Lopi Leyden getting a lot of bad heat(reviews).. Why?

[vette2000]

I'm in the market for a wood stove. I have never owned one before and my top choice is the lopi leyden. This site has a lot of negative comments about this stove. Is this a stove I should avoid like the plague?

I like the look and I like the fact that it is top loading.

My general view is its a cast iron metal box that was hopefully developed by educated engineers. How difficult could it to be to manufacture a wood burning stove.

 

[Todd]

Maybe because it is still a relatively new stove they just haven't worked out the kinks yet. It seems like the stove needs perfect conditions to operate right, like good dry wood, excellent draft, and a good coal bed. Some people get good results with them, but have to baby sit the stove too much. If it were me, I'd pass on it and look for something else. Harman has a top loader non cat (Oakwood) that is similar to the Leyden and it seems to have a little better reviews.

 

[webbie]

Uh.......that design is almost exactly the same as the Vermont Castings everburn, and is rumored to be licensed from the same designers......

Do a forum search on Everburn, and start reading. Short and sweet - a lot of people find them difficult to use. If you are going to use this design type, you have to make sure of the chimney, wood and climate (works best on higher settings).

Read up....there are a lot of everburn, leyden and oakwood users who have stopped by the forums. I know the Oakwood is the same technology also, but slightly modified to work better in the real world. The Leyden might also be tuned differently. I asked the Lopi people about it, and got silence in return - which usually means that the rumor (that the design is almost identical to VC) is true.

 

[webbie]

was hopefully developed by educated engineers. How difficult could it to be to manufacture a wood burning stove.

Its a "zen" art, and there are definitely MAJOR differences between the stuff out there. Yes, there is an "ass for every seat", but you want to make sure your choice fits your intended use.

 

[jrupero]

I've followed this wonderful forum since last December after deciding to replace a 1986 natural gas fireplace in my kitchen area with a woodstove. I hope to find the time to describe my remodel and installation in case it might be helpful to someone. In the meantime I want to tell you that the new Lopi Leyden I've been burning since January 28 has performed beautifully in every aspect. Some of the negative comments about the secondary burn technology used in this stove seems to be linked to a similar technology used by another manufacturer. My Leyden comes up to operating temperature easily and once there and put into secondary mode burns steady like a rock and is easily controlled. I've also experienced some long burn times (~9 hours - relights without a match) with medium wood loads. I look forward to full firebox loads for comparison next year. BTW in the last ~7 weeks I've burned one cord of dry pine. I just want to finish by thanking all the posters on this site for their insights and expertice.

 

[webbie]

Good to hear, fish......

We have some happy Oakwood users too. It is true that the technology is VERY similar, but I have it from the horses mouth (someone at the lab) that Harman modified theirs to burn better with cord wood (as opposed to the test lab pine sticks). Lopi must have done the same.

We also have satisfied VC Everburn users and Dutchwest users.....however there does seem to be a different learning curve for this technology, which has caused some users to flinch a bit.

Thanks for the report!

My caveat on ALL of these stoves is that you must have a decent area to heat and want to run the stove 24/7 or nearly. They take longer to heat up than some updraft models and work best at mid to high outputs.

 

[webbie]

Oh, just read your post a little more also.....

YOU BURN PINE.......

That may be some of the secret (and problems) behind this downdraft technology. Since the units are EPA and lab tested using pine, they are highly tuned to that type of wood with a high gas content and lower density. Folks with very hard wood may have different experiences.

Just a shot in the dark......

 

[jrupero]

A buddy will be bringing me some wood from "downtown - Montana" which should include some ash and elm. I'm interested in how the harder wood will perform.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We also looked at the Leyden a year ago and liked it a lot. Thought strongly about buying one. Now I'm happy I didn't. We have a dealer close to us and I've stopped in there a few times since. Three times I've been there and they have been rebuilding their Leyden demo stove! The guy seems to think they have it worked out now, but after 3 fixes I would worry a bit.

 

[Todd]

I don't know if this makes a difference or not but when I looked at the Leyden/Arbor they had 2 openings or so called shoes where the exhaust goes up into the secondary burn chamber and the VC's and Harman's have only one. They all seem to have a slight difference in the combustion design but work on the same principle.

 

[jtp10181]

Another top loader you can look at is the Isle Royal

(broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/Products/Wood_Burning/Wood_Model.asp?f=IsleRoyale)

I uses the proven top draft secondary burn system that all the Quad units use. It has a bypass lever to move the top baffle when top loading. I have tried out the bypass top load feature at a customers house and it works really well.

 

[vette2000]

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll do some more research.