Best stove for my application?

[BigBadJohn86]

I have a summers heat stove thats rated up to 1000 square feet. My house is an old drafty 1000 square foot farm house. The stove in the middle of winter can barely cut it, and with its small firebox and door opening I have to add wood every couple hours. With the teeny tiny ashpan, its more of a mere aesthetic, not to mention that you have to take a 3"x3" plug out of the bottom of the firebox and scrape the ashes into the pan, which is maybe a little more deep than a cookie baking sheet. Really, its a joke

Im looking for a stove good looking enough to not be an eye sore in my dining room where I have my through the roof chimney at. With a firebox you can get at least 24" logs into. Mine you can barely get an 18" log into. With a long burn time that can heat my drafty poorly insulated home and be easy to clean the ashes out with a large ash pan. It would be even cooler if I could clean the ashes out without letting the fire die down as well

A guy I work with has a lopi liberty and it sounds like a great stove. How would this do for my application? If I ever finally rewire my house and insulate the attic, will the liberty be too big for it? Is there another stove that would better suit my purpose? I want to be able to see my fire so I can keep an eye when it needs another log or two, so I would like it to have a glass door. I dont really like the very ornate casted stoves either. I would like the option to maybe add a fresh air supply kit to it and also have a spot to add on an electric fan. I would like the fan to have a good way to pick up the heat. The fan on my stove just blows air off the back of the stove and doesnt really pick up heat. I would also like the fan to not be noisy. Even on the low setting, the fan on my stove is quite noisy for how much air it moves.

If it werent for insurance purposes, Id just build my own stove to suit my needs to get exactly what I want but my insurance requires my stove to be UL listed

 

[eclecticcottage]

Lopi blowers seem to always be annoying. We had a Heritage Bay (gas stove) in our old house for 10 years and that blower rattled the whole darn time. Drove me NUTS. Just got a Republic and hoped they had improved in 10 years-sadly, no.

We have a Lopi Republic 1750 in a 680 square foot former summer cottage. Heats us out on warmer (above 40 degree) days. Keeps it completely comfortable below, we haven't gotten lower than 25ish yet. The Liberty might be a bit much for 1000 sq feet, you're in Endeavor/Republic 1750 territory there. Lopi is a little optimistic with their heating ranges, but you might heat yourself out of the place with that stove.

There's no ash tray in my Republic but we've managed to work around it just fine.

The Republic is a nice basic looking stove. No bypass damper, but we've never found the lack of it to be a problem. Cheaper than the Endeavor too

 

[lopiliberty]

I can personally tell you that the lopi liberty is one he** of a wood stove. It can easily heat my 2,400 sq ft house to 90 degrees, so I'm not to sure about putting it in a 1000 sq ft house. Yes the liberty will take a 24in log but I can tell you from experience that you will have to angle it to get it through the door and with a hot stove you can guess what will happen. I find it is easier to cut my wood to 15in and load it front to back. It burns hotter and you don't have to worry about wood falling against the door. I find that not having an ash pan is no big deal at all. Last year I was scooping out some ashes every three days. This year I am trying to push it to every 5 days.

 

[thewoodlands]

I have a summers heat stove thats rated up to 1000 square feet. My house is an old drafty 1000 square foot farm house. The stove in the middle of winter can barely cut it, and with its small firebox and door opening I have to add wood every couple hours. With the teeny tiny ashpan, its more of a mere aesthetic, not to mention that you have to take a 3"x3" plug out of the bottom of the firebox and scrape the ashes into the pan, which is maybe a little more deep than a cookie baking sheet. Really, its a joke

Im looking for a stove good looking enough to not be an eye sore in my dining room where I have my through the roof chimney at. With a firebox you can get at least 24" logs into. Mine you can barely get an 18" log into. With a long burn time that can heat my drafty poorly insulated home and be easy to clean the ashes out with a large ash pan. It would be even cooler if I could clean the ashes out without letting the fire die down as well

A guy I work with has a lopi liberty and it sounds like a great stove. How would this do for my application? If I ever finally rewire my house and insulate the attic, will the liberty be too big for it? Is there another stove that would better suit my purpose? I want to be able to see my fire so I can keep an eye when it needs another log or two, so I would like it to have a glass door. I dont really like the very ornate casted stoves either. I would like the option to maybe add a fresh air supply kit to it and also have a spot to add on an electric fan. I would like the fan to have a good way to pick up the heat. The fan on my stove just blows air off the back of the stove and doesnt really pick up heat. I would also like the fan to not be noisy. Even on the low setting, the fan on my stove is quite noisy for how much air it moves.

If it werent for insurance purposes, Id just build my own stove to suit my needs to get exactly what I want but my insurance requires my stove to be UL listed

The blowers on the Lopi are great in my opinion (we have the Liberty) on the blowers you might have to vacuum the blower out but thats it. The Liberty is a great stove, we are heating our house from the basement (1700 sq, ft up close to the same down) we burn N/S in the Liberty so we cut our wood at 15 inches or just under.

