Do I buy the Lopi Leyden or the Quadra Fire Mt Vernon AE??

[Jessica]

My husband and I are struggling to figure out which pellet stove to buy for our open-concept, 2400 square foot home (one floor/main living level, basement has Avalon wood stove for heating). We have oil heat and the cost to heat this house last winter was approximately $350-$400/month.

We have gone to two separate stores in our area and the following stoves have been suggested to us:

Lopi Leyden which will heat 2250 square feet (sales person says it will heat up to 2500 sq ft). The price out the door with everything (stove, venting, installation and floor mat) is $4150.

Quadra Fire Mt Vernon AE which is said to heat up to 2900 sq ft. The price for this one out the door with everything (stove, venting, installation and floor mat) is $4750.

Our dilemma is in trying to figure out which one is more reputable in terms of performance and warranty. I have read horror stories about the Quadra Fire breaking down A LOT.
It has been pointed out by both sales people at the two different stores that the Lopi is tested in WA state where it's colder (like CT winters), whereas the Quadra Fire is tested in Florida or CA (can't remember which one they said), so that might be why the rating is at 2900 sq ft. The sales person said herself (For the Quadra Fire) said that for the specific reason the unit is tested in warmer weather, it may NOT heat up to that much, and really be around 2500 sq ft. My husband doesn't buy that theory however, his point is that if it's 60 degrees, the unit will identify 60 degrees and heat accordingly. Also, I'm not sure if this makes a difference (a sales person pointed it out), the Lopi is made in the USA where the Quadra Fire is not.

My head is spinning and I'm definitely NOT an expert, but when it comes to spending just shy of $5000 in an attempt to conserve money on our oil bill, I want to make the best decision possible. Also, we want to make sure our house is as warm as can be since we have a newborn coming in October . So, any input or thoughts on this would be so very beneficial!

Thanks in advance!!

 

[imacman]

Travis Ind. (Lopi, Avalon), make a VERY nice and solid stove. That's where I'd put my $$

 

[stovelark]

x2 for the Avalon. If you want a Quad, get the 1200 classic bay, much more reliable than the MV. The MV is a pretty stove though, like the Leyden. Servicing the Leyden is easier as well. A good competitor for the Leyden is the Enviro M55 cast stove. But Travis does make nice pellet stoves. good luck..

 

[smoke show]

I personally believe you need to educate yourself about BTU's versus square footage ratings. Also visit more than 2 stores if possible.

 

[Utilitrack]

I have had a Leyden since 2008, great stove and so far no issues to date, but that is a BiG space. I personally think that the square footage heated is oversold on all units. The Leyden heats our 1,700' no issues but we have a Cape Cod. you may need to look at the Harman P68, certainly not as aesthetically pleasing as the Leyden or Mt Vernon, but would certainly be better suited for the space. Good luck!

 

[Phil Do's fire.]

I have had several Quadrafire products over the years and all have been good to me. The MV is a high tech pellet burner, most of the issue's have been with the earlier units. I'm with smoke show, educate and go to more than two stores. The Classic bay is a great stove for large area's and is bullet proof reliable

 

[tumbles]

Can't speak for the quad but my Lopi has been great. It's heats 1600 sq ft no problem. Great reliability for everyone I know. Only thing I've replaced is my igniter (running off thermostat). The Lopi comes with a pretty good warranty as well.

 

[Caribfan]

It sounds like the leyden is popular. I have had a Mt Vernon for 2 seasons and love it. It kicks out plenty of heat for my 2200 sq ft house. We keep the zone upstairs at 63 and it kicks on occasionally. Downstairs, where the stove is, is usually a balmy 72-74 running on "medium" - I have only pushed above the "medium" heat output setting on a couple of VERY cold days. It gets a workout here in Maine. We run it all season - this year into June - and the only issue I have had is 2 pellet jams that i cleared in seconds by running a wire coat hanger up the chute. I don't hesitate to recommend the Mt Vernon to anyone.

 

[Jessica]

Thanks for all of the replies! Sadly, there aren't many stores in my area, so going to more isn't really an option. Any info/websites on BTUs vs sq footage that can be recommended would be great, thanks.

 

[smwilliamson]

The Leyden is a fantastic stove and I would even suggest peeking at a m55 cast too. All in for 41 on the Leyden is a very good deal. One of my favorites for many years

 

[dave1959]

Lopi Leyden...

2400 sq ft split foyer, Lopi keeps us at 75-80 all season.
Stove is in the basement, The back bedrooms get a little cool on very cold night because its
hard to circulate the warm air evenly.
Never had a problem with the stove,.
We use about 4-6 tons a year. We treat the pellets as our primary
heat source and the heatpump as back up.
Here in Maryland we had a pretty mild winter last year and I'll bet
the heatpump did not come on moret han 20 times all season.

