting to get cold, so we went to look at new stoves. I’d been looking at used Lopi stoves and was impressed with the quality, as well as the reviews on here. I was interested in the Republic 1750i since it was a lower priced, “value stove”, but with all the same features and build quality that Lopi is known for.
The stove took a little over 2 weeks to come in. Picked it up on a Thursday and stayed up that evening until 3 am getting it in. I was just in one of those mentalities where, “it’s getting done tonight”. I was easily able to lift the stove/pallet right off the back of the truck with my tractor and drive it right in the front door. Not the entire tractor J, just the pallet. I set it inside and was able to slide it around on cardboard. Wheeled it up to the stove with a dolly and slid it in with a few rods. I put furnace cement on both ends of the 45 degree connector at the stove, and then let that sit 2 days before any fires.
I did the break in fire last Saturday with cut up pieces of the pallet that it was delivered on. Started off with a small fire, slowly brought it up to 300 and let it simmer for a little while. A little later I stepped it up to about 450, and then cruised it at 600 for final burn in. I’ve done a few fires since then and have had pretty good luck with it. Once it starts getting up above 400 I start shutting the air down in ¼ increments of the full range of the air control. I regularly have it cruising around 500 – 600. I haven’t really been able to get long burns going, a few hours at the most, although I haven’t played with it too much.
I had my first worrying moment this morning, but I’m pretty sure I figured out the problem. Last night at about 10pm I filled the stove E/W with seasoned oak on hot coals from kindling. The wood took off fairly easily and was able to dial the air down and keep the fire curising around the normal 500-600. This morning I woke up about 5 am and still had a lot of coals, about an 1” of ash, as well as one piece of oak that hadn’t full burned down. That was probably the longest I’ve been able to go so far on a load. I went ahead and fully loaded the stove with more oak, which took off fairly easily. If I feel the fire starts going through the 500-600 range too quick then I’ve had good luck with opening the bypass, which seems to let the heat go right up the chimney. Cutting the air usually helps instantly too. I did this and it settled off at about 500, and then was steadily dropping. I went ahead and opened the air control back up to half way, and closed the bypass, which started bring the temp back up. I also had the blower on at this time about 60% fan speed. I saw the temp start to climb again, so I dropped the air control off to about an 1/8th of the way open, temps were around 575. It hit 600 and started just slowly going past that, so I opened the bypass to relieve some heat and cut the air off completely, but it still kept climbing. Flames weren’t out of control in the firebox, it was mainly secondaries and one primary towards the right side of the box. After about 10 – 15 minutes of that it still hadn’t stopped climbing and was going north of 650, so I was starting to get worried. It started pushing 700 and nothing I was doing would stop it. It ended up finally topping at just south of 700, but that was really worrying me. Before I’ve never been able to completely cut the air off and have flames of either type still running well in the firebox. I’ve always had to leave the air about an 1/8th of the way open to get any kind of burn, say for an overnighter, this time I had no problem. Also, the combo of shutting off the air as well as opening the bypass has usually stopped the heat build up instantly, but did nothing this time.
I believe what happened was I had to many hot coals that were spread out over the bed, combined with one piece of oak that wasn’t all the way burned and still easily reignited, which made all of the wood that I put in the stove basically light off together, which caused the mass amount of heat I wasn’t used to seeing. I also figure the nice layer of ashes, which isn’t always there, help really cushion the fire/coals and help it produce more heat.
To talk a little about the wood I have, I had 2 generous cords of “seasoned” and split red oak delivered in October, so that’s been my main fuel. I have a mix of very well season hardwoods that I picked up a few weeks ago of CL, I could tell it’d been stacked in a barn for a number of years. Not sure on what it actually is though since most of it’s bark is gone, I’ll have to post a picture. I have a huge hickory I’m currently splitting and seasoning for a few seasons down the road. I’ve also got a large dead red oak to buck, and another white oak to clean up and buck. The wood I had delivered is pretty dry, (haven’t checked it with a meter), but I don’t think it’s totally at 20%. If gives off a bit of smoke when lighting, like it’s relieving the moisture content, not a lot but still noticeable.
Overall it’s been a pretty good experience so far, other than this morning. It was getting a little stressful since nothing I was doing would stop it. On top of the fact that I needed to get to work, but I didn’t want to leave the house until it was stable.
Thanks for listening.
Rick
I’m new to the wood burning scene and just recently completed the install of a new Lopi Republic 1750i w/ 6” FlexPro liner. It replaced an E-Z-Insert slammer that was original to the house, which had a large, maybe 9” long, crack in the back of the firebox. My wife and I discussed having it welded and making it through the winter, but I just couldn’t come to terms with myself to allow that thing to run in the house, especially while I would be at work during the day. So, we opted to redo everything the right way, even if it was fairly expensive. We saved a good bit of money, and I got to know the install very well, by doing the work myself. I insulated the entire length of liner and fed it through the existing 13” masonry chimney without any issues. I had to cut the middle part of the damper out to allow the liner to fit through…it just cleared. I fastened a block off plate with some 22 gauge sheet metal to tabs that clip over the inside of the damper, which is then held up by long 3/8” all thread and wing nuts. No insulation behind it currently as it was going to be a special order from Lowes and we kind of needed to get this stove up and going as fast as possible, it’s our only form of heat right now. I’ll stuff some Roxul up there once I move it out to clean.
