Calling all Lopi Freedom Owners

[SeattleRider]

Folks,
I was all ready to buy Enviro Boston 1700 but today when I spoke to the dealer he told me my house was outside of his service area by 5 miles, go figure.

So I called a Lopi dealer, he gave a price of $2369 for the Lopi Freedom insert with blower, about $550 more than Republic 1750. I am leaning towards the freedom because of the bigger firebox + looks. The Lopi pricing is better than Enviro so that is also another factor.

Any feedback regarding your own experience with Freedom will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

No feedback but it sounds good to me...

 

[coldkiwi]

I have a Freedom,it is a great insert, a real heat machine.I picked it up for 300 bucks new(if you search for my posts you will see how).How much area are you hoping to heat?I used a Lopi Revere the previous winter, it heated fine but I thought bigger is better(it is)The freedom is 29 inches wide with a big door and just fills the fireplace opening. Looking at the specs of both stoves,if I was buying new I probably would go for the republic,550 is 550 and the fact the republic extends 3 more inches into the room, the firebox is 3 inches deeper although the Freedom is a lot wider.Gee I am a lot of help right?, lol

 

[SeattleRider]

It is a two story house roughly 2600 sq ft, open floor plan with high ceilings. My intent is to use the stove as the primary heat source as much as possible.

 

[trguitar]

I heat 2400 sq ft with mine, easily keeping the house in the mid-70s. The house is a contemporary-style Cape with open floor plan downstairs, but no high ceilings, except in the sunroom. The sunroom has 15 ft high ceiling, but there is a window up high to an upstairs bedroom, so it actually makes a nice loop with the stairs that brings the heat up there. The stove is a beast. It's our primary heat source. I probably get about 6 hours of usable heat out of it from a full load (my only complaint), but I can easily restart from coals as long as 12 hours after the burn started. I burn about 4 cord a year. The statement in the literature about "heat your house for 12 hours on one load of wood", is only going to happen if it's like 45 degrees out. It's not happening when it's in the 20s or 30s.

I have the blower. It's a little loud, but it does a great job of pushing heat out into the room.

Is your house well insulated and tight? When I first installed the Freedom 3 years ago, it wasn't doing a great job heating. I could barely get the downstairs into the high 60s. This was also my first stove. It took me a while to figure out that I needed to fix some major air leaks, and add insulation in the attic (it was only R-19, now it's R-49). Now it does a good job, but I'm sure it could do even better if I added more insulation in the attic. I'm still losing some heat upstairs. Right now there is about a 5-7 degree difference between upstairs and downstairs.

 

[jaychino415]

Are you planning to do the installation yourself? The price quote I got from my lopi dealer in my neck of the woods was $4300 installed. Go with bigger box. You can always build smaller fires in a bigger box. But you can't build a bigger fire in a smaller box. I picked up a freedom bay off of cl for $675, barely used. Good Luck on which ever you decide on. Double check all your clearances and make sure it will fit into your existing fireplace.

 

[SeattleRider]

The house is fairly well insulated and I am planning on checking it thoroughly during the summer months. So if you can only get 6 hours of usable heat with Freedom, does that mean it will be even less with 1750 or pretty much the same?

Jaychino415, the price I got for installation is $400 labor +$600 liner which is the best I have found so far.

 

[trguitar]

The Freedom is my first and only stove. I don't have any experience with any other stoves. And I have only been burning wood for 3 years, so take my comments in that light.

I would think that the 1750 would be too small for 2600 sq ft. It's a smaller firebox than the Freedom, so I would guess it would give a little shorter burn times.

From my experience, you can definitely reload between 8-10 hours with the Freedom, but your house has to be well-insulated and tight to keep the heat inside the house for the 2-4 hours that your stove is at 250-300 at the end of the burn cycle.

But, it's 25* outside right now, and it's a nice and toasty 74* in here right now!

 

[NextEndeavor]

I have the Freedom Bay and really couldn't be happier. We only heat 1,300 square ft main floor of an average ranch home. A small floor fan in the hallway blowing towards the stove is only used when below zero outside. We are at a very comfortable 77 right now in the hallway. It's 2 degrees outside now heading for -10 by daylight. I'll see about 72 when I reload at 5:30 am tomorrow then it'll climb back to 77 or so by the time i leave for work and my wife gets up. The Lopi has the bypass damper which really makes lightups and reloads a snap. Just open it for a straight shot right up the chimney and she really rips. Also, Just pull it open when doing a chimney sweep and everything drops right into the firebox so you don't have to remove baffles or tubes, very easy. We love the stove, nice wide viewing window too. Oh, the fan is only loud when on high which only happens when chasing the thermometer if you wait too long before reload/relight. 90% of the time the fan is as low as possible. You do hear it but it's not bad, no worse than my refrigerator for noise.

 

[jaychino415]

Not bad, very good price compared to my area. Be sure to get the liner insulated. The liner price is about the right price if you were to purchase it on your own.

The house is fairly well insulated and I am planning on checking it thoroughly during the summer months. So if you can only get 6 hours of usable heat with Freedom, does that mean it will be even less with 1750 or pretty much the same?

Jaychino415, the price I got for installation is $400 labor +$600 liner which is the best I have found so far.

 

[fitter9]

I just had the freedom installed in October and it's been burning pretty much 24/7 since then. That is until my wife broke the glass this past Monday sweeping the hearth.
My house is poorly insulated and very drafty. The freedom keeps my first floor open floor plan (800 sq ft or so) in the mid 70s when it's above 20 outside. High 60s below 20. I can get 6 to 8 hours of usable heat if I pack it carefully. The only thing I don't like is the tapered firebox. It makes it like a puzzle when your really trying to pack it full. Other than that I think it is a well built heat throwing beast.