Pictures of my new Lopi 1750

  • 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.
T

tgmuller

New Member
Nov 30, 2009
7
SE michigan
I posted a while back. I actually bought a lopi insert because i had a prefab heatilator, once i had the thing in place.....the whole set up seamed hokey at best. i didn't like how the insert fit in the prefab and for a number of other reasons, i decided i would be daring and rip the whole darn thing out. I decided to purchase a free standing lopi 1750 republic with a blower and place it where the heatilator once sat. I posted here inquiring about re using the metal chimney and was rightfully instructed to rip it out, place a proper chimney system and have it inspected. Well, i did just that, and laid brick to finish off the inside of the alcove. Here is the pic of the finished product. So far, i'm pretty happy. This is my second day burning and getting to know the stove.

I also have a few newbie questions. I was hoping to heat most of my home with this stove. My home is a 2100 sq ft cape cod. It has a circular layout and i'm finding difficulty keeping adjacent rooms warm. I placed it in the kitchen which is pretty much the center of the house. Do most of you heat only with wood, or do you use your stoves as supplemental heat? It is looking like this will be supplemental heat for me, which is fine. I already notice the furnace running less. I had visions of my wife walking around in a bathing suit, but alas, she is still wrapped i a blanket. Thanks for all the advice and especially to those who responded to my initial post. This site was a huge part of this install going so well.
 

Attachments

  • internet fireplace.jpg
    internet fireplace.jpg
    18.1 KB · Views: 1,149
  • net-ready.jpg
    net-ready.jpg
    12 KB · Views: 1,066
looks like a killer set up i do not know much about lopis but seems to me to be a adequate stove are u burning hot enough? do u have good wood? seems like all that brick work would store up some heat and release it slowly overnight helping heat the whole house longer. i heat only with wod have gas back up but it is set at 55 so it rerly comes on maybe 2 or 3 times this winter so far. my house is just 900 sq ft ranch and yes u can walk around here in bathing suit or less if u want mid 80s are the norm.
 
Looks really nice. I just bought the 1750 insert but don't have it in yet. Only thing I wonder is if a blower would get the heat out of your fireplace better since the stove is sitting back in the alcove pretty good. Seems like if it had a blower it ought to work the same as the insert though?

Or... could you pull the stove out onto the hearth and reverse it to a rear exit flue?
 
I would expect the blower is going to need to run all the time with the stove set back into the fireplace. Even then, some of the heat is going to head up the flue and heat it unless a block off plate is installed.

Have you placed the thermometer on the stovetop for a few days? If so, what temperature is the stove running at on the stove top?
 
I heat 2000 sq feet with the lopi liberty, furnace has not run since 2006. It's 0 out and it's 75 inside right now. I would reccomand the fan with the way that is installed, just to get the heat out of the alcove. These stoves cant be set up for rear venting. Great stove and I install alot of them as a freestander
 
I have the same stove. I find the greatest amount of heat comes from filling the firebox with the log length front to back. I live in a center-chimney cape-style modular, but only 1600 sq ft. The stove is located next to the stair well and kitchen. It is an insulated building and the stove is adequate for the space--65 in the living room and kitchen. 60 in the back room and up stairs when the temps are in the 20s. But I do not have the blower on my stove.

Taking care of air leaks and insulating windows with plastic and curtains helps a great deal.

Go here for burning tips: http://www.woodheat.org/ The videos are very good.
 
very Nice setup, All you need now is some way to circulate hot air from the alcove to the home. Then you may have your wife walking around in a Bikini on those cold nights!!!
 
While it may not heat your whole house it probably will save you enough in fossil fuel that you can afford to take the wife somewhere where she can run around in a bathing suit. :)
 
You did a very nice job, it's a beautiful installation. In a hearth stove configuration like that, you really need the blower kit installed, and you really need a block-off plate, as BeGreen mentioned. Yes, you might be able to reconfigure the stove to rear exit, but that will just complicate flue sweeping, and not do much for heat transfer to the living space (assuming block-off plate installed and blower used). It's gonna be a challenge (as it always is) to try to distribute the heat from that stove (a space heater) around the inside of your home. We all face that challenge to some degree. Ceiling fans are effective in some cases, in others folks have had good success using small portable fans placed on the floor directing cool air toward the location of the stove. You'll just have to experiment to find what works best for you. Again...very nice job with the installation! Rick
 
Thanks for the input. i have been using a blower, i set it on a med/low setting to keep the noise down. My stovetop has been running around 450 - 500 F while the temp on the black stove pipe has been running around 300 - 350 F. Does this sound right? ive been spending so much time learning about how to install the darn thing but i know next to nothing on how to operate it! i'm learning though. Also, the wood i'm using i had to buy. The guy said it was all hardwood seasoned for 1.5 yrs, it appears to be alot of ash with some oak. Do any of you use fans to help move the heat around your homes? i've been experimenting blowing cooler air into the kitchen (where the stove is) and have the warmer air turn left and blow towards the living room. My wife says she's still a skeptic, i know i get bathing suit weather in here though!
 
Are you filling the firebox with wood? Or just throwing a log on once in a while? If it is the later, you are not getting the heat out you could.
 
