Hi all,
Last season I did some performance reviews of my stove, however I was dealing with sub-par wood (often even wet on the surface due to poorly established methods) and for a good amount of the season my liner was broken directly above my insert allowing a 1-2" air gap in the liner mess with performance.
This year, I'm burning seasoned pine thus far and the stove is all fixed up. And I've done substantial air sealing of the house. With that in mind, I'd like to provide a short performance review for shoulder season.
I've been burning for about 2 weeks now. I heat a 2200+ square foot home (with a ~600 square foot basement below). The layout for heat distribution is absolutely awful. And the insert sits in an external masonry chimney. Liner is ~13-15' insulated foot stretch straight up.
During the past 2 weeks, temps during burning have been 30-50 degrees external with some steady windy days.
Light off review
I've been lighting off using 5 pieces of primed scrap baseboard trim, newspaper, and large splits of seasoned pine (not small splits). I light, leave the door open for 1 minute, shut the door, shut the damper bypass after 5 minutes, and the stove is over 300 within 15 minutes when the fan kicks on. This is far better than last year, and downright acceptable to me. The first load gets the stove from cold up to 350-400 before it's moving to coals and time to reload, about 45 minutes (remember too, this is pine).
No smoke blowback, drafting nicely, smooth heat-up (not fast or slow IMHO). Oh, and once you start using scrap baseboard trim for kindling you'll never want to go back...
Heat Output & Cruising
Last year, I pushed my stove alot. I used ALOT of wood with ALOT of air input to try to get it to constantly stay at 500 - 650 degrees with the fan on high. This was inefficient and my home couldn't distribute the heat that quickly - so I was roasting in my stove room and using alot of wood.
This year,in the shoulder season at least, I've found much better performance. I use medium-to-large pine splits and stuff 1-2 in there every 2 hours or so once it's up to temp. With the air input below 50%, this leads to cruising in the 400-450 range and nice steady heat. It's just enough where my stove room gets quite warm, but the rest of the house is absorbing it.
I've found my overhead fan was causing problems with getting the heat out of the room. So this year I've left that off, just used the Lopi fan, and if it gets warm in the stove room I blow some air lightly along the floor with a stand fan aimed at a downwards angle. Much better, but really the Lopi fan moves a ton of air by itself.
Sensitivity to air
Last year, it was very easy to kill my fire by adjusting the bottom air control too much. This year, using seasoned pine, it likes ALOT less air and performs admirably. It's still sensitive, but won't shut down like it did previously - it'll just burn slower. And, when done right, provide alot more heat. I'm getting solid 4 hour burn times from pine.
Heating Capacity
This stove would probably be adequate in a good 1500-1600 square foot layout, but I have too much house for it. Nonetheless, on 35-40 degree days the stove, after running for 5-6 hours, will heat the overall house to 68 degrees and the stove room to 75-80 degrees. Far corners/bedrooms are probably closer to 60, but it's HEATING the entire house to an adequate level at those shoulder season temperatures.
I've found this quite good as I can use pine, not push my stove at all, and provide whole-house heat for October-November and definitely April, as well as some warmer winter days from December-March.
Further, I believe the stove will provide enough heat when the temps are in the teens and the wind is howling. I believe I'll be able to use my oil furnace to get the house up to 63-65 degrees, and then use the stove to maintain that or bring it up a few more degrees.
Airwash
I find the airwash to be an area that specifically needs to be addressed. It's poor on my stove. I have tried a number of things, but if you damp down the stove for an overnight burn you will have a fogged glassin the morning.....it cannot maintain itself clean once it's temperatures drop but its still combusting.
I have to clean it about once every 4-7 days to remove the haze and truly dark spots. Cleaning is a breeze with a wet paper towel dipped in ash.
Miscellanous
I've learned to appreciate certain things and really be a bit dissapointed in others.
On the appreciation side: the baffle is thick steel, all the bricks are dense firebrick and look perfect, and the stove has a simplicity to it that's quite appealing. It's firebox is a generous 2.2 cubic feet - it doesn't feel bigger by any means, but it feels generous for it's size.
On the dissapointment side: The air control and damper bypass pulls have a movement feel unsuitable for a $300 stove. The damper bypass (opens a direct vent up the flue for loading without smoke blowback, or closes it for secondary combustion) gets stuck 4 out of 5 times requiring a jarring back and forth shove to loosen it up. It was like this from day one and my installer-sweep checked it out carefully. It works fine, but instead of having a smooth motion it's loud and gets stuck often in certain spots.
Similarly, other owners have commented on the air control and how it makes a screeching sound often when pulled. Another member disassembled theirs and found clumps of excess welding sitting where the air control lever slides. That's exactly how mine feels and sounds - as though a metal pull is sliding over a lumpy area of metal. It sounds loud and cheap and results in an air control that requires significant care to perform minimal adjustments due to how it gets stuck on a lump of metal and require force to "hop".
Both of those things should never have made it into a production model.
