Lopi Liberty Opinions

[boisblancboy]

So I have pretty much decided on a Lopi Liberty. I think it is a beautiful looking wood stove and I really like the big firebox for the longer burn times, which will work for me very well cause I am going to use it to heat 24/7 through the cold months. I just wanted to hear what you guys have to say about this wood stove, good and bad? Also if anyone has opinions on outside air kits I would love to hear about that too.

Im also going to be able to run my chimney straight up from the stove, through the ceiling, through the attic and out the roof. Having no bends or turns should make for a decent draft and nice for cleaning.

 

[thewoodlands]

So I have pretty much decided on a Lopi Liberty. I think it is a beautiful looking wood stove and I really like the big firebox for the longer burn times, which will work for me very well cause I am going to use it to heat 24/7 through the cold months. I just wanted to hear what you guys have to say about this wood stove, good and bad? Also if anyone has opinions on outside air kits I would love to hear about that too.

Im also going to be able to run my chimney straight up from the stove, through the ceiling, through the attic and out the roof. Having no bends or turns should make for a decent draft and nice for cleaning.

This will be my first winter heating with the Liberty, we had it installed in April 09 and so far everything has been fine. Coldest so far has been down in the 30's and heats our house from the cellar without any problems. We also had the blower installed.

Zap

 

[thewoodlands]

So I have pretty much decided on a Lopi Liberty. I think it is a beautiful looking wood stove and I really like the big firebox for the longer burn times, which will work for me very well cause I am going to use it to heat 24/7 through the cold months. I just wanted to hear what you guys have to say about this wood stove, good and bad? Also if anyone has opinions on outside air kits I would love to hear about that too.

Im also going to be able to run my chimney straight up from the stove, through the ceiling, through the attic and out the roof. Having no bends or turns should make for a decent draft and nice for cleaning.

This is a small fire we had one night.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/41077/

Zap

 

[fossil]

No complaints, heck of a good stove. Two seasons burning. We see temps down into the single digits...occasionally below 0°F. Heating ~2600 ft². No OAK installed. The factory blower kit is a wonderful thing. I'd like it even more if the firebox were a few inches deeper, but I like it a whole lot just the way it is. Rick

 

[Todd]

The only draw back I see is the fire box, it may be big but it's primarily an east/west loader unless you burn short splits. Still a well built stove and will do the job.

 

[Pepp31]

I have an Avalon Olympic freestander and it heats my 3300 square foot home just fine!, I did not buy a blower for the stove because I did not want the noise. I have found that I don't even need one. This will be my 4th year heating with the stove and have been extremely pleased with it. By the way, my stove is the sister stove of the Liberty.

 

[boisblancboy]

I am kinda undecided on the blower or not yet and the reason being is, I think that I am going to use my forced air furnace fan to circulate the heat. If it happens to get too warm in the room the stove is in, then i can just turn the furnace fan on for awhile and circulate the heat through out the house pretty evenly if needed. Does anyone else do this?

Also does adding a blower help increase efficency?

 

[BrotherBart]

A blower doesn't impact stove efficiency, well unless you turn it on before the firebox is up to temp, but it evens out heat circulation by moving the warm air away from the stove high and pulling the colder air back to the stove low. It is what keeps our big stove from running us out of the room because the cooler returning air cools the room at couch level.

 

[boisblancboy]

I think I will use my forced air furnace fan for awhile and see how that works and if I need more air movement then I might consider the blower fan.

 

[Todd]

Most people find their furnace fan doesn't distribute the heat from a wood stove very well. Try an ordinary box fan on the floor pointed towards the stove room. It will push the denser cold air towards the stove and the lighter heated air will fill in back around.

 

[Pagey]

Our Endeavor radiates quite a bit of heat up the stairwell, which is very close to the stove. At the top of the stairwell is the cold air return for the upstairs heat pump. I tried using it to circulate some of the air warmed by the Endeavor as it came up the stairwell. Two words: epic fail. I wanted it to work, but by the time it traveled through the duct work it was just a waste of electricity to run the fan. I keep the ceiling fan on low in the stove room, and that moves things quite well. It will raise the temp in the downstairs room with the downstairs heat pump thermostat several degrees in just a few minutes when the Endeavor is really cranking.

 

[boisblancboy]

Thanks for the replies. Im sure you guys are right about it not working. It just seems that with the furnace fan running it would eventually even the heat out through the house. I mean it sounds good on paper, but of course thats the way it always is.

One nice thing is that the stove is going to be in the living room, but the kitchen and dining room are connect to it as well, but its all wide open. So it shouldnt get to warm in there anyway. Either way im sure I will end up tinkering with fans and whatever else I can think of.