Lopi freedom insert vs pacific energy summit insert

[Sifan7x7]

Hey guys new to the wood stoves. Two came up for sale, a Lopi freedom insert that is 5 years old and in good shape. And a pacific energy summit insert that is 15 years old in excellent shape. I would be installing a 6” flex chimney liner 20’ high.

My house is roughly 1300 Sqaure feet 2 story open floor plan. Which would you guys recommend. Thanks.

 

[john26]

I replaced my Lopi Freedom with a PE series D insert, I am much happier with the PE. My PE is a little smaller than the summit 2.0 cu ft, I was able to achieve about an extra hour in burn time with the PE over the Lopi. The main reason I swapped it out was the odd shaped firebox in the Lopi drove me nuts trying to pack it full, I was always hitting the tubes and knocking them out of place and had dead space on the sides of the firebox. The Lopi is a very heavy quality unit I just was areal happy with how it functioned, seem to burn through wood faster than my smaller Napoleon stove and harder to load. Another thing I noticed after replacing the Lopi with the PE is the Lopi seemed to over heat the room the stove was in and not spread the heat through the house as well, with the PE the room is nice and warm but not overly hot, even directly in front of the stove more of an even heat. I believe this is due to the more to the inductive jacketed design of the PE and less surface area. As far as chimney cleaning the Lopi was slightly easier just open the bypass and insert soot eater the PE the baffle has to be removed not to bad after a few times. Both are good stoves but I would rather have the PE both should run fine on a 20' chimney I ran them on 28'. If you look at the PE check the top corners of the door openings and corners inside around the air wash baffle particularly the welds some models have cracked. Mine has hair line cracks on the face and welds on air wash seems to run fine. Hope this helps.

 

[begreen]

Both are good designs and heaters and will work relatively well for heat in a power outage. As john26 pointed out, the Summit A stoves of this vintage could develop hairline cracks in the door opening upper corners. The cracks don't affect function and are repairable. This issue was addressed in the Summit B model which came out around 2012. Both inserts have nice deep fireboxes, but here I prefer the Summit. The Freedom's rear narrows down considerably from the generous front width. This is to accommodate fireplaces that narrow down in the rear. The Summit's firebox is square for easier N/S loading.
The decision may end up being decided on price. I would expect the Summit to sell for as low as half the Freedom's price given the age difference. Before buying, measure the fireplace dimensions and make sure it fits!

 

[Sifan7x7]

Both are good designs and heaters and will work relatively well for heat in a power outage. As john26 pointed out, the Summit A stoves of this vintage could develop hairline cracks in the door opening upper corners. The cracks don't affect function and are repairable. This issue was addressed in the Summit B model which came out around 2012. Both inserts have nice deep fireboxes, but here I prefer the Summit. The Freedom's rear narrows down considerably from the generous front width. This is to accommodate fireplaces that narrow down in the rear. The Summit's firebox is square for easier N/S loading.
The decision may end up being decided on price. I would expect the Summit to sell for as low as half the Freedom's price given the age difference. Before buying, measure the fireplace dimensions and make sure it fits!

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They are asking 1300 for the summit. It’s in immaculate condition.

 

[begreen]

How does the firebox and baffle look? If you could get them down to $1000 it would be better. That's about 50% of what it sold for back then. How much for the Freedom?

 

[Sifan7x7]

How does the firebox and baffle look? If you could get them down to $1000 it would be better. That's about 50% of what it sold for back then. How much for the Freedom?

Firebox and baffles look to be in good shape. He wantS 1400 for the freedom.

 

[begreen]

On the surface, the Freedom seems like the better value unless the Summit has only had light use. I like the Summit blower system better, not a fan of the blower under the ash lip, but the Summit is old enough that the bearing grease may be starting to dry out. Hard to say. Not a show stopper though.

 

[john26]

I was very happy with my decision to swap out my Lopi freedom for a PE series D insert, I should not my freedom was 95 0r 96 model not sure if they were changes with the newer ones.