Lopi AGP keeps shutting down, but that's not what's important here.

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LuvMyStove

Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 16, 2008
46
northwest CT
My question is. has anyone had unfixable shutdown issues w/ a 2015-16 model and gotten a new stove as compensation from Travis? The rest of this post is just background information if anyone is interested.

After having an Austroflamm Integra for 22 years, we decided to try something new - and bought a Lopi AGP in 2016. Immediately missed the 10,000 btus and Flamm's 100 lb. hopper. As many AGP owners know, our little beauty likes to get her beauty sleep at the worst possible times - she shuts down in the middle of the night and on the coldest days when we're not home. The stove has other quirks - the hopper doesn't hold the advertised 80 lbs. and the stove needs to be cleaned several times a week if you burn 5-6 tons of Barefoot a season. I think our dealer said it would only need weekly cleanings. After 2 days of burning I have to, along with a general cleaning, chip out clinker that's built up around the igniter corner of the burning platform and clean the holes on the platform..
The rubber vacuum hose on the right side of the stove attaches to a brass nipple that gets soot-clogged and can shut down the stove. What I really don't like is that I can't access the other side of the panel the brass fitting screws into. If I could get at that soot it would keep the nipple cleaner. There are other corners of the burn chamber that are inaccessible or nearly so. One time our tech told me to take the stove outside during the summer and blow compressed air to clean it out. That's not really a viable option for me and besides I don't want to do it out of principle.
Well, the AGP shut down for good the other day, and it's not the auger or feeder motors. The tech thinks the auger disks are bound up and, if so, we may be getting a new stove. If I understand him correctly, Travis started sealing the disks (like a sealed bearing?) so you can't just unbolt and pull them out to sand off burrs. And for some some strange reason they can't just replace the auger unit. I'll know more when the tech inspects the stove and either fixes it or pronounces it dead.
If we are offered a replacement stove, we might consider the Foxfire model which, if nothing else, supposedly puts out the 10,000 btus we lost w/ the Austroflamm. At least that's what they say.
 
And they always say “we’ve got all the bugs worked out now”. It’s comical to me!