Lopi vs Regency and me in the middle

[2ndburn]

Hi All, So I am new here.....First post.

I have done a lot of browsing on here and I love the knowledge base, I have learned a lot. What brought me here in the first place is I am in the market for a new free standing wood stove and I am having a heck of a time making a decision. Obviously it is a large and long term $$ investment and the last thing I want is to pick a stove and be disappointed. Although, I think either way I am confident I will end up with a quality stove that fits our needs.

We are a single level home, 1550 sq ft and I have narrowed my choices down to a Lopi Republic 1750 (currently $1695 at dealer, w/out blower, $350 extra for that) or the Regency F2400 ($2099 w/ free blower). I have read the reviews here and most any post I can find about them and I still find myself on the fence of which to choose.

I don't want to ask the question of "which stove should I buy", I realize that is very subjective, depending on a whole variety of things, But what I would like to hear from is people who have used these stoves and what your thoughts are, the good, bad and ugly, and basically, would you buy the same stove again if you had a do over?
Right now I am leaning towards the Lopi, but spending $350 for the blower brings me right to the price of the Regency, so the price is a wash. I have learned that neither of these stoves has a by-pass damper and that concerns me, but I guess it's not a deal breaker?

Both stoves are being offered from reputable dealers in our area, however the Lopi is "the next town over" at 35 miles, with the Regency dealer being 5 mins from my house, so from a service stand point I think the Regency has a leg up.

And that's my story....thanks in advance

 

[begreen]

There isn't a huge difference, both are good units. The 1750 is from Lopi's economy line and the 2400 is Regency's primary line. For that reason there are some nicer fit and finishing details on the Regency. The Regency has a lifetime warranty too vs 5yrs for the Lopi. A Lopi advantage is that the firebox shape of the Lopi is more square than the Regency. This gives more flexibility in loading N/S or E/W. The Regency is a bit shallower and biased toward E/W loading. For an alternative with great burn times in this price range you should also look at the Pacific Energy Super 27.
(broken link removed)

 

[begreen]

Some installations can get away without the blower. We rarely use ours. What is the house floor plan like? Will the stove be centrally located or at one end of the house?

 

[2ndburn]

Some installations can get away without the blower. We rarely use ours. What is the house floor plan like? Will the stove be centrally located or at one end of the house?

Hi begreen,

The stove will be centrally located in the corner of the main living room.

I do like the Lopi advantage you mention about the N/S & E/W loading, that is something I had not considered. I do like to have options when loading. But the lifetime warranty on the regency is definitely a plus.

Thanks for the suggestion about the Super27, I will check on that one.

 

[begreen]

I'd be tempted to order the stove without the blower. It can always be added later if desired. The Super 27 also has a square firebox and lifetime warranty. The stove has a unique baffle system that is close to bullet proof and makes for easier cleaning and it has a linked secondary air control that extends the burn time.

PS: Welcome to Hearth.com!

 

[2ndburn]

I was looking at the Pacific Energy website and used their dealer finder and it came back with a hit for a dealer in my town that I had totally forgotten about! I will definitely head down there this weekend to check out the pacific energy line, thanks for the tip!

 

[2ndburn]

I called the PE dealer, they have the Super27 on the show room floor for $1785, looking forward to going down there tomorrow to take a look at it.

 

[begreen]

Not bad, especially with no sales tax.

 

[2ndburn]

Not bad, especially with no sales tax.

Yup, and I just pulled an instant in-store promo coupon from the PE website knocking another $150 off

 

[begreen]

Sweet deal!

What is the floorplan like, open or closed off? ranch style with bedrooms off a hallway or ??

How is your wood supply? Any modern stove is going to want fully seasoned wood to burn well. Partially seasoned wood will give inferior results. And most wood sold at this time of the year is not fully seasoned. A lot is not seasoned much at all.

 

[2ndburn]

Sweet deal!

What is the floorplan like, open or closed off? ranch style with bedrooms off a hallway or ??

How is your wood supply? Any modern stove is going to want fully seasoned wood to burn well. Partially seasoned wood will give inferior results. And most wood sold at this time of the year is not fully seasoned. A lot is not seasoned much at all.

The kitchen/living room is pretty much open, little bit of a dividing wall, but the wall opens to the kitchen on both sides, rest of the house yes I would classify as ranch style with the bedrooms/bathrooms off of a hallway.

Wood supply is good, a few cords of 2 year seasoned madrone and fir. Our last place (rental) had a woodstove so when we moved into the place we bought, I loaded up and moved my entire supply of wood, yea....that was fun.

 

[begreen]

The biggest challenge will be getting heat to the back bedrooms. A stove fan won't help a lot for that. Instead there are a couple options. Both involve pushing the colder air toward the heated air. Sounds counterintuitive but it works.