When we started looking for a replacement insert we were originally looking at used stoves, due to the lower cost. We had a good used Osburn 1600 lined up for $200, but the deal end up not working out. The seller removed it from the fireplace it was in and discovered that it was actually a 2400 model. Still for $200 none the less, but it was too big for our fireplace unfortunately. So, that was after about 1 – 1.5 months of looking. After that we finally broke down and felt we just needed to get something since it was starting to get cold, so we went to look at new stoves. I’d been looking at used Lopi stoves and was impressed with the quality, as well as the reviews on here. I was interested in the Republic 1750i since it was a lower priced, “value stove”, but with all the same features and build quality that Lopi is known for.
The stove took a little over 2 weeks to come in. Picked it up on a Thursday and stayed up that evening until 3 am getting it in. I was just in one of those mentalities where, “it’s getting done tonight”. I was easily able to lift the stove/pallet right off the back of the truck with my tractor and drive it right in the front door. Not the entire tractor J, just the pallet. I set it inside and was able to slide it around on cardboard. Wheeled it up to the stove with a dolly and slid it in with a few rods. I put furnace cement on both ends of the 45 degree connector at the stove, and then let that sit 2 days before any fires.
I did the break in fire last Saturday with cut up pieces of the pallet that it was delivered on. Started off with a small fire, slowly brought it up to 300 and let it simmer for a little while. A little later I stepped it up to about 450, and then cruised it at 600 for final burn in. I’ve done a few fires since then and have had pretty good luck with it. Once it starts getting up above 400 I start shutting the air down in ¼ increments of the full range of the air control. I regularly have it cruising around 500 – 600. I haven’t really been able to get long burns going, a few hours at the most, although I haven’t played with it too much.
I had my first worrying moment this morning, but I’m pretty sure I figured out the problem. Last night at about 10pm I filled the stove E/W with seasoned oak on hot coals from kindling. The wood took off fairly easily and was able to dial the air down and keep the fire curising around the normal 500-600. This morning I woke up about 5 am and still had a lot of coals, about an 1” of ash, as well as one piece of oak that hadn’t full burned down. That was probably the longest I’ve been able to go so far on a load. I went ahead and fully loaded the stove with more oak, which took off fairly easily. If I feel the fire starts going through the 500-600 range too quick then I’ve had good luck with opening the bypass, which seems to let the heat go right up the chimney. Cutting the air usually helps instantly too. I did this and it settled off at about 500, and then was steadily dropping. I went ahead and opened the air control back up to half way, and closed the bypass, which started bring the temp back up. I also had the blower on at this time about 60% fan speed. I saw the temp start to climb again, so I dropped the air control off to about an 1/8th of the way open, temps were around 575. It hit 600 and started just slowly going past that, so I opened the bypass to relieve some heat and cut the air off completely, but it still kept climbing. Flames weren’t out of control in the firebox, it was mainly secondaries and one primary towards the right side of the box. After about 10 – 15 minutes of that it still hadn’t stopped climbing and was going north of 650, so I was starting to get worried. It started pushing 700 and nothing I was doing would stop it. It ended up finally topping at just south of 700, but that was really worrying me. Before I’ve never been able to completely cut the air off and have flames of either type still running well in the firebox. I’ve always had to leave the air about an 1/8th of the way open to get any kind of burn, say for an overnighter, this time I had no problem. Also, the combo of shutting off the air as well as opening the bypass has usually stopped the heat build up instantly, but did nothing this time.
I believe what happened was I had to many hot coals that were spread out over the bed, combined with one piece of oak that wasn’t all the way burned and still easily reignited, which made all of the wood that I put in the stove basically light off together, which caused the mass amount of heat I wasn’t used to seeing. I also figure the nice layer of ashes, which isn’t always there, help really cushion the fire/coals and help it produce more heat.
To talk a little about the wood I have, I had 2 generous cords of “seasoned” and split red oak delivered in October, so that’s been my main fuel. I have a mix of very well season hardwoods that I picked up a few weeks ago of CL, I could tell it’d been stacked in a barn for a number of years. Not sure on what it actually is though since most of it’s bark is gone, I’ll have to post a picture. I have a huge hickory I’m currently splitting and seasoning for a few seasons down the road. I’ve also got a large dead red oak to buck, and another white oak to clean up and buck. The wood I had delivered is pretty dry, (haven’t checked it with a meter), but I don’t think it’s totally at 20%. If gives off a bit of smoke when lighting, like it’s relieving the moisture content, not a lot but still noticeable.
Overall it’s been a pretty good experience so far, other than this morning. It was getting a little stressful since nothing I was doing would stop it. On top of the fact that I needed to get to work, but I didn’t want to leave the house until it was stable.
Thanks for listening.
Rick
