Lopi Endeavor help

[PutnamJct]

Hi guys,

I am a pellet burner and spend my time over in the pellet forum, but know I can get some help here for my neighbor.

This season he changed stoves from a Kent Tile Fire to a Lopi Endeavor. Was talking to him this morning and he was expressing his frustration with the new stove. Main issue is that he does not get anywhere near the heat from the new stove as the old.(and this during a mild winter)
Nothing else in the house changed, but I wonder if he has an install or usage issue.

His wood pile is very impressive and well done. Covered and the stuff he burns is at least two seasons old so I don't think it's a fuel issue.

Should the Lopi give as much heat as his Kent? He is strongly considering putting the old stove back in and getting rid of the Lopi.

His dealer hasn't given him much advice or help so here I am

Like I said, I am a pellet head so I am clueless with this.

Thanks much in advance!!
John

 

[rdust]

I burned the Endeavor for 2 seasons and it heated just under 2K just fine for me. The Endeavor is a convection style stove so if his previous stove was a radiant stove that may be the difference he's noticing. You can just about hold your hands on the sides and back of Endeavor with a stove top in the 700* range. The convection system on that stove moved heat around my house very well.

Can you find out what type of stove top temps he's seeing on the middle of the cook top? My Endeavor liked to run in the 600-750 range depending on the wood type and how it was loaded. Also make sure he's burning it N/S(wood loaded straight in).

 

[BrowningBAR]

How big of a fire box is the Kent Tile Fire?

 

[PutnamJct]

Will check on the above two and report back. Thanks!

 

[BrowningBAR]

I suspect that the Kent is a bigger stove than the Endeavor. I can not find the firebox size online, but the claimed BTU rating is 50k BTUs, which is the same BTU rating the Pre-EPA Vigilant had. If the Kent stove is at all comparable (and I have no idea if it is at this point), the Vigilant would out heat an Endeavor, easily.

It's possible that your neighbor might have gotten sucked into BTU claims and saw that the Endeavor was listed as 72k BTUs and figured that is a lot more than the Kent offers so it must heat better.

 

[lopiliberty]

My question is Is he throwing the wood in and not adjusting the air? It makes a big difference. You have to get that stove hot with the air wide open and then start shutting it down in stages. My stove has no problem topping out at 750 or more has rdust has said.

 

[Treacherous]

Does he have a blower? It makes a world of difference with the heat output from my stove.

 

[MarkinNC]

I'd be interested to know how many SF he is heating and how old the house is. I would also be interested to know if he installed a proper chimney i.e 6 inch pipe and is not venting into an existing masonry chimney. How hot was the stove getting temp wise?

It maybe that the stove is just too small for his application. I'm heating a 14 year old 1600 SF home easily with mine. Or it could be that it was not installed to spec chimney wise. There is not a lot of complaints on this stove in the 2 seasons I have been following.

 

[eclecticcottage]

We have the sister stove, the Republic 1750, and I agree with the air statement. If you leave it wide open, you won't heat nearly as well as shutting it down in stages to about 1/4 open. Is he getting good secondaries? What kind of top temps?

 

[begreen]

Both stoves are convective I believe, but the Lopi may need more draft? What is the flue connection like? How tall a chimney?

 

[jensent]

I burned the Endeavor for 2 seasons and it heated just under 2K just fine for me. The Endeavor is a convection style stove so if his previous stove was a radiant stove that may be the difference he's noticing. You can just about hold your hands on the sides and back of Endeavor with a stove top in the 700* range. The convection system on that stove moved heat around my house very well.

Can you find out what type of stove top temps he's seeing on the middle of the cook top? My Endeavor liked to run in the 600-750 range depending on the wood type and how it was loaded. Also make sure he's burning it N/S(wood loaded straight in).

We have heated 1600 ft sq. on first floor for 9 yrs. ( do not heat 900 ft sq 2nd floor which always stays above 40F) Never take the stove top over 500F. Run at 350-400F most of the time. Stove does have a blower. House was built in 1940, new windows, insulation,siding and roof in 2002/2003. Room 30ft from stove stays above 72F if I do my part. BTW my two stove top thermometers are marked "over fired" at 575F on one and 675F on the other.
Tom
Heat with Lopi Endeaver.

