New house, new stove

[Bugboy]

We close in a couple of weeks on a new house that comes with a Lopi Elan. I don't have the owners manuals and can't find much on-line but it appears to be an older "EPA stove". It is a good looking unit and the current owner says it "heats the whole house". I'm sure it puts out some good heat and I am aware that it is only a space heater.
I'm going from 1,600 sq. ft with a NC-30 to 1,300 sq. ft. with a Lopi. House layouts are similar (stove at one end of house and bedrooms at the other) so all should be good there.
My biggest concern is firewood length. The Lopi box is only 16" and at a minimum I'm going to have to sort my 5 cords of ash by length. I'm guessing that will suck!

The new house also has a fireplace in the basement that appears to be a prefab unit (steel fb sides, bricks in back, couldn't find any mfg markings). I don't know anything about prefabs but the fireplace has what appears to be an 8" steel flue going up through a chase. Will I be able to find an insert for this and can I run a SS liner down that 8" and be good to go? I'll get some pics posted once we have possession.

 

[jimbom]

The surround on the fireplace should be removable. That may reveal a manufacturer tag that has the model, listing, etc. Using that info, you may be able to get an answer. In our case, someone on this forum gave me the news that my zero clearance fireplace could not be used with a hearth mounted stove. The manufacturer confirmed. So, lucky for me, we were able to save a lot of time and effort trying to make an unsafe adaptation.

 

[Bugboy]

I hope to tear into it some before burning season to see if it is worth messing with. I'm planning on using the basement a lot and would like the heat, but realize it may not be do-able.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

I remember the Lopi Elan. A nice looking stove, but not very practical. You should be able to find inserts that will fit and are approved for your Zero Clearance fireplace, if that's what it is. Typically you would run a stainless steel liner down the existing flue but you need to follow all installation instructions for the insert you choose.

 

[Bugboy]

I remember the Lopi Elan. A nice looking stove, but not very practical. You should be able to find inserts that will fit and are approved for your Zero Clearance fireplace, if that's what it is. Typically you would run a stainless steel liner down the existing flue but you need to follow all installation instructions for the insert you choose.

Wood Heat,
What do you mean by not very practical? Is there a problem with efficiency or operation? The firebox looks really small (esp. compared to my NC-30) but the specs I found on-line said it is 73% efficient (if I remember correctly).

 

[jimbom]

I hope to tear into it some before burning season to see if it is worth messing with. I'm planning on using the basement a lot and would like the heat, but realize it may not be do-able.

After the zero clearance and flue were removed, a very clean straight round metal chase remained. We were able to use that to install our new chimney. It was very easy. And it gave me greater clearance to combustibles than required by the insulated double wall stainless. Installing the new chimney took two of us about an hour. We pulled the old flue and dropped in the new Had to rush because a thunderstorm came up and we barely got off the roof before the rain hit. It passed the instant leak test with wet silicone caulk.

 

[daleeper]

The Lopi box is only 16" and at a minimum I'm going to have to sort my 5 cords of ash by length. I'm guessing that will suck!

I went through that last year, dreading cutting down the firewood all summer, but bought a small light chainsaw, and went to cutting, and in 3-4 evenings had everything down to length that needed cut down. Now I have a bunch of chunks for starting fires and filling the holes when loading the stove.