....
Last season I did some performance reviews of my stove, however I was dealing with sub-par wood (often even wet on the surface due to poorly established methods) and for a good amount of the season my liner was broken directly above my insert allowing a 1-2" air gap in the liner mess with performance.
This year, I'm burning seasoned pine thus far and the stove is all fixed up. And I've done substantial air sealing of the house. With that in mind, I'd like to provide a short performance review for shoulder season.
I've been burning for about 2 weeks now. I heat a 2200+ square foot home (with a ~600 square foot basement below). The layout for heat distribution is absolutely awful. And the insert sits in an external masonry chimney. Liner is ~13-15' insulated foot stretch straight up.
During the past 2 weeks, temps during burning have been 30-50 degrees external with some steady windy days.
Light off review
I've been lighting off using 5 pieces of primed scrap baseboard trim, newspaper, and large splits of seasoned pine (not small splits). I light, leave the door open for 1 minute, shut the door, shut the damper bypass after 5 minutes, and the stove is over 300 within 15 minutes when the fan kicks on. This is far better than last year, and downright acceptable to me. The first load gets the stove from cold up to 350-400 before it's moving to coals and time to reload, about 45 minutes (remember too, this is pine).
No smoke blowback, drafting nicely, smooth heat-up (not fast or slow IMHO). Oh, and once you start using scrap baseboard trim for kindling you'll never want to go back...
Heat Output & Cruising
Last year, I pushed my stove alot. I used ALOT of wood with ALOT of air input to try to get it to constantly stay at 500 - 650 degrees with the fan on high. This was inefficient and my home couldn't distribute the heat that quickly - so I was roasting in my stove room and using alot of wood.
This year,in the shoulder season at least, I've found much better performance. I use medium-to-large pine splits and stuff 1-2 in there every 2 hours or so once it's up to temp. With the air input below 50%, this leads to cruising in the 400-450 range and nice steady heat. It's just enough where my stove room gets quite warm, but the rest of the house is absorbing it.
I've found my overhead fan was causing problems with getting the heat out of the room. So this year I've left that off, just used the Lopi fan, and if it gets warm in the stove room I blow some air lightly along the floor with a stand fan aimed at a downwards angle. Much better, but really the Lopi fan moves a ton of air by itself.
Sensitivity to air
Last year, it was very easy to kill my fire by adjusting the bottom air control too much. This year, using seasoned pine, it likes ALOT less air and performs admirably. It's still sensitive, but won't shut down like it did previously - it'll just burn slower. And, when done right, provide alot more heat. I'm getting solid 4 hour burn times from pine.
Heating Capacity
This stove would probably be adequate in a good 1500-1600 square foot layout, but I have too much house for it. Nonetheless, on 35-40 degree days the stove, after running for 5-6 hours, will heat the overall house to 68 degrees and the stove room to 75-80 degrees. Far corners/bedrooms are probably closer to 60, but it's HEATING the entire house to an adequate level at those shoulder season temperatures.
I've found this quite good as I can use pine, not push my stove at all, and provide whole-house heat for October-November and definitely April, as well as some warmer winter days from December-March.
Further, I believe the stove will provide enough heat when the temps are in the teens and the wind is howling. I believe I'll be able to use my oil furnace to get the house up to 63-65 degrees, and then use the stove to maintain that or bring it up a few more degrees.
Airwash
I find the airwash to be an area that specifically needs to be addressed. It's poor on my stove. I have tried a number of things, but if you damp down the stove for an overnight burn you will have a fogged glassin the morning.....it cannot maintain itself clean once it's temperatures drop but its still combusting.
I have to clean it about once every 4-7 days to remove the haze and truly dark spots. Cleaning is a breeze with a wet paper towel dipped in ash.
Miscellanous
I've learned to appreciate certain things and really be a bit dissapointed in others.
On the appreciation side: the baffle is thick steel, all the bricks are dense firebrick and look perfect, and the stove has a simplicity to it that's quite appealing. It's firebox is a generous 2.2 cubic feet - it doesn't feel bigger by any means, but it feels generous for it's size.
On the dissapointment side: The air control and damper bypass pulls have a movement feel unsuitable for a $300 stove. The damper bypass (opens a direct vent up the flue for loading without smoke blowback, or closes it for secondary combustion) gets stuck 4 out of 5 times requiring a jarring back and forth shove to loosen it up. It was like this from day one and my installer-sweep checked it out carefully. It works fine, but instead of having a smooth motion it's loud and gets stuck often in certain spots.
Similarly, other owners have commented on the air control and how it makes a screeching sound often when pulled. Another member disassembled theirs and found clumps of excess welding sitting where the air control lever slides. That's exactly how mine feels and sounds - as though a metal pull is sliding over a lumpy area of metal. It sounds loud and cheap and results in an air control that requires significant care to perform minimal adjustments due to how it gets stuck on a lump of metal and require force to "hop".
Both of those things should never have made it into a production model.
....