 

[lopiliberty]

We have heated 1600 ft sq. on first floor for 9 yrs. ( do not heat 900 ft sq 2nd floor which always stays above 40F) Never take the stove top over 500F. Run at 350-400F most of the time. Stove does have a blower. House was built in 1940, new windows, insulation,siding and roof in 2002/2003. Room 30ft from stove stays above 72F if I do my part. BTW my two stove top thermometers are marked "over fired" at 575F on one and 675F on the other.
Tom
Heat with Lopi Endeaver.

I would love to know how you keep your stove from going over 500. My liberty runs anywhere from 650 to 750, althought I have read on here somewhere the endeavor is a little more eaiser to control than the liberty

 

[davmor]

I have a Lopi Endeaver and it doesn't really get going until gets over 600 on top of the stove.

 

[eclecticcottage]

Our Republic seems happiest between 600-725, good secondaries and good heat. It does try to climb above 725, but we've only overfired once. We have a Rutland stove top thermo. I don't pay attention to the "zones" (creosote, overfire), just the temps and how the stove is running. It only goes below 500 when it's "cooling down" (coaling stage).

 

[MarkinNC]

We have heated 1600 ft sq. on first floor for 9 yrs. ( do not heat 900 ft sq 2nd floor which always stays above 40F) Never take the stove top over 500F. Run at 350-400F most of the time. Stove does have a blower. House was built in 1940, new windows, insulation,siding and roof in 2002/2003. Room 30ft from stove stays above 72F if I do my part. BTW my two stove top thermometers are marked "over fired" at 575F on one and 675F on the other.
Tom
Heat with Lopi Endeaver.

That is an outdated flu temp thermometer used mainly as a thermometer these days. In the Endeavor manual they do recomend a certain thermometer and where to put it. They also states that exceeding 800 degree or if the stoves starts to glow red, that is considered overfiring. Your missing out on some heat and a beautiful fire show.

 

[jensent]

I would love to know how you keep your stove from going over 500. My liberty runs anywhere from 650 to 750, althought I have read on here somewhere the endeavor is a little more eaiser to control than the liberty

Using less fuel and /or less air controls the stove top temp nicely. I like to use less fuel with plenty of air to keep the chimney clean. We check our chimney annually and have cleaned it twice in nine years. Only get about 2cups dry powder per cleaning. Wood c/s/s 2 to 3 summers. If we run the stovetop over 500 we would have to open windows.
Tom

 

[jensent]

The Rutland thermometer and the Woodstock Co. thermometer that sit on our stovetop read the same. I consider them both accurate. In what way would the Rutland mentioned above by another member be obsolete?
Tom

 

[MarkinNC]

The Rutland thermometer and the Woodstock Co. thermometer that sit on our stovetop read the same. I consider them both accurate. In what way would the Rutland mentioned above by another member be obsolete?
Tom

The aspect that is outdated (in most cases) is the over fire guidelines. Again, most of the thermometer are use for the temperature only as opposed to a guide for over firing. I interpreted your post to say that you were using the flu temperature thermometers of pre epa stoves to run your epa certified stove. Though I do hope other board members chime in on this one.

As to the accuracy, the guys with IR thermometers tend to report accuracy to about 50 degrees of so.

 

[jensent]

That is an outdated flu temp thermometer used mainly as a thermometer these days. In the Endeavor manual they do recomend a certain thermometer and where to put it. They also states that exceeding 800 degree or if the stoves starts to glow red, that is considered overfiring. Your missing out on some heat and a beautiful fire show.

The Lopi Endeaver Manual (Part# 93508005) that we recieved states, "A stove thermometer gives you a good indication of how hot your appliance is burning when placed directly on top of the appliance." Perhaps you have some update that you would care to share. We feel a medium burn of 500 to 600F provides more than enough heat in our situation. Heating 800F or until the stove glows red certainly can not extend the life of the stove.
Thanks
Tom

 

[rdust]

We feel a medium burn of 500 to 600F provides more than enough heat in our situation.

