Lopi Steel stoves

[vdog]

Hello Everyone I have been reading your site for sometime What a wealth of information. Now I have decided to ask the question here that I have. We are putting a wood stove in our family room this summer. I have decided on either a Lopi Republic 1250 or 1750. My question is the family room is 500 square feet and is on the NW side of the house and it gets pretty cold in the winter with a NW or W wind. The House is the typical old farm house a pretty chopped up layout, been added onto making flow worse. The only exit into another room of the house is a 38" doorway into the kitchen at the opposite end of the room from where the will be stove. My question is which I am pretty sure I know the answer to is the 1750 Lopi or the 1250. I don't want to be sitting around in my underwear because the family room is to hot but I don't want to under size my room and would like try and have over night burns. Which I know will be tough with the 1250. We are also counting on this as a alternative source of heat when the power goes out. We know this will not heat the hole house because of the layout but we're hoping to put a dent in the propane bill. What do you all think. I have also been waiting to see what the final word is on the stimulus package on stoves is.

Thanks ahead of time.
Scott

 

[JR82]

I'm also a newbie, been lurking around here for a couple months and just about ready to dive into the world of wood burning. I am pretty much set on the Republic 1750, but haven't been able to find a whole lot of opinions on it. I think the bypass damper of the Endeavor would be nice, and not sure how I will feel about no ash pan, but the price is right and they seem to be a reputable company.

 

[Bubbavh]

I would personally buy the bigger stove. You can build a small fire in a big box but you can't build a big fire in a small box.
Just my opinion.

 

[DBoon]

How big is the rest of the house? What are your expectations on heating that with this stove? How well insulated is the house? How old are the windows, do they have good storm windows, and are they reasonably infiltration free?

 

[Todd]

If you want the longer burns go with the bigger stove. I have burned the Lopi Answer and it has the same smallish firebox as the 1250. You will find it hard to get over a 7 hr burn with that size box. If You get too hot in that room crack a window, you will be happy to have that extra fire power when you need it.

 

[vdog]

Dboon
I have all new Pella double hung windows in the house. I have the wall insulated with blown in cellulose but I can tell there are drafts in the odd spots that may not have gotten a full dose of insulation, such as the NW corner. The outside of the house also has 1/2 inch foil foam board under the siding. We are in the country and the winds really howl I can see over 3 miles to the north and west with unobstructed view, spruce windbreak is not big enough to work yet. I am only hoping to maybe get some heat into the kitchen which is about 250 sq ft. As I said we only have one door way out of the family room into the kitchen. I am planning on getting one of the little doorway fans to try and move some heat into there. The salesman, who is and avid wood burner, has not been here but the installer had concerns of installing the 1750. He felt we would be choking the fire back much with the damper and having a lot of build up in the chimney. I am really looking forward to getting the stove in but just do not want to regret not getting the bigger one. Just scratching my head.
Thanks
Scott

 

[madrone]

I'm a fan of my Endeavor. Personally, I really enjoy having the bypass, as it keeps the smoke in the stove during loading, and seems to speed heating the flue, but you'll be fine if you open the door a crack for a minute before loading. You should never have to damper down to control heat. These stoves don't work like the old ones did, they need to run hot. Just build smaller fires in longer cycles. I'd guess that either stove would make a 500 sqft room too hot from time to time, but you can always put less wood in a bigger stove. Another consideration is that a larger stove needs filling less often if it's truly cold out. I'd think about how much you'll rely on it to heat the rest of the house, how much time you spend in the room, and how often you want an overnight burn. If it's primarily going to be a space heater for that room while it's actively occupied, then the 1250 would be great. If you expect to get more it of it regularly, go 1750.

 

[R&D Guy]

I would personally buy the bigger stove. You can build a small fire in a big box but you can't build a big fire in a small box.
Just my opinion.

Agreed, when I had a wood stove in my last house I learned to build smaller fires on warmer days. I found it's too easy to load the stove up to the gills when you only have another 2 or 3 degrees to warm the house (20 minutes to go in my case), but the nice thing in the winter is that air conditioning is free.

So I too would get the larger model, it should also mean longer overnight burns.

