Lyden is a little dissappointing vs another stove

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aztech63

New Member
Nov 24, 2008
11
MA
Folks;

'Just a comment on my pellet stove and another my girl friend purchased. Both were purchased within a week of each other in the end of September 2008.

As my fire place was really small I had to go with a free standing stove. I purchased the new Lyden model that they had recently come out with. It was just a different finish of an existing model they had. It is a very nice loooking stove. It's vented to the outside via the pipe going up the fireplace chimmey and was installed by the stove shop. My gfs stove was also professionally installed and is inserted int he fireplace.

I wish I could remember the brand my gf purchased I've e-mailed her and when I get it I'll add it to the message.

Her's is inserted into the fireplace and physically a larger stove. She uses the thermostat I use manual mode. The installers told me the theromstat doesn't work well with only 20 feet of wire so they didn't hook it up. I'm thinking of hooking it up as my stove seems to go out every day or two. With the thermostat I think it would relight when the pellets loaded up again and in manul mode it doesn't relight if it goes out.

Her's seems to be larger espicaly int he area where the ash accumilates and she has some automatic cleanout that kicks in every once in a while and empties some of the ash into the ash pan. I have to clean my smaller stove out every 2 to 3 days as it fills with ash she can wait an entire week or more. This is partly due to the larger area in hers where the ash builds up and partly due to the auto feature I mentioned. ANyways it is a big difference in favor of her stove.

Next is the actual heat out put. Her stove seems to heat a much larger area and uses a lot less pellets. I'm not sur eif this is due to the stoves or the differences in houses. We both had the same type of new windows installed this summer but my house is much older and my guess is less insulated. Whatever the reason she seems to get a lot more heat out into 3 or 4 rooms than my stove does and her house is more chopped up with walls where mine is more open whoch should be better suited for heat distribution. I rate her stove much better in the area of heat output and fuel conservation.

I've finally closed the room off (used plastic to seal a large window opening to the kitchen and a plastic shower curtain to close the archway to the living room) where the stove is in my house and just heat that area as I spend most of my time there. It heats up that area pretty fast and well but its only about 24' x 14' is my guess.

My glass gets very dirty and it happens fast even when I play around with the air setting which does help some what. Her glass stays fairly clean for a week while mine is very dirty within a day or two. After 4 or 5 days if I don't clean th eglass it sometimes can be a tough job espically if the air restrictor was a little closed up too much. Again big in her favor.

Noise mine seems much more quite running than hers at times we really have to turn the TV volume up. Advantage Lyden.

Controls she sets the therostat and thats it job done. Mine I find I have to play with all the settings and the lights used to show u waht the fan speed and feed rate are poor espically the fan speed. Advantage big time her stove.

Overall I'm a little disappointed with the Lyden it's not a bad stove just it seems to under perform in almost all areas compared to my gf's stove and it requires much more maintenance. If I didn't have my gf's stove to compare it to I would probably fell the Lyden was a decent stove and rate it maybe a 6 or 7 out of 10. However after being able to compare it to my gfs stove I'd probably rate hers a 8 out of 10 and the Lyden a 5 or 6.

To compare houses mine is a ranch about 1600 sq feet. I keep all three bed room doors at the far end of the house closed.

Hers is a two floor house probably about 2400 - 2800 sq feet and she doesn't close any of the rooms off.
 
Something doesn't sound right. I too have a lopi leyden and it heats me out of the house. I have a ranch and it's around 1600 sp ft and It heats the house up to high 70s to 80+. I run it off the thermostat to conserve pellets and not heat me out of the house. Manual mode will definitely burn more pellets. I would hook up a thermostat. I also found running the stove on the higher settings makes the stove run better. The glass stays cleaning longer and the ash is a whitish color. Probably the hardest thing is getting the damper just right. I have to keep a decent flame (about 8 inches high) and adjust the damper to keep the flame going at this height. I'm no expert by any means but it sounds like something isn't quite right. What type of pellets are you using? How high of a temp are you running. I never run mine on less than medium. Also if you don't keep it going at a constant temp it does take a while to heat up. Mine blows me out of the house if I let it. I just set the thermostat and make sure the pellets keep flowing. The biggest problem I have is I'm burning the Athens pellets. I'm mixing them with Hamers which seems to be ok. Try runnin it on a higher setting.
 