I only wish my stove would've stayed there! If it did I may still have it today. Mine had a hard time staying below 700-750 on a full load, it never glowed but it sure liked to run hot. I have 27' worth of insulated liner and another 3' or so of double wall pipe, I think the chimney was just too tall for the Endeavor. I would've liked to burn it on a straight up 20' chimney to see how it would burn.

 

[MarkinNC]

The Lopi Endeaver Manual (Part# 93508005) that we recieved states, "A stove thermometer gives you a good indication of how hot your appliance is burning when placed directly on top of the appliance." Perhaps you have some update that you would care to share. We feel a medium burn of 500 to 600F provides more than enough heat in our situation. Heating 800F or until the stove glows red certainly can not extend the life of the stove.
Thanks
Tom

Over-firing may lead to damage of plated surfaces. If you are uncertain of over-firing conditions, we
suggest placing a stove thermometer (e.g. Rutland® Model 710) directly over the door on the stove top -
temperatures exceeding 800° are generally considered over-firing and will void the warranty

This stove was designed to operate at a high temperature. But due to differences in vent configuration,
fuel, and draft, this appliance can be operated at an excessive temperature. If the stove top or other area
starts to glow red, you are over-firing the stove. Shut the air control down to low and allow the stove to
cool before proceeding.

(broken link removed to http://www.lopistoves.com/productuide/detail.aspx?id=209#Documents)

I have posted the appropriate quotes from the current Endeavor manual above as well as a link to the manual. In no way did I want you to think that I was stating you should run your stove at 800 or until it's glowing red. I basically was trying to point out that you can run your stove above safely above 500. That is the temperature you say you never exceeded in your original post indicating you run in the 350 to 6400 range most of the time.

I have obviously been unable to articulate this and have taken this thread off topic. My apologies to the OP.

 

[jensent]

I only wish my stove would've stayed there! If it did I may still have it today. Mine had a hard time staying below 700-750 on a full load, it never glowed but it sure liked to run hot. I have 27' worth of insulated liner and another 3' or so of double wall pipe, I think the chimney was just too tall for the Endeavor. I would've liked to burn it on a straight up 20' chimney to see how it would burn.

rdust
We have 4ft of telescoping dbl wall then 16ft of insulated chimney so your pipe/chimney length is about 10ft longer than ours. That might be the difference. How does the BK burn compared to the Endeavor? Does the BK have the thermostat control and how does it work? The idea of having that much temperature control is intriguing!
Thanks
Tom

 

[jensent]

(broken link removed to http://www.lopistoves.com/productuide/detail.aspx?id=209#Documents)

I have posted the appropriate quotes from the current Endeavor manual above as well as a link to the manual. In no way did I want you to think that I was stating you should run your stove at 800 or until it's glowing red. I basically was trying to point out that you can run your stove above safely above 500. That is the temperature you say you never exceeded in your original post indicating you run in the 350 to 6400 range most of the time.

I have obviously been unable to articulate this and have taken this thread off topic. My apologies to the OP.

Mark
Thanks for the update. I think we are both really on the same page.
Tom

 

[rdust]

rdust
We have 4ft of telescoping dbl wall then 16ft of insulated chimney so your pipe/chimney length is about 10ft longer than ours. That might be the difference. How does the BK burn compared to the Endeavor? Does the BK have the thermostat control and how does it work? The idea of having that much temperature control is intriguing!
Thanks
Tom

Not to muddy up this thread but there is really no way to compare the two. The BK is truly in a world of it's own when it comes to control. It does have a thermostat on it but on those really long burns the thermostat is closed for the whole burn, a well designed air flow I think makes more difference than the thermostat.

The Endeavor never had a problem keeping up my biggest complaint was too much output when I didn't want it. I felt I was just wasting wood(which is what I was doing) the cat stove gave me the ability to burn clean at a lower temp.

 

[BrowningBAR]

So, are we ever going to get an update on this thread?