For more even heat in the house put a table or box fan at the far end of the hallway, placed on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice at least a 5F increase in the hallway temp after about 30 minutes running.

The other option is a bit more complicated and involves running an insulated duct under the floor with the intakes in the far bedroom floor, tied to a duct that blows out into the stove room. A quiet inline remote bath fan works well for this.

 

[2ndburn]

The biggest challenge will be getting heat to the back bedrooms. A stove fan won't help a lot for that. Instead there are a couple options. Both involve pushing the colder air toward the heated air. Sounds counterintuitive but it works.

For more even heat in the house put a table or box fan at the far end of the hallway, placed on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice at least a 5F increase in the hallway temp after about 30 minutes running.

The other option is a bit more complicated and involves running an insulated duct under the floor with the intakes in the far bedroom floor, tied to a duct that blows out into the stove room. A quiet inline remote bath fan works well for this.

Awesome, thanks for the tip about the box fan. Our previous house had a similar bedroom/living room set up and I always tried to move heat down the hallway with a fan pulling the heated air from the living room, it always puzzled me that it never really seemed to offer any increase in heat to the back of the house. I never once considered placing it as you suggested, but that makes a lot of sense.

Down the road I may opt for trying a set up like the second option, there is plenty of room in the crawlspace to perform duct work.

 

[UPswede]

I really like my Regency F2400. It seems to be well-built, it's easy to use, has fairly sturdy baffles - doesn't seem like there's anything that is likely to fail on it (bulletproof). It's simplicity is one of the attributes I like about it. It heats my 1350 sq. ft. ranch very comfortably.
The firebox is 18"wide x18" deep. I cut my wood about 16" and usually load N-S. I have the blower and airmate but don't use it very often. The blower on low is very quiet.
All the stoves you are considering seem to be good stoves. I don't think you will be disappointed with any of them. Good luck.

 

[Grisu]

Since your home is only single level another potential advantage of the Super: It drafts really easily. The manual says 15 ft minimum flue height but I have my Super insert on only 13 ft and it drafts really well. In fact, I never wished for a bypass as I only get 3 or 4 times per season a few wisps of smoke that come out. Not saying that the Regency or Lopi could not do the same but in my experience and those of others the Super will almost certainly work on a flue shorter than recommended.

 

[brad wilton]

Hi 2ndburn,don't assume you will get better service just because your close ,depends alot on the people.any of those stoves should give nice heat ,sounds like the super is a good deal.good luck

 

[2ndburn]

Thanks everyone.
I will be checking the Pacific Energy line today. Shopping for stoves has been quite the experience. I have had an easier time buying cars! Too bad you can't test drive wood stoves

 

[2ndburn]

The installer for the Lopi dealer came by yesterday to make an install proposal. Which is $643, includes parts, permit, sweep existing and labor.
The house is already set up for a stove, the sellers had to pull out what was here for the sale because it was non certified. So everything from the ceiling up is already in place. There is not much to the install, I know I could probably do it myself, however with a wife and kids in the house I want to make sure everything is in proper condition, up to code and SAFE. So I think I am going to go with a pro just for that piece of mind.

 

[begreen]

Should be a couple hundred in parts max and an hour of labor for two persons.

 

[2ndburn]

Should be a couple hundred in parts max and an hour of labor for two persons.

The breakdown was $295 labor, $60 permit, Pipe est $288

 

[UPswede]

If you are even somewhat handy, you could do it yourself by identifying what you have for a ceiling support box and then reading the installation manual for your situation. There might be a video that is helpful as well. The people on this site are very knowledgeable and can share their expertise to answer any questions you might have.
If, after educating yourself, you choose to have it professionally installed you will be able to observe and ask questions if you see something that doesn't seem consistent with what you have learned.
Safety is the top priority. Peace of mind, for me, requires an understanding of the materials and installation to some degree.

 

[2ndburn]

Totally bummed out, I stupidly assumed the dealer was open until 5pm today....I got there at 3pm, they closed at 1:30, arrrghh!

Looks like I have to try again on Monday.

 

[begreen]

I would have been surprised too. 1:30pm is pretty early to close up shop.

 

[2ndburn]

I am home from checking out the Super 27 and I really like what I saw. It seems like a really well built stove and most importantly, fits my budget. At this point I ruled out the Regency, and I think my mind is pretty much made up to go with the Super. Thanks again begreen, I really appreciate the head's up about the Super. I didn't actually buy it today, I wanted to talk to my wife about buying it with the pedestal or spending $80 more for the foot option.

I like the firebox size and the ability for NS loading, but the door height opening seemed a little on the small side, but then again it's always hard to get perspective when it's in a showroom, I should of brought a couple test pieces of firewood to load in it.

 

[begreen]

The Super does well with NW softwoods as well as hardwoods. It is made just northeast of Victoria BC. Good stove.