New (used) stove purchase! LOPI 380

[pitchpost]

OK, I just purchased a LOPI 380/440, circa 1980’s looks like it’s well cared for & in great condition ( from the pic’s) I’m having a buddy pick it up & bring it home from Colorado.
( great friends to ask that they muscle the beast around! ) anyway looks like it’s the predecessor to the Endeavor, anybody know the differences ??. Pretty excited to get it home & installed. will probably be looking for advice on proper stove pipe purchase i.e.
Brand, type, etc. Any advice on the 380 is welcome, I think I got a good deal paid $375.

KE

 

[TX-L]

I have this model stove in my camp, it works great. It's well built and heavy, and I've been told it's the predecessor to the Endeavor model. I asked a similar question on this forum back when: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/71568/

 

[arborealbuffoon]

I predict that you will quickly become very fond of your new (old) lopi. Having lived in the backwoods of the Black Hills in winter myself, I know how critical some good warm wood heat can be.

I am a brand new poster here, having lurked a long time. I have also owned several stoves over the last 25 years, so I feel like I do have some basis for comparison. I would recommend using a damper in your stove pipe for this unit. The built in blower is probably the only part on this stove which I consider to be less than stellar in quality. The doors are bombproof, with huge bridge rivets as hinges. These things are built like tanks, and probably weigh nearly as much!

I just installed one here in October inside a very large "man cave". This is a warehouse with minimal insulation and 22 foot ceiling, and surprisingly the Lopi keeps right up even down into single digits. It is already by far my favorite stove of the several I have owned. It is also PERFECT to cook on in a standard skillet, etc.

I sure wish I was out in the Hills right now, but since I can't eat pine cones I guess I will remain out east where I have work. Please enjoy the wind in the pines on my behalf. And, at least in one newbie's opinion, you just landed yourself one of the better older stoves from its era.

 

[pitchpost]

I predict that you will quickly become very fond of your new (old) lopi. Having lived in the backwoods of the Black Hills in winter myself, I know how critical some good warm wood heat can be.

I am a brand new poster here, having lurked a long time. I have also owned several stoves over the last 25 years, so I feel like I do have some basis for comparison. I would recommend using a damper in your stove pipe for this unit. The built in blower is probably the only part on this stove which I consider to be less than stellar in quality. The doors are bombproof, with huge bridge rivets as hinges. These things are built like tanks, and probably weigh nearly as much!

I just installed one here in October inside a very large "man cave". This is a warehouse with minimal insulation and 22 foot ceiling, and surprisingly the Lopi keeps right up even down into single digits. It is already by far my favorite stove of the several I have owned. It is also PERFECT to cook on in a standard skillet, etc.

I sure wish I was out in the Hills right now, but since I can't eat pine cones I guess I will remain out east where I have work. Please enjoy the wind in the pines on my behalf. And, at least in one newbie's opinion, you just landed yourself one of the better older stoves from its era.

Thanks, I appreciate your advice for installing a dampener in the stove pipe. I'm on my way this morning to unload the beast in the cabin, probably be a couple weeks before I get time to do the install, but am very excited to get underway. Near as I can tell ( because it still strapped down in the truck ) this one doesn't have a blower, something I will be adding soon - I suppose I just order through a local Lopi dealer.
Once I get it installed and burning I'll pour & hoist one for you from out here in the hills. Where a-bouts did you live in the backwoods?

KE

 

[arborealbuffoon]

I lived at the end of Reno Gulch road near where it intersects with Medicine Mountain. Southern hills, approximately midway between Custer and Hill City. Our family still owns about four acres there, and I have spent the last two years' summer vacation with a Husky in my hands, doing combat against the bark beetles! They are getting quite bad now, and in my opinion, Mother Nature's answer to decades of failed forest policy by our govt. When I was younger (and before the birth of the first Timbco harvester) I used to work in the woods as a cutter. I still rank the Black Hills as the best "office" I have ever had.

 

[pitchpost]

I lived at the end of Reno Gulch road near where it intersects with Medicine Mountain. Southern hills, approximately midway between Custer and Hill City. Our family still owns about four acres there, and I have spent the last two years' summer vacation with a Husky in my hands, doing combat against the bark beetles! They are getting quite bad now, and in my opinion, Mother Nature's answer to decades of failed forest policy by our govt. When I was younger (and before the birth of the first Timbco harvester) I used to work in the woods as a cutter. I still rank the Black Hills as the best "office" I have ever had.

Soooo TRUE!! Inept FS policy, mix in a little obstruction from groups like the sierra club & you end up with a thriving destructive beetle problem! we're well on our way to being the rusty brown hills of South Dakota.
At this point it seems like any effort to stop the spread will be much like pissing on a forest fire. I guess there will be plenty of product for my Lopi & Buck. Our cabin is in Silver City, I'm sure your familiar with where that is, it's been in our family for many years & I feel fortunate to have it - a very special place!!

 

[arborealbuffoon]

Wow. A cabin within an old ghost town, more or less. I swear that there is enough biomass rotting at this second in the black hills to heat the entire upper midwest given the appropriate boiler(s). For now, our trees are doing awesome for the most part, but we have removed a lot of material over the last 40 years.

 

[pitchpost]

Getting closer, the stove swap turned into a remodel with spray foam insulation, T&G knotty pine and new carpet - Geez!
anyway here are a couple before & almost complete after pics of the old Buck gas stove & the new (old) Lopi 380.

 

[begreen]

Looking better there pitchpost.