Contemplating the purchase of a Lopi Large flush Wood NexGen-Fyre insert. Would appreciate input from those who have this in their homes. Our fireplace is 20' to the roof and our room has high ceilings. Is there anything we should know that you wish you would have known? Is the blower adequate and your thoughts on the noise level of the blower? Really appreciate in advance anything we should consider before making the purchase. Thanks!
Lopi Large flush NexGen-fyre wood insert
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Did you get this unit? I’m about to pull the trigger on this model but it’s my first ever insert and I don’t even know anyone with one
johnblacksox
Member
I had one installed 2 years ago, and I love it. I have a 2.5 story cape house in New England. The living room fireplace is on the ground floor (we have 8 foot ceilings, so the flue goes over 20 feet to the top) the flue has a slight bend in it, and the chimney is exposed on the north side of the house. When I tried to build a regular fire in the fireplace, it smoked terribly inside the house. The draft was awful. So I never used the fireplace. After 30 years, I decided to try a fireplace insert, after seeing a friend have success with them.
I basically am a complete novice, who has no idea what I'm doing with wood stoves. The local stove place is good, and they recommended the Lopi large insert with the cat, so I got that. Install was a bit of a pain in the ass because the installer gave me not enough info about the electrical conduit to run the fan. The cord runs down the ash dump, into the basement, then is tied into the electrical panel. I had to get an electrician to do this before they installed the stove, the stove place doesn't have an electrician, but the install people didn't give me any useful specs. So the electrician bolted the heat shield cable down, trying to do a good job, except the cable needs to be loose so they can attach it to the stove them slide it in. It sounds obvious after the fact, but I asked the stove place specifically for advice for the electrician, and they weren't clear enough on how to do it.
Another issue was my rectangular chimney flue had gobs of mortar on the inside of it, such that the regular sized metal stove pipe wouldn't fit down it. They had to use a slightly smaller metal stove pipe so it would fit down my flue, then add a cowl to where the pipe exits the stove. So the opening out the top of the stove is narrowed immediately to accommodate the smaller diameter pipe. Sorry if I'm not using the right terminology.
Anyway...After all that, the stove works awesome. I burn wood almost daily from Oct until April. I have an oil furnace, so the woodstove is just to supplement and for ambiance, not to be my main source of heating. But the stove heats well over 50% of the first floor, and of course the heat rises to the second floor.
I burn about 2-2.5 cord of wood a season. The fire starts super easy every time, zero issue with smoke coming out the stove. The draft is a million times better than it was with the conventional fireplace.
I had the chimney swept after the first season, and the guy said there was no issue with creosote, everything looked great.
So basically, I love this wood stove as an appliance that helps heat my house in cold weather, and it looks beautiful. I like to just stare at the fire. It works beautifully, the fire is warm and cozy every night, and it's very simple and easy to use. If you get a glass cleaner, and use it once every few weeks, the glass stays crystal clear.
If I had to give one negative, I would say that the blower fan is pretty loud. If you're sitting in the same room as the fire, you can't have it on high, because the noise will drive you nuts. It sounds almost as loud as a hair dryer. I run it like 50%. If you're not in the room, then you can crank it up all the way.
Any other questions, just let me know.
I basically am a complete novice, who has no idea what I'm doing with wood stoves. The local stove place is good, and they recommended the Lopi large insert with the cat, so I got that. Install was a bit of a pain in the ass because the installer gave me not enough info about the electrical conduit to run the fan. The cord runs down the ash dump, into the basement, then is tied into the electrical panel. I had to get an electrician to do this before they installed the stove, the stove place doesn't have an electrician, but the install people didn't give me any useful specs. So the electrician bolted the heat shield cable down, trying to do a good job, except the cable needs to be loose so they can attach it to the stove them slide it in. It sounds obvious after the fact, but I asked the stove place specifically for advice for the electrician, and they weren't clear enough on how to do it.
Another issue was my rectangular chimney flue had gobs of mortar on the inside of it, such that the regular sized metal stove pipe wouldn't fit down it. They had to use a slightly smaller metal stove pipe so it would fit down my flue, then add a cowl to where the pipe exits the stove. So the opening out the top of the stove is narrowed immediately to accommodate the smaller diameter pipe. Sorry if I'm not using the right terminology.
Anyway...After all that, the stove works awesome. I burn wood almost daily from Oct until April. I have an oil furnace, so the woodstove is just to supplement and for ambiance, not to be my main source of heating. But the stove heats well over 50% of the first floor, and of course the heat rises to the second floor.
I burn about 2-2.5 cord of wood a season. The fire starts super easy every time, zero issue with smoke coming out the stove. The draft is a million times better than it was with the conventional fireplace.
I had the chimney swept after the first season, and the guy said there was no issue with creosote, everything looked great.
So basically, I love this wood stove as an appliance that helps heat my house in cold weather, and it looks beautiful. I like to just stare at the fire. It works beautifully, the fire is warm and cozy every night, and it's very simple and easy to use. If you get a glass cleaner, and use it once every few weeks, the glass stays crystal clear.
If I had to give one negative, I would say that the blower fan is pretty loud. If you're sitting in the same room as the fire, you can't have it on high, because the noise will drive you nuts. It sounds almost as loud as a hair dryer. I run it like 50%. If you're not in the room, then you can crank it up all the way.
Any other questions, just let me know.
Thank you so much for that extremely thoughtful and helpful review. I was/am torn between the LopiLarge flush nextgen fyre (non cat) and the regency ci2700. Im in this never ending rabbit hole of catalyst vs non. I kind of liked the idea of the extra heat from the cat but a bunch of reviews showed that the ci2700 glass would stay blacked out bc of the cat, plus I want mine simple so in the am on the way out the house in the morning my wife or I can just throw a few splits in and not have to worry about waiting around for it getting up to 500 and then engaging the cat. Right now Lopi doesn’t make or have any hybrid flushes so I’m between getting a Lopi non cat, or regency cat. Im 95% sure I want the Lopi, I haven’t heard anyone say anything bad about them and the dealer says they’re the Cadillac of wood stoves (he’s a salesman though lol). I do wish the Lopi warranty was better but hopefully it won’t be an issue. My house is 2 story 2100 semi open floor plan downstairs and all bedrooms up stairs. I live in Easter North Carolina and we have mostly mild winters but do have some teens sometimes. I have heatpumps so this doesn’t have to be my main source but I would love to try making it my main source of heat. I’ve been splitting and stacking already trying to get it to dry by next winter. Thank you for taking your time to help me.
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
Sounds like the Lopi is a good choice.
I do want to correct some misconception.
For a cat stove if you reload, the cat should still be hot. There is no waiting then for the cat to get up to temperature.
And for a non-cat, it's best (also) to run it high for a while before dialing down the air. The same holds for the cat stove.
So throwing a few splits on (glowing coals) and leaving is not a smart idea for both. You have to wait until the stove is in its stable running mode before you leave (you don't want a run away or a smoldering mess when you're gone).
I do want to correct some misconception.
For a cat stove if you reload, the cat should still be hot. There is no waiting then for the cat to get up to temperature.
And for a non-cat, it's best (also) to run it high for a while before dialing down the air. The same holds for the cat stove.
So throwing a few splits on (glowing coals) and leaving is not a smart idea for both. You have to wait until the stove is in its stable running mode before you leave (you don't want a run away or a smoldering mess when you're gone).
I wonder if there's a way to insulate the blower or otherwise sound-proof it during the install. I've seen several comments and reviews about blower noise, and wonder if there might be a way to dampen it a bit.
hoot
Burning Hunk
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