Lopi Liberty longer burn times?

[kversch]

Still working to get the exact hang of things. I can get a steady 5-6 hours burns with good coals lasting 7-8. This is great when I'm home to adjust the air and reload the stove. On an average day I fill the stove up at 530-6 to have enough time to get it all set by the time I leave around 650am. Then I'm home again between 4 and 530 depending on the job for the day. On a day like that the stove has a few coals that I can restart with some very small kindling and the stove is cool enough that the blower is shut off on its own.

I load the stove e/w. And start shutting the air done as soon as I start seeing temps around 500. The stove top temps (read with an ir gun) run 750-800 and the stack temps read the same after things even out(double wall pipe with probe thermometer)

Last night I loaded the stove around 230. Brought it up to temp and cut the air almost all the way back. Temps leveled off at 750 with good secondary's. Here's a short video
At 730 in the morning the stove was at 250 with coals . . Last nights load was a mix of hard maple hickory and a split or two of oak.

 

[mol1jb]

In general e/w loading does produce longer burn times.

 

[lopiliberty]

I actually get shorter burn times loaded E/W because I find I can't get it fully loaded like it would like to. How long are your splits? If you have room load the splits to on side and stick a split or two in N/S to completely fill the box. For a long extended burn I only load N/S averaging about 8 to 12 pieces depending on the size. I usually load between 8:30 and 11 at night and don't touch the stove again until around 9 the next morning (when there is no polar vortex) with a big pile of coals for easy reloading

 

[kversch]

I actually get shorter burn times loaded E/W because I find I can't get it fully loaded like it would like to. How long are your splits? If you have room load the splits to on side and stick a split or two in N/S to completely fill the box. For a long extended burn I only load N/S averaging about 8 to 12 pieces depending on the size. I usually load between 8:30 and 11 at night and don't touch the stove again until around 9 the next morning (when there is no polar vortex) with a big pile of coals for easy reloading

Most of my splits are 18 inches Some end up at 16. I have doe that when I have splits short enough to go n/s. On average I can fit 8 in. But that goes down as the ash builds up. Should I be trying to keep my splits bigger now as I split next years and on wood?

Here's a couple pics of my splits right now.

 

[lopiliberty]

Personally I like a variety of split sizes. Like I said I like to fill every nook and cranny and if you have all large spits that's hard to do. Depending on how much wood you have stocked up they could be split a little bigger. If the wood your going to split now is going to be burned next year then you will have to split it fairly small so it would dry particularly the oak and hickory

 

[kversch]

Saved up a bunch of the shorter splits I have come accrost to see how a load n/s does for burn times. Definitely fit more wood in loading n/s vs e/w. I can manage 8-10 18 inch splits going e/w. I got 20 15-16inch splits going n/s. Loaded the stove at 11:25. Stove top temps reading high 700's (with ir gun) 20 min in to the burn stack temp reading about 700 off the prob thermometer.


About 45 min in stove top temp are steady high 700 with a hot spot at 825-830 twords the back of the stove top. Got the air chocked all the way off With a load of mostly sugar maple, might be a slit or two of oak mixed in to. Blower is on high. Is there any other way to cool the stove top Dow a bit more or is that an ok temp. I know they say 800 is over fire just don't want to hurt the stove.

 

[lopiliberty]

If your getting 20 splits at a time in the stove I would say they are too small. Small splits off gas quicker and can lead to a runaway stove. This stove likes to run. Try using larger spits. That should keep your temps under control. Also burn the coal bed down as much as possible. I don't think twice about the stove cruising around 750 but if it starts to climb past that temp I start taking action to bring it back down. I have pegged my thermometer more times this year than I like to admit but no glowing steel other than the air tubes and baffle supports and not signs of damage to the stove

 

[kversch]

If your getting 20 splits at a time in the stove I would say they are too small. Small splits off gas quicker and can lead to a runaway stove. This stove likes to run. Try using larger spits. That should keep your temps under control. Also burn the coal bed down as much as possible. I don't think twice about the stove cruising around 750 but if it starts to climb past that temp I start taking action to bring it back down. I have pegged my thermometer more times this year than I like to admit but no glowing steel other than the air tubes and baffle supports and not signs of damage to the stove

Some of the splits we're know bad small. What do you do to try to cool the stove down if it starts running over 750? All I can think of would be turn the blower up more? I've not pegged my thermometer yet. Hope I never do. It reads up to 1600 degrees. I have seen 1000 a couple times. ( guess I didn't turn the air down quickly enough). I have never had the stove glowing either that I have seen other then the air tubes and baffle supports.

I did get a long burn time with good coals and hear. I adjusted the air at 9 hours With lots of good coals. Reloaded the stove at 10 hours. Probably could have gone another hour but I didn't want to let the stove cool to much.

 

[lopiliberty]

What do you do to try to cool the stove down if it starts running over 750

I just shut her down all the way and turn the fan on full blast. That usually puts things back under control. However a few times it showed no signs of slowing down so I put tinfoil over the front air inlet and the air inlet under the stove and it brought thing back to normal pretty quick. With this stove sometimes you think its all settled in for cruising come back later and its in full nuclear meltdown mode. There is also two screws at the front air intake that act as stops. This prevents you from closing off the air to the firebox completely. If you remove them you can shut off all air from the doghouse below the door and the air wash but it does nothing to stop the air from the air tubes

 

[weatherguy]

Some of the splits we're know bad small. What do you do to try to cool the stove down if it starts running over 750? All I can think of would be turn the blower up more? I've not pegged my thermometer yet. Hope I never do. It reads up to 1600 degrees. I have seen 1000 a couple times. ( guess I didn't turn the air down quickly enough). I have never had the stove glowing either that I have seen other then the air tubes and baffle supports.

I did get a long burn time with good coals and hear. I adjusted the air at 9 hours With lots of good coals. Reloaded the stove at 10 hours. Probably could have gone another hour but I didn't want to let the stove cool to much.

Larger splits will make it easier to control the burn, 20 splits is a lot of area outgassing, a few small splits is okay but no way you should put 20 in.

 

[begreen]

Larger splits will make it easier to control the burn, 20 splits is a lot of area outgassing, a few small splits is okay but no way you should put 20 in.

Good point. I average half that, about 9-10 large splits per load.

 

[kversch]

I've been trying to keep my new wood to 16 in long split so they fit in n/s or e/w. So I'll have more larger splits in the future. Looking like I may be done with the stove for the season. 50's-60's for the extended future. Already miss feeding the stove.

 

[weatherguy]

I've been trying to keep my new wood to 16 in long split so they fit in n/s or e/w. So I'll have more larger splits in the future. Looking like I may be done with the stove for the season. 50's-60's for the extended future. Already miss feeding the stove.

We're not done yet, don't let the faux spring temps fool you, the northeast will get cold again this month.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

I've had a LOPI Liberty for about 7 years and get my longest burn times from big, un-split rounds of Black Oak. I put them in on a good bed of coals, I run the air inlet and bypass damper open for about 15-20 min then shut the bypass damper and set the air control to fully closed. I usually have a nice bed of coals in the morning but not a lot of heat (approx 200 degrees on top of the stove).

 

[Shmudda]

I've had my liberty since February 1997 and I burn the largest pieces possible. Many times for an overnight burn I fit two huge rounds that barely fit in the door for the night. This will give me a good coal bed in the morning and an easy start. Also, for a good overnight burn and easy restart control the stove temp quickly after loading for the night and don't run the blower. This makes for very easy restart in the morning