We think it is safer loading N/S (split won't roll out on the glass) we still get 8-9 hour burns times. Lots of good stoves out there, happy hunting.


zap

 

[eclecticcottage]

I have a summers heat stove thats rated up to 1000 square feet. My house is an old drafty 1000 square foot farm house. The stove in the middle of winter can barely cut it, and with its small firebox and door opening I have to add wood every couple hours. With the teeny tiny ashpan, its more of a mere aesthetic, not to mention that you have to take a 3"x3" plug out of the bottom of the firebox and scrape the ashes into the pan, which is maybe a little more deep than a cookie baking sheet. Really, its a joke

Im looking for a stove good looking enough to not be an eye sore in my dining room where I have my through the roof chimney at. With a firebox you can get at least 24" logs into. Mine you can barely get an 18" log into. With a long burn time that can heat my drafty poorly insulated home and be easy to clean the ashes out with a large ash pan. It would be even cooler if I could clean the ashes out without letting the fire die down as well

A guy I work with has a lopi liberty and it sounds like a great stove. How would this do for my application? If I ever finally rewire my house and insulate the attic, will the liberty be too big for it? Is there another stove that would better suit my purpose? I want to be able to see my fire so I can keep an eye when it needs another log or two, so I would like it to have a glass door. I dont really like the very ornate casted stoves either. I would like the option to maybe add a fresh air supply kit to it and also have a spot to add on an electric fan. I would like the fan to have a good way to pick up the heat. The fan on my stove just blows air off the back of the stove and doesnt really pick up heat. I would also like the fan to not be noisy. Even on the low setting, the fan on my stove is quite noisy for how much air it moves.

If it werent for insurance purposes, Id just build my own stove to suit my needs to get exactly what I want but my insurance requires my stove to be UL listed

The blowers on the Lopi are great in my opinion (we have the Liberty) on the blowers you might have to vacuum the blower out but thats it. The Liberty is a great stove, we are heating our house from the basement (1700 sq, ft up close to the same down) we burn N/S in the Liberty so we cut our wood at 15 inches or just under.

We think it is safer loading N/S (split won't roll out on the glass) we still get 8-9 hour burns times. Lots of good stoves out there, happy hunting.


zap

Yours doesn't vibrate?! ARG! Both of ours do. I've gotten to where I can play with the speed carefully and get it to stop, but I *HATE* when it randomly does it in the middle of the night since it's pretty close to our bedroom.

 

[parsimonious]

Lopi blowers seem to always be annoying. We had a Heritage Bay (gas stove) in our old house for 10 years and that blower rattled the whole darn time. Drove me NUTS. Just got a Republic and hoped they had improved in 10 years-sadly, no.

We have a Lopi Republic 1750 in a 680 square foot former summer cottage. Heats us out on warmer (above 40 degree) days. Keeps it completely comfortable below, we haven't gotten lower than 25ish yet. The Liberty might be a bit much for 1000 sq feet, you're in Endeavor/Republic 1750 territory there. Lopi is a little optimistic with their heating ranges, but you might heat yourself out of the place with that stove.

There's no ash tray in my Republic but we've managed to work around it just fine.

The Republic is a nice basic looking stove. No bypass damper, but we've never found the lack of it to be a problem. Cheaper than the Endeavor too

I had the same problem with my Lopi revere. Not sure if the republic is the same, but on the ledge below the door there is a piece of trim made of a lighter metal.Seems the only purpose for this piece of trim is to rattle when the fan is on. It is now gone as well as my rattle. Hope this helps

 

[lopiliberty]

[quote author="lopi" date="1323416415"]I can personally tell you that the lopi liberty is one he** of a wood stove. It can easily heat my 2,400 sq ft house to 90 degrees, so I'm not to sure about putting it in a 1000 sq ft house. Yes the liberty will take a 24in log but I can tell you from experience that you will have to angle it to get it through the door and with a hot stove you can guess what will happen. I find it is easier to cut my wood to 15in and load it front to back. It burns hotter and you don't have to worry about wood falling against the door. I find that not having an ash pan is no big deal at all. Last year I was scooping out some ashes every three days. This year I am trying to push it to every 5 days.[

the blower on my liberty(when its on) is very quiet on low. I usually don't even know that it is on. When its on high(only use to cool down a hot stove) thats when it is the noisiest. Absolutely no rattles or noises with my blower

 

[firefighterjake]

This is one of the reasons I almost always recommend folks figure out what size stove they need . . . and then go one size larger . . . especially when dealing with a drafty house.

I know you said you are not a fan of ornate cast iron stoves . . . but the definition of "ornate" can be pretty subjective . . . same for "eye sore" . . . to me the Fireview is pretty ornate . . . other folks say it is quite nice . . . and while someone might look at a plain Jane Napoleon as an "eye sore" others see simple beauty.

