Lopi 1750 vs Liberty

old greybeard · Jan 12, 2019

As previously posted we installed a Lopi 1750 in our 24x28 cabin. One big room wih 10 ft walls, about 19 ft to cathedral ceiling peak. Off grid, limited solar power batteries to run blower in dead of winter. 1750 running with just convection doesn’t generate enough heat. Coaling with maple is a issue with the small firebox. Wood is dry, 16 ft exposed double wall pipe to factory chimney thru roof. Fair insulation, on piers.
Dealer is working with us, we may exchange 1750 for a bigger firebox Liberty.
Anyone running a Liberty without a blower? Does it generate a ton of heat just radiating and using convection? Does this sound like a good plan?

brickie · Jan 12, 2019

My Endeavor needs the blower.
I wouldn't want to have to rely on convection alone.
As far as the coaling, after the off gassing is complete,
I open the air intake all the way.

begreen · Jan 12, 2019

My guess it that the main issue in the cabin is the cathedral ceiling. Most of the heat is pooling up near the peak. Normally a ceiling fan would be used to enhance circulation and move the heat. The Liberty will provide a cubic ft. more capacity and higher steady BTU output. The stove has a good convective design and should be a notable improvement, but it will not address the issue of thermal stratification.

You might want to try building a heat tube to help circulation. This would be a tube with a 5" 12v computer fan (~100cfm) blowing upward into the tube which terminates high up in the ceiling. The intent of this setup would be to create a circulation pattern where cooler air is pulled in pushed to the ceiling. Warmer air would be pulled down to replace the displaced cool air. This system could be on it's own solar charged battery or the house system.

If there is inverted AC power in the cabin then even something like this 5w fan would help.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DVFJJR4/?tag=hearthamazon-20

This one is 12VDC powered. It would require 30 ah per day to run.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XP58PSB/?tag=hearthamazon-20

FWIW, I knew a fellow up north that heated his whole (guessing 1200 sq ft) house with a Liberty without a blower. It did pretty well, though it was definitely warmer on the upper floor with heat rising up the staircase.

lopiliberty · Jan 12, 2019

I heat 2400 sqft with the liberty. I have the blower but never use it unless I have to cool the stove down quickly. The house is built so that I have a good covection loop. You can actually feel the air moving through the house. Usually mid 80s in the living room and 78 to 80 upstairs. I get 10+ hours of heat(200 to 700 degree stovetop). As for coals I only had that problem one year when I was burning maple. During the coaling stage I usually close the air all the way and sometimes I close my pipe damper to prolong the coal burn down.

ShawnLiNY · Jan 12, 2019

Hello greybeard , I was reading through your old posts and saw where a manual pipe damper was being brought up to you , than I saw a post asking for proper location I didn’t see any responses , did you install the mpd? And did it have any positive effect for you ? I really like Bgreens suggestion of making low voltage tubes to displace some cold air from corners or coldest parts of room . What is the layout is stove central in the room ( have you considered the thermal stovetop fans ) I know they aren’t the greatest but any movement is better than none .

old greybeard · Jan 12, 2019

Strangely we’re getting NO excess heat in the loft with the 1750. Our old airtight would have it 90+ degrees up there.
With the 1750 and a full load at 650-700 degrees I’ll get a temp rise with convection. Then a slow temp drop when it drops to 500-600 and finishes the burn. That’s when I have to use the blower to maintain decent warmth.
Today is 20 degrees. Made 71 and holding 68 while coaling and using blower. Killing batteries but can recharge tonight watching cowboys play.
Hoping a bigger firebox will get inital trmps high enough to maintain comfort thru burn without blower.

old greybeard · Jan 12, 2019

Shawn the damper didn’t really help much. Most days not affected by excess draft. Pipe temps look good.
However we had 20 mph winds Thursday, i was able to shut the damper completely and still hsve good secondarys. And I shut it fully when coaling with air wide open, should keep the cosl heat in the box. I do run the damper 1/3 to 1/2 shut fairly often. I like having it.
Another thing we’re doing is possibly replacing the first 12 feet of double wall pipe with single wall to radiate more heat. Just need double at the top for clearance.

begreen · Jan 12, 2019

old greybeard said:
Strangely we’re getting NO excess heat in the loft with the 1750. Our old airtight would have it 90+ degrees up there.
With the 1750 and a full load at 650-700 degrees I’ll get a temp rise with convection. Then a slow temp drop when it drops to 500-600 and finishes the burn. That’s when I have to use the blower to maintain decent warmth.
Today is 20 degrees. Made 71 and holding 68 while coaling and using blower. Killing batteries but can recharge tonight watching cowboys play.
Hoping a bigger firebox will get inital trmps high enough to maintain comfort thru burn without blower.

Sounds like the blower is doing a good job at aiding room convection.

Robbing the flue of heat is not the best solution, especially with a very long stovepipe. That can cool down the flue gases considerably. Also, watch clearances which will be 18" from single-wall. It sounds like a more radiant, big stove will help, but again, without the blower running I suspect that heat will pocket in the loft as it did with the old stove. One radiant stove to consider would be the Drolet Austral II.

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Lopi 1750 vs Liberty

old greybeard

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brickie

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begreen

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lopiliberty

Minister of Fire

ShawnLiNY

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old greybeard

Burning Hunk

old greybeard

Burning Hunk

begreen

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