Trying to make an informed decision?

[utahdl]

I have narrowed my choices down to the Lopi Leyden pellet and the Quadrafire Mt Vernon pellet. I have an old 2,000 square foot farm house and I'm looking for any info on the two. I can get either stove for the same price and seem to be leaning towards the Quad, but the Lopi salesperson really made me think. I was hoping that someone could lead me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance,
Dan

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

what did the salesperson say to make you think?
the quad AE has had its run of problems, it seems they have them hashed out. The Lopi is a new stove as well. Its best to buy pellet technology that is at least one season old. The Mt Vernon has some very very cool technology in it, as long as you have a good dealer you will be in good shape. The most important thing about buying a pellet stove is to buy one from a dealerthat is reputable.

 

[utahdl]

Here is the deal. I went to a local home show where there were three stove vendors from the area. One of them tried to sell me a stove by trashing other stoves; we walked away. The Lopi salesperson, who was very knowledgeable and helpful, in so many ways told me Lopi was a better stove than Quadrafire. Finally, we talked to the Quadrafire agent, who was young and knowledgeable, but when I left I was still a bit uncertain. Maybe the Lopi rep was simply a better saleperson?

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

perhaps. Do your research on here, listen to the dealers. Shane is a member that sells lopi. I sell quad. I can tell you, there both good units. The quad is super hi tech. I would start by usuing the search feature on this forum for both models. then ask me any thing you like.

 

[utahdl]

I really appreciate the help. I have been researching stoves for about two months, and was originally looking into harmans, however I became disenchanted after reading about bottom feed systems. The BTU rate of the Quad caught my attention and in researching it, some people had mentioned they never got the heat that they should have out of it. Having never owned a stove, I will have nothing to compare it to; how will I know if it is working to its capacity? Also, when the sales rep demonstrated how to clean it, he didn't mention if it had to be turned off? How easy is the clean up?

Now along with the stove what else am I going to need (what other expenses am I going to incur)?

 

[jtp10181]

Well... ifs not off when you clean it, you might get some 3rd degree burns I think. The Mt Vernon AE has a self cleaning ash dump, so when it gets turned off by the thermostat it dumps the ashes automatically and pushes them to the edges of the ashpan. When the pan fills up you just take it out and dump it in a bucket. I am pretty sure the AE has a sealed ash door so you would want it off when you remove the pan. Other than that you will want to take the baffle out of the inside every week or every couple weeks and clean out all the ash, otherwise the performance will go down the dirtier it gets. Also yearly it is a good idea to sweep all the loose ash out of the venting system and clean both of the fans.