The temps sound fine (safe and consistent). You could push the stove harder than that if you wanted (~650°F or so, even 700°F when you're trying to warm things up in a hurry), but unless you get some air moving in/out of the kitchen area, it might just do little more than make the kitchen area too hot. In a lot of cases, moving cool air low toward the heat source is most effective. Warm air finds its way out of there up higher (displaced by the cool air), and travels out of the heated space. What happens to it then depends on the configuration of the home and whatnot. It'll take some time and experimentation to determine what works best for you...but in any case, you simply can't expect a wood stove to effectively heat a whole house that's chopped up into rooms...some of which are remote from the stove. This ain't central heat, that's fer sure, it's radiant and convective heat that's not ducted throughout the home. I sure do like how you put that in there, though, it's quite handsome. Rick
 
I've got the 1750 as well, but not free standing. Mines sitting in my old fire-place w/ the block-off plates installed around it. I run mine around 650 or so w/ my thermometer sitting on the stove top right next to the top bypass lever.

I've got a 2400 sq ft colonial w/ a small opening from my living room into the upstairs. I get a ton of heat upstairs, but the back rooms of my house are difficult to heat. I'm experimenting w/ fans. Now that we're sitting consistantly below freezing I've got the house set at 68 and the furnace is still coming on. I'm happy w/ the purchase, but my wife is wondering why we spent the money for the insert. Hopefully we'll see the results in our gas bill. We installed the w/e before Thanksgiving.

I purchase my wood from a group of guys in Ann Arbor (Maple and North Territorial) who donate the money to the Kiwanis childrens program. Great group of guys, who will help load your truck. The wood is mostly oak w/ some ash. See here: http://annarbor.craigslist.org/for/1506912539.html

Kevin
 
Agreed. I'd get the block off plate in and push the stove about 100 °F higher by giving it a bit more air. Shoot for 550-600 °F stove top and see if the sweaters come off.

Also, observe the splits when you refill the stove on hot coals. Open the door about 5 minutes later and look at the ends of the splits. Are they hissing and bubbling or quiet and starting to burn?
 
Thanks for the tips and compliments. I labored for a mason while in college, so i figured i could lay some brick no problem.....not the case. Those few courses of brick took a fair bit of time! Well, i got her rockin this evening. I hit a bit over 600 stove top and hovered around 475 on the pipe. This made a big difference. I was burning a bit conservative i guess. I also have a fan blowing cooler air into the room and one blowing air out of the room towards the living room. Also, some of the wood i had was hissing and bubbling. It seems that i have some really nice wood mixed in with some junk. I will for sure be giving those gentlemen in ann arbor a call for some wood, thanks kmmuellr. i can't wait for next season for my own free wood to be seasoned. Thanks again for the help
 
Good looking install and once you get the hang of it you'll really love the stove. My Endeavor likes to burn anywhere from 600-700, it's tough to burn it lower then that when the temps are in the teens due to the draft on my chimney. As others have said it sounds like burning a little hotter will help along with getting the wood sorted out. 2100 is on the large size to heat with the medium sized stove, I'm heating just under 2K with mine with pretty good results, I close off our guest room and living room when we're not using them which is a huge help with the colder weather.

Enjoy your new stove!
 
Sharp looking installation and stove.
 
BeGreen said:
I would expect the blower is going to need all the time with the stove set back into the fireplace. Even then, some of the heat is going to head up the flue and heat it unless a block off plate is installed.
Click to expand...


What is a block-off plate? Is it a piece that fits into the chimney space to block heat from escaping through the open space around the chimney pipe? Makes sense, since steel stoves are convection heaters, and most of the heat comes up off the top plate, and to a lesser degree, the front door area. Don't want all that valuable heat going straight up an out, right???

Best of luck, keep us posted, k?

K
 
Nice looking install! I really like the brickwork.

We've got a Lopi Republic 1750i insert, and love it. Our natural gas usage has been reduced 70% since installing the insert. The house is 1750 square feet, and of a very open floor plan. We went with the blower option to help get the heat out into the room. A ceiling fan in our great room helps circulate throughout the house.

Depending on the wood, stove top temps will fire up to 550 to 600, then settle back down to 450. I'm having a hard time getting the stove hot, and keeping it rolling with this current load of wood. (Oak, Hickory, Cherry and Ash) It's seasoned, but a bit wet. With good wood our house stays in the mid 70's. By morning it may drop to 68 before I reload.

It's been tough to find good dry wood. I look forward to harvesting and seasoning my own. The Kawanis guys up off North Territorial are not running an ad right now.....

We love our insert. Should have installed one years ago! It's great to see other happy Lopi Republic owners out there.
 
Excuse me if this has been mentioned and I missed it. Are you running just the fan on your central heat system? A lot of the newer touch screen thermostats have a circulate feature so the the fan is not running all the time. Also, if the T-stat is somewhere reasonably close to the stove, and you have central air, you might be able to turn the power off to the outdoor condenser and set the T-stat to the cool mode (check with your HVAC service tech to make sure that this will work OK). Even if you do not have central air, you might be able to install a heat/cool T-stat that would just run the fan when the temperature gets above the set-point, so that when the area near the stove gets warm, then the blower on the central heat system kicks in and circulates the air throughout the house.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

crobinson.crane
Advice between Quad 5700 or Lopi Liberty / Endeavor Hybrid
Replies
10
Views
2K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
KILN DRIED
K
P
Stove selection experiences (Lopi vs Jotul)
Replies
34
Views
3K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
begreen
begreen
G
Looking at an older Lopi Endeavor - questions!
Replies
2
Views
2K
Classic Wood Stove Forums (prior to approx. 1993)
Grizzly Gamon
G
N
Lopi Evergreen vs Hearthstone Clydesdale for wood insert install
Replies
27
Views
5K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
Rich L
R
A
Help on selecting approved stove and or insert to upgrade fireplace
Replies
20
Views
1K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
begreen
begreen
Top Bottom
Back