 

[Pagey]

I would encourage you to take a few minutes to read my Lopi Endeavor review here:

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/37171/

 

[gibson]

Err on the side of the larger stove. I was asking the same questions at this time last year. I listened when everyone told me to go bigger. Never looked back and havent had to open a window to cool down all winter. Good luck.

 

[DBoon]

Well, I might be the only person to tell you to go with the smaller sized stove, but for me that was the right decision. I wanted to fit it in the fireplace area and not extend the hearth - that was a big consideration for me. But even then, when I load that with a load of good dry hard maple, hickory, or oak, it throws out more heat than the room can handle (about 400 square feet immediate area) and keeps the adjacent rooms plenty warm for me (68 degrees). The back rooms are cooler - maybe 62-64 degrees if I don't run the boiler. This is all with temperatures at 10 degrees or so. My entire house area is 1250 square feet, and while the back rooms stay cooler when the temperature is 10 degrees or lower, I can run with only stove heat if I really wanted to. I'm not a big fan of 80 degrees in the house in the wintertime - I just don't want to shiver through 64 degrees in every room in the house all winter long.

So the Answer/Republic 1250 (basically, the same stove) will probably keep you comfortable with a load of wood every four hours provided that you are not burning softwoods or softer hardwoods. If you really want the room to be warm (75+ degrees), get the bigger stove. If you really want to burn 24/7 and heat the whole house, get the larger stove. If you never want the oil burner to go on, get the larger stove. If you really don't want to have the backup burner go on overnight, get the larger stove. If you don't enjoy sleeping in cooler temperatures, get the larger stove. If you don't want to wake up to 60 degree tempratures in the morning, get the larger stove. If you just want to provide some comfort in that immediate room, then the small stove is probably fine.

I'd recommend the blower, in any case, regardless of stove size. The Lopi stoves can take high temperatures - with a load of dry oak, hard maple, or hickory, it is not hard for that stove to get to 750 degrees with secondary combusion going. It's nice to just crank up the blower and keep the stove down to 650 or so and move a lot of heat into the room at the same time. The stove can take 800 degrees according to the manual, but I like being able to put a load of dry hardwood in on a nice load of coals at 300-400 degrees and really crank the heat when it is cold outside. The blower gives me the flexibility to move that heat into the room quickly.

In any case, you won't go wrong with any Lopi stove. They are solidly constructed and good heaters.

 

[vdog]

I guess in response to someone else's post I am looking at heating the family room entirely and all of the time with the Stove and hopefully get some of the heat into the kitchen with it. I guess that is why I looking at burn time length also. One thing I did not have in my original post is the ceilings are only 8' . I have confidence the small stove will heat the room but how long? We are in the family room before work and school and after. We are in this room more than any other room of the house.

 

[Bubbavh]

Just because you have a big stove and big firebox does not mean you have to fill it. But that big box will hold a lot more wood and give you better burn times when you need it.
Better to have and not need then too need and not have!
Just my opinion for what it's worth.

 

[Wet1]

Welcome!

I'd also recommend going with the larger stove, although it sounds like that's the direction you want to go anyway. I think you'll find a decent amount of heat makes it's way out of that room and into the other parts of the house, especially if you use fans to blow cold air back into the family room (which forces the warm air out).

I should also mention, if you don't have your wood cut and split for this coming season, you're getting pretty late in the game at this point. Don't depend on someone else to deliver "seasoned" wood to you this coming fall/winter because you'll most likely find it's far from seasoned! If you're going to have it delivered, have it delivered now. I'd also suggest you get at least a year or two ahead on split wood, this way you don't have to worry about it being properly seasoned or even running out.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes...

 

[vdog]

Thanks everyone. I am making my way to a decision. Wet 1 thanks I hope I have enough wood stacked already for one year but am still cutting and stacking. What I don't use this year I will have ready for next.

 

[DBoon]

With the Lopi Answer, you can reasonably only expect to get a 4 hour burn time on good dry hardwoods. Anything after that will only be coals and/or 300 degree firebox temperatures - too little and too low a temperature to really keep your house warm when it is really cold. So if long "burn time" is important, this is a strike against the smaller stove.