 

[nksdad2007]

I vote for the leyden. We love ours. It cut the oil bill way down, and i believe paid for it self in about three years. Our installed price was in the ballpark of yours, 5 years ago.

 

[scottvwgti]

I just installed the Mount Vernon last November, and I could not be happier with it. We are heating about 2400 s.f. (single floor ranch) and I cut my oil usage substantially. I have also had a few pellet jams in the auger. (easily fixed by inserting the cleaning tool into the chute to loosen the jam). My wife and I decided to go with the MV even though it was a little but pricier because it is the focal point in the living room with the flat screen mounted above it. I have realized a few cons since installing it.

1. The fan is quite loud, even on the quiet setting.
2. The hopper is kind of a pain to load. The majority of the hopper is stored inside the fireplace, so you have to shove the pellets back to get a full load.

Hope this helps with your decision. We bought ours at Black Swan in Newtown, and couldn't be happier with their work.

 

[smoke show]

1. The fan is quite loud, even on the quiet setting.

That's very unusual with the MtV using dc motors its known as one of the quietest.

 

[zrtmatos]

My signature says it all. I would go with the Leyden by Lopi. I have had good results with it and have found it easy to work on when needed. Mine is a brown enameled unit that I installed in our main level family room. Heats the rest of the house much better than I would have thought, 2 stories. I use a smaller Harman Accentra in the basement also. You may want to look into an alternate site for listings being resold; craigslist maybe?

 

[scottvwgti]

That's very unusual with the MtV using dc motors its known as one of the quietest.

I guess I don't have anything to compare it to, but I notice I have to turn my TV up quite a bit. Maybe I'll have the tech look at it next he comes out, maybe it is louder than it should be.

 

[smwilliamson]

I guess I don't have anything to compare it to, but I notice I have to turn my TV up quite a bit. Maybe I'll have the tech look at it next he comes out, maybe it is louder than it should be.

Is your blower set to quiet? Control setting in the user setting in the thermostat.

 

[scottvwgti]

Is your blower set to quiet? Control setting in the user setting in the thermostat.

Yes, I would say it was maybe 1/3 quieter than normal. Don't get me wrong, I don't have to yell or anything to have a conversation in the room, I just thought it was on the loud side.

 

[Mike D]

No problems with my Leyden except for replacing the igniter (but that's not unusual) - and it seems to burn anything I put in there. It currently heats most of my 2400sqft colonial. Best of luck.

Also - $4,150 for piping, installation, stove and hearth pad? I think mine cost more than that (with the installation) during the rush of 2008 - but is that for the enamel or cast iron version?

 

[Speed3]

My vote would be for the Mt Vernon. Not sure why it doesn't get more love around here. It's a heck of a stove and is more efficient and higher btus than the Lopi (quieter too).

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Square feet vs BTUs.

BTUs measure what the stove can produce where as the square footage that can be heated (maintained at a fixed temperature) will vary depending upon the actual place being heated.

A drastic example being place a 50,000 BTU output stove in a 1000 square foot room with the outside temperature being -20 and walls full of holes, not likely to feel much heat 5 feet from the stove.

Plug the holes and it starts to get warm. Where as have the stove set on its lowest setting which reduced the BTUs produced the same area is likely to not warm up enough.

In other words that square footage figure needs to be ignored. You size a stove by doing a heat loss calculation and that is specific to the building to be heated. It takes into account the actual temperatures where the building is and construction of the building. You also need the stove to be able to produce that amount of heat on its middle heat setting.

 

[slls]

My vote would be for the Mt Vernon. Not sure why it doesn't get more love around here. It's a heck of a stove and is more efficient and higher btus than the Lopi (quieter too).

When they first came out, lots of issues.

 

[Vinelife]

Love my Quad, don't have the MV, but wouldn't hesitate to buy one ..

 

[MountainSean]

My vote would be for the Mt Vernon. Not sure why it doesn't get more love around here. It's a heck of a stove and is more efficient and higher btus than the Lopi (quieter too).

My personal beef with the AE is two fold.
1. Too many sensors half of which are redundant but can still fail and cause the stove to stop and cause you more time and money to figure out where the problem is.
2. Too expensive for the parts. I understand that some parts are going to be more expensive than others and that cost and quality do often times have a correlation. However the price of almost all the parts in that stove are higher than what even Enviro parts cost and Enviro has always had parts well above the average for stove parts.

With those in mind, the AE is still a good well built stove that cranks out the heat

 

[smwilliamson]

I'm not so concerned with the price of parts. Way I see it, if the company is profitable, they can build and develop new equipment, take the M55 for example... Should be no surprise that NOW Harman is making an upgrade to the Accentra. The Accentra has been the staple of fireplace inserts for almost 10 years and is their #1 selling item. The only competitor was the Mt Vernon which is also HHT... So until the M55 there is not much incentive. Mark my words...the M55 will knock the Accentra out of place, including the 52i. HHT is gong to enjoy slower sales. The bigger they are the harder they fall!