My son bought a Lopi Leyden. According to the specs the flue is suppose to be a minimum of 15'. However, the location of the his flue on his roof meets the 10/2 rule and it's only 12' high. He's now having trouble with regulating the burn and hasn't been able to burn even close the 12 hours this stove is suppose to burn. I keep telling him the flue isn't tall enough which is effecting his ability to regulate the burn. The dealer he bought the stove from says this isn't the problem. I know the wood he's burning is dry. Any ideas on how to get better control of the burn other than extending the height of the flue?
Lopi Leyden - Operation
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Is the stove hard to control as in constantly over-firing or hard to control as in completely sluggish no matter where the air control is set?
How long and at what temps is he burning before the secondary burn begins? And what are the stovetop temps during the course of the secondary burn, and how long is that lasting? I have a similar stove - 12 hours is pushing it.
I also have a Lopi Leyden. I find the easiest way to get a proper burn in this stove is to run it hot. I have a condar magnetic thermometer on the stove top and a condar probe thermometer into the double wall pipe 18 inches above the stove top. With damper and air control fully open begin with kindling and add small splits until there is a 3 to 4 inch bed of coals. The right
door can be opened a 1/4 inch to help. Then I bring the stove top to 500 degrees f. and the flue to 900 degrees f. Be sure
that the doors are shut then close the bypass damper and close the air controll a little. Normally this works - nice ghost
flames and stove top stays around 500 degrees for 3 hours before slowly coming down. With no smoke visible from chimney.
All that being said,my stove dealer feels that these temps are to high and wants me to burn cooler -problem is that I can't get the
secondary combustion with lower temps.
I hope this helps and welcome others with a downdraft stove to let us know how you burn. Jim
door can be opened a 1/4 inch to help. Then I bring the stove top to 500 degrees f. and the flue to 900 degrees f. Be sure
that the doors are shut then close the bypass damper and close the air controll a little. Normally this works - nice ghost
flames and stove top stays around 500 degrees for 3 hours before slowly coming down. With no smoke visible from chimney.
All that being said,my stove dealer feels that these temps are to high and wants me to burn cooler -problem is that I can't get the
secondary combustion with lower temps.
I hope this helps and welcome others with a downdraft stove to let us know how you burn. Jim
You'll get 8-9 hour burns from the Leyden. Beyond that is wishful thinking.
The tricky part of this stove is getting the bypass closed at the right temperature, before too much of the wood is gone up the chimney. If you close the bypass too soon, the combustor won't ignite. If you close it too late, you burn up too much of the wood. You'll have to experiment with a stovetop thermometer to determine the proper temp to close it down. When you close it down, you should hear a low rumble coming from the back of the stove, and within about 5-10 minutes the chimney should show zero smoke. Then after the combustor is established, slowly close down the smaller air control until it's fully closed (if you want the longest burn time). Once the smaller air control is closed, you will lose the flame in the main firebox. This is by design. All of the combustion will be happening in the back of the wood and in the combustor, and if you can see through any gaps in the wood to the combustor opening, you'll see that it will be glowing orange inside there as it burns up all of the smoke being generated by the main firebox. It seems really odd not to have a visible flame in the main firebox, but this is what you should have if the stove is running properly on low burn. You'll have a lot of problems if your wood is not well seasoned. The combustor will keep going out. Also, after a burn on low, the glass will be covered in creosote because the main firebox is basically gassifying the wood (just creating smoke) and then that flammable smoke is burned in the combustor in the back. This is how they get long burns with this stove.
The tricky part of this stove is getting the bypass closed at the right temperature, before too much of the wood is gone up the chimney. If you close the bypass too soon, the combustor won't ignite. If you close it too late, you burn up too much of the wood. You'll have to experiment with a stovetop thermometer to determine the proper temp to close it down. When you close it down, you should hear a low rumble coming from the back of the stove, and within about 5-10 minutes the chimney should show zero smoke. Then after the combustor is established, slowly close down the smaller air control until it's fully closed (if you want the longest burn time). Once the smaller air control is closed, you will lose the flame in the main firebox. This is by design. All of the combustion will be happening in the back of the wood and in the combustor, and if you can see through any gaps in the wood to the combustor opening, you'll see that it will be glowing orange inside there as it burns up all of the smoke being generated by the main firebox. It seems really odd not to have a visible flame in the main firebox, but this is what you should have if the stove is running properly on low burn. You'll have a lot of problems if your wood is not well seasoned. The combustor will keep going out. Also, after a burn on low, the glass will be covered in creosote because the main firebox is basically gassifying the wood (just creating smoke) and then that flammable smoke is burned in the combustor in the back. This is how they get long burns with this stove.
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