What I'm building up to is the Jotul line up might be worth considering . . . the Rangley has clean lines . . . or even something like the cast iron Oslo or Castine. While none of these would be able to take a 24 inch stick, most can do 20 or 22 inches depending on the model. I know the Oslo has a very useful ash pan . . . I tend to clean it out twice a week and can do so while the stove is running (although I typically do this first thing before reloading in the morning). These stoves have large viewing windows and you can hook up an OAK and blower (although I personally think you could probably just use a cheap fan you have kicking around your house to effectively move the air around -- that's what most of us do . . . point the fan in a nearby room towards the woodstove -- it sets up an air current). As for a long burn time . . . as you may or may not know . . . this is a pretty subjective term . . . I looked at the manufacturer's burn times and pictured in my own mind a fire with flames for the entire time . . . which just doesn't happen. In my own case I have redefined burn time for me as the time from when the stove is putting out meaningful heat to where it no longer is pumping out meaningful heat and/or there are coals in it so that I can easily restart the fire in a few minutes by simply plunking some small to medium sized splits on the coals -- which turns out to be 6-8 hours in my case.

That said . . . Lopi stoves are very good stoves as well . . .

 

[Treacherous]

I had a little bit of a fan rattle on mine. It was coming from the front end of the blower on the left side facing the stove. I wedged a small washer in between the blower case and stove and rattle disappeared.

Lopi blowers seem to always be annoying. We had a Heritage Bay (gas stove) in our old house for 10 years and that blower rattled the whole darn time. Drove me NUTS. Just got a Republic and hoped they had improved in 10 years-sadly, no.

We have a Lopi Republic 1750 in a 680 square foot former summer cottage. Heats us out on warmer (above 40 degree) days. Keeps it completely comfortable below, we haven't gotten lower than 25ish yet. The Liberty might be a bit much for 1000 sq feet, you're in Endeavor/Republic 1750 territory there. Lopi is a little optimistic with their heating ranges, but you might heat yourself out of the place with that stove.

There's no ash tray in my Republic but we've managed to work around it just fine.

The Republic is a nice basic looking stove. No bypass damper, but we've never found the lack of it to be a problem. Cheaper than the Endeavor too

 

[SlyFerret]

I think the Liberty would be able to heat your place.

Keep in mind that a bigger stove, producing more heat output, will use more firewood. Whis is more work for you (or money if you buy firewood).

You might be better off keeping your setup and spending the cost of the Liberty on insulation and plugging up some of those drafts and air infiltration points.

-SF

 

[MarkinNC]

I think a Liberty with it's 3 CF firebox will run you out of there and be major overkill. There are a lot of good stoves in the 2 CF range that should heat well. I had some thoughts on log length when I was looking at stoves but found it to be completely irrelevant in the end (I think it was relevant with pre certified stoves). What I do think is very relevant is clearances and I would look closely at those. I wound up with a Lopi Endeavor because it can be placed about 4 inches from a wall. Consider to0 whether you want a radiant stove or a convective stove that pushes heat.

My blower is super quite and does not rattle on season two thus far. I don't know if you need it in a small space anyway?

 

[oldspark]

Lopi Liberty in a 1000 sq ft house=427 in a geo.

 

[woodchip]

You might be better off keeping your setup and spending the cost of the Liberty on insulation and plugging up some of those drafts and air infiltration points. -SF

I was thinking the same thing.

If it were me, I'd go round and find the 10 worst drafts and plug them.

That should help a bit, without trying to spend the rest of your life looking for every tiny crack in every window frame...... ;-)

 

[HotCoals]

Almost bought the Liberty ..very nice stove. Looks way nicer then my BK but no match.
Check out a cat stove,once you get your house tightened up you can burn a cat low most of the time and not over heat your place..just a thought.

 

[begreen]

If you can let go of the 24" long wood loading requirement, there are lots of good stoves out there. 16-18" is a pretty common split size. If this is the main deciding factor, I would look at a Jotul Oslo F500. It'll handle a 22" log. Or maybe you would like an Elm stove?

 

[joecool85]

If you can let go of the 24" long wood loading requirement, there are lots of good stoves out there. 16-18" is a pretty common split size. If this is the main deciding factor, I would look at a Jotul Oslo F500. It'll handle a 22" log. Or maybe you would like an Elm stove?

I'm a fan of the Elm stoves. When we go to upgrade to a larger stove after we do our addition (if we do our addition, whatever), we will either get an Englander NC30 or an Elm Clean Air 18". Both stoves are 3+ cubic ft and put out great, clean heat for a long time. The Elm is more expensive but wins hands down on aesthetics in my book, it is gorgeous.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

If you can let go of the 24" long wood loading requirement, there are lots of good stoves out there. 16-18" is a pretty common split size. If this is the main deciding factor, I would look at a Jotul Oslo F500. It'll handle a 22" log. Or maybe you would like an Elm stove?

Dang BG, you beat me to the punch here. Our Fireview takes only a 16" log and the firebox is not huge but it heats extremely well and holds a long fire too. It is also a beautiful stove that still looks beautiful when it is not being used. So, perhaps broadening your view might open many doors for you.

 

[woodchip]

Funny, I was just looking at the Woodstock Progress Hybrid on their website, both conventional secondary burn and a cat in one.

Takes 22" splits, and currently a special introductory price.

Still not really cheap, but does look good



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