Lopi "Leyden" or Avalon "Arbor"

[Bigcube]

Are they good stoves? I'm told they are the same, just look a little different. They looked the same to me at the store other than styling. A local dealer carries them. I'm looking for a large cast iron stove to replace a 30 yo Vermont Castings stove. I like the looks of them over a steel box. Options?

I'm looking to heat about 2000 sq ft. I would like something that won't take hours to heat up since I usually start a fire at night after work. Would be nice to throttle it down and be able to start it up quick in the morning.

 

[Todd]

Do a search or look at the stove review section. Seems some people love them while others hate them. These stoves have been reported to be very draft sensitive due to the new non cat downdraft style combustion system.

 

[BJ64]

Are they good stoves? I'm told they are the same, just look a little different. They looked the same to me at the store other than styling. A local dealer carries them. I'm looking for a large cast iron stove to replace a 30 yo Vermont Castings stove. I like the looks of them over a steel box. Options?

I'm looking to heat about 2000 sq ft. I would like something that won't take hours to heat up since I usually start a fire at night after work. Would be nice to throttle it down and be able to start it up quick in the morning.

Hello and Welcome!

I have used the Leyden for about a month and am happy with it. I have put off doing a review of the stove until I have ran the thing for 3 or 4 months, but I will share what what I am confidant to tell so far.

Please don' think I am warning you off from these stoves. They are good stoves, but all stoves have their pro's and con's. I just want you to be informed.

The stove heats and operates very well in our 1800 foot 2x4 wall double wide instant home on the range in NE Oklahoma with French doors facing the North. There has been no shortage of heat so far. In fact the stove could be considered too big for us with temps in the 30's - 40's at night. I have not been able to peek the unit out yet and stay in the room with it but the weather will get colder in January.

These stoves are not exactly fire and forget units. The Leyden and the Arbor are downdraft type stoves and similar to the VC Everburn system and very similar to the Harmon TL 300. These type of stoves do require a bit of messing with to get the after burners to kick in. You can do a search on operating the Harmon TL 300 and it will be the same or very similar to operating the Leyden. I will say that once the afterburner kicks in - the heat is ON.

It takes me about 45 min to get the stove in "cruse" mode with full afterburn from a dead cold start.

Some people have had issues with the VC Everburn stoves. For some reason I have not experienced any of their major issues regarding getting the afterburner to engage stay kicked in.

Burn times will vary. I feel that most of this has to do with the wood. I can get 6 to 8 hours of productive heat on 4 and 5 inch rounds and splits of Pecan and Hackberry wood. Both are medium density hardwood. If I had oak or locust wood with their higher densitys, I would surly get longer burn times. Productive heat for me is a stove top temp of 250 degrees F and higher.

Some of the early Leydens had a problem with the bypass damper coming open during operation and / or not sealing off. My stove was made in September 2007. This date can be found on the name plate on the rear heat shield. This unit was equipped with a device on the bypass damper control that solves this issue. The black stove in the pics does not have this device. The brown stove pics show the device.

The Arbor and Leyden are very good stoves but they are not the right stove for everybody. When the stove is in over night mode (after burner kicked in and primary air shut back) there is not much of a fire to view in the window. The stoves with the upper tube type secondary burners seem to be simpler to operate and have a nice fire to view. Secondary burn is quite an amazing thing to watch for some of us stove nuts. The Pacifice Energy T6/T5, Jotul 600/500, Lopi Liberty, Englander appears to be better choices for someone looking for a simpler stove to use that provides some degree of entertainment. If you are at a Lopi dealer, the Liberty model is well worth your consideration.

I do recomend this stove for somebody that wants the cast iron look and does not mind having a stove that requires a bit of operational attention. Be advised that the Jotul 500 and 600, Regency, and several others are cast iron and may be simpler to operate because of the tube type upper secondary burn system.

The top load feature is nice to have. You can load this stove till the lid won't shut.

My wife and kids were able to learn the stove rather quickly. They are very happy with it.

A proper chimney as described in the manual is a must. The chimney is part of the stove system and is needed for the unit to draw air as needed, but that applies to all EPA stoves.

In summary: If I was single I would have gotten the PE T6, and might of been just fine with the smaller T5 in this climate. The Lopi Liberty was on my short list also. The wife thought the PE T6 was ugly ( sorry Mr. Green but I had to be honest ) and - to her- the Liberty looked like something I wielded up in the shop (sorry about that Rick). She seen the colored cast iron and wanted that. The pick was between the Jotul 500 non-cat and the Leyden. The Lopi dealer was further away but was most helpful and an all-around good guy. The PE/Jotul dealer was ..... not.

In the end I fully recommend this stove as long as you are aware of these few things.

 

[Bigcube]

Thank you for the very detailed response. I will have to learn more about the secondary burner. I currently have a VC vigilant. When it was put in I'm sure it kicked out some heat. It has a full brick wall and platform with a 6x9 brick/flu tile chimney. Unfortunately the flu tiles were cracked when I bought the house. I'd been here 10 years and finally had a sleeve installed last year. It seems the sleeve is much smaller than the 8" flu my VC stove needs. And hence it's a bear to get up to temp. Once it's hot, it's all out or nothing and keep throwing wood on. I wake up to dust in the stove, no chuncks to get a fire going in the morning. It's time to learn how a newer more efficient stove operates. Here's what I want to replace.

 

[BJ64]

That is a nice place for a stove!

 

[InTheRockies]

You will love the efficiency of the new EPA stoves. I don't regret getting rid of my old smoke dragon. The new stove starts dissipating heat more quickly and it's heat shield is actually designed to throw heat into the room (the old smoke dragon had a rear heat shield but it simply directed air upward in to my masonry alcove). I have coals every morning so starting a fire is simply a matter of putting some splits in the stove. Have fun shopping for your new stove.