I'll have to check the name of the pellets but they are the ones that the dealer uses and recommends.

I usually run it on low or the next lowest setting. Yea, I think I need to hook up the theromstat and give that a try. Thanks for the recommendations and feed back.
 
Very happy so far with my Leyden. I usually run it at heat and fan settings yellow #4 and have it on a wireless Skytech 3301p programmable tstat. Have it set at 70 degress except at night (11:45PM) it goes down to 68 - back to 70 at 6AM. I have it set for a two degree differential so when set at 70 the stove will shut down at 72 and turn back on when the house gets down to 68. Could save more pellets by turning it down to 68 and 66 at night but the family likes it warmer.

I found that the stove didn't run that good on the low settings and the glass got black real quick. Turn that baby up to #4 (or so) and put it on a thermostat. Oh, and keep it clean...

EDIT: and one more -- open that damper rod up and get some air in there.
 
I definitely would not run my stove on low. Medium is the lowest I'd run it. Adjusting the damper to keep the flame so it's not lazy or too low is also key. I don't know how you can compare the two stoves fairly if you're running it low. It's life driving a corvette and never taking it out of 1st gear. It really is a great stove and once you learn the way to operate it correctly you will be much happier. There is definitely a learning curve to pellet stoves. PM if you have any other questions.
 
My house is a 1650 square foot tri-level. Not at all the optimum home for heating with a pellet stove, I thought. I have found that if Leyden made this same style in a 1500 sq. ft. model it would probably be better for me. I can only hit the red high settings during a startup when the house is cool. After I get the bottom floor to 80 or so degrees I turn on an oscillating fan and turn down to low or maybe low-low. This will maintain the floor temps at 78-80 bottom, 66-68 degrees on second floor (which is off to the side), and believe it or not 68-70 on the third floor, which is directly over the first. No cold air returns or holes cut either. I can leave it on second to lowest setting all night and it may drop a few degrees by morning. Middle or High will run out of control and overheat. House is well insulated though.
What brand is your girlfriends stove?
Mike -
 
I've had my Leyden since the beginning of December and I only have 1 complaint about it. An annoying vibrating/rattling sound coming from the back of the unit. Mostly occurs on the higher fan settings and it stops if you press on the control panel. I have checked all exterior screws on the unit for tightness. My next step is going to be to call the dealer.

As far as the hopper lid switch, yes it is annoying, but I have found it somewhat useful to have a way of turning off just the hopper by keeping the lid open without having to switch the unit off completely. Such as when my wife adjusts the heat setting without adjusting the restrictor....and i get clinkers, ash buildup, and a pile of pellets in the pot that i need to break up so they burn up... :coolgrin:
 
No rattles at all on mine. Are you hanging your tools on the back hooks as the instructions state? I don't, maybe the tools are vibrating?
Mike -
 
Dr_Drum said:
No rattles at all on mine. Are you hanging your tools on the back hooks as the instructions state? I don't, maybe the tools are vibrating?
Mike -

Checked that, but thanks for the suggestion Mike.
 
I had a real bad annoying rattling/buzzing in mine whenever the damper rod was in any position other than fully in or fully out. Turns out that the rod is connected by linkage and the linkage in the rear bottom at the damper was making metal to metal contact with the stove and the air or blower was making it buzz REAL BAD.

I fixed it by lifting up the rear linkage where it connects to the pull rod at the rear left underside of the stove. used an alligator clip to hold it up and now NO buzz or rattle at all.

This may or may not be your problem there jtcm05.
 
Am thinking the GF has a Harmen Accentra till you said the self cleaning thing. But sounds like it to me.
If so Harmen makes them with tiny hoppers allowing for installation in smaller fireplaces.
 
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