summers heat 50 snc 13lc vs lopi m520

[santhony72]

I am new to wood stoves and looking for some advise. My home has a Lopi M520 wood stove that is in good shape. Just a few minor problems with the blower is all we have experenced. We go through approx 3 chords of wood each winter and it seems like we are always having to load the fireplace with wood. I would say we get 1 hr to 2 hrs of burn time per load. I have been trying to locate an owners manual on the Lopi M520 to see if I am using the air dampers correctly but have been unsuccessful finding one.

I was looking at wood stoves at Lowes last week and I ended up purchasing a Summers Heat 50SNC13LC for $350.00 on sale. I am debating on installing this one in my home to replace the Lopi and either sell or move the Lopi into my garage. I am wanting to get some other opinions if this is a wise chioce to replace the Lopi of just replace the blower. I was hoping the new stove wood have a longer burn time to help reduce the amount of wood I use.

I am able to return the Summer Heat stove for another 10 days for a full refund.

 

[begreen]

That is one heckuva good price for that stove. Normally one doesn't see a price like that until Feb.. The SNC 13 will give good burn times and has a lot of happy users here. It is the same as the Englander 13NC. If you search on that you will find several threads.

That said, I believe the M520 is a much larger stove, possibly the predecessor to the Liberty? Does the stove have secondary air tubes just below the top baffle? It could be that you are burning it incorrectly. Or if the air tube sagged, maybe they were pulled? The new ones use stainless tubes. In this stove, I would expect fires to last many hours if it was in good working order, burning good wood, and run correctly.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Wow that is a soooper cheap price on the englander

 

[tickbitty]

Wow, I would say go for it and install it, especially if your home is within the square footage for the 13.

 

[santhony72]

Thanks for all of you input.

BeGreen, I dont know about the secondary tubes. Where would I look.

Pyro, I have 1200 sq ft in the basement and 1200 sq ft on the main level. The original owner of the house installed the stove in the basement. I hope this stove is big enouigh.

The sales person at Lowes siad the stove I purchased was the last one from last years stock and they had new one's arriving in a couple of days and would be selling for 799.00 so i took a chance and grabbed it for 350.00

Last, where is a good place to purchase the blower for the snc13.

Thanks again, you guys have been great.

 

[BrotherBart]

That is one heckuva good price for that stove. Normally one doesn't see a price like that until Feb..

Those Englanders that Lowe's wouldn't sell for clearance price last spring are coming down out of the racks and selling for under five hundred all over the place since they aren't carrying them as stock stoves this year.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

You can get a blower through home depot online

 

[BrowningBAR]

Keep the summers heat 50 and if it doesn't meet your needs you can probably sell it for the same price... if not more, with a little luck.

 

[begreen]

This is the 13NC. I suspect it is going to disappoint trying to heat 2400 sq ft, especially if this is a typical, uninsulated basement installation. And especially if a 2.5 cu ft stove is not doing the job. However, moved upstairs it might work just dandy.

 

[thewoodlands]

Thanks for all of you input.

BeGreen, I dont know about the secondary tubes. Where would I look.

Pyro, I have 1200 sq ft in the basement and 1200 sq ft on the main level. The original owner of the house installed the stove in the basement. I hope this stove is big enouigh.

The sales person at Lowes siad the stove I purchased was the last one from last years stock and they had new one's arriving in a couple of days and would be selling for 799.00 so i took a chance and grabbed it for 350.00

Last, where is a good place to purchase the blower for the snc13.

Thanks again, you guys have been great.

santhony72 here is a picture of the tubes, the picture is a little blurry.

zap

We have the Lopi Liberty

 

[santhony72]

The tubes must have been removed. I have a shelf that hold bricks at approx 45 degree. I removed the shelf and there was nothing but the flute hole.

 

[santhony72]

I didnt realize how much smaller the snc13 is compared to my Lopi M520. We could only fit 2 logs in the snc 13. I am concerned the snc 13 will not be big enough for our needs so I guess I will be headed back to Lowes to return the snc 13. After we placed the snc13 next to the Lopi, the snc was half the size.

I would like to thank everyone for their input.

 

[begreen]

You might consider reselling that Englander. When we said you have a steal of a deal, we weren't kidding. I would put it on Craigslist for $500. Bet it is gone by the end of the weekend.

As for the Lopi, this should be a decent stove if it were all together and working right. The best way we can help you now is to see some pictures of the insides. You may be able to fix this up to become a good heater. But we need to see what you are seeing to determine this.

 

[santhony72]

Attached is a picture of the stove. You will see metal brackets on the side and back of the wall. This is where a metal frame goes that holds more bricks at a 45 degree hanging form the top. Thanks again for your help.

 

[begreen]

No pictures posted. Here's how to attach images to your post:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/How_to_Upload_Images_to_Forum/

 

[santhony72]

I finally got the pictures to attach.

 

[begreen]

Good going. Looks like the baffle is completely missing. The stove is going to be a poor performer without it. Are there any openings, ports or channels on the sides above the bricks or is it all smooth up there?

 

[BrotherBart]

And the Lopi is a 1.7cf firebox and the Englander a 1.8. Use the 13-NC. That Lopi got rudimentary secondary burn capabilities late in the run. Looks like that was an early one.

 

[begreen]

My bad, I had read the M520 had a 2.5 cu ft firebox. With 5 firebricks across, it sure looks bigger than the 13NC.

 

[BrotherBart]

My bad, I had read the M520 had a 2.5 cu ft firebox. With 5 firebricks across, it sure looks bigger than the 13NC.

I am just going by what that manual tickbitty linked said.

 

[BrotherBart]

My bad, I had read the M520 had a 2.5 cu ft firebox. With 5 firebricks across, it sure looks bigger than the 13NC.

I am just going by what that manual tickbitty linked said.

Edit: A link that has seemed to have disappeared in the last two days.

 

[santhony72]

The lopi is alot bigger than the snc 13. I can only fit approx two or three logs in it whereas I can fit 4 logs in the lopi even using a grate. Alos I had a neighbor tell me not to use a grate in the wood stove. Is that correct or do I need to use one.

Sorry for all the questions, as you can tell I am new to this.

 

[begreen]

The tubes must have been removed. I have a shelf that hold bricks at approx 45 degree. I removed the shelf and there was nothing but the flute hole.

Why was this removed? This sounds like the missing baffle. What is the "flute hole" and where is it located?

Neighbor is right, a grate is not recommended.

 

[tickbitty]

My bad, I had read the M520 had a 2.5 cu ft firebox. With 5 firebricks across, it sure looks bigger than the 13NC.

I am just going by what that manual tickbitty linked said.

Edit: A link that has seemed to have disappeared in the last two days.

That was weird... I think there must have been parallel threads going, I definitely didn't take it down!