New: First stove: Lopi or Napoleon

[upnorth9986]

I'm getting ready to purchase my first stove and I wanted to get the opinions of others since I'm a little green. My wife and I just purchased our first home last winter and got one heck of sticker shock with the gas bill. So with have access to all the wood I can cut down, buying a stove seemed to be the way to go. I have read many other forums and some of the reviews and am a bit stuck. I'm looking at the napoleon 1400 and the Lopi endeavor. The napoleon seemed to be the way I wanted to go, but the sales guy was trying to talk me out of it to go with a lopi. Lopi seems nice but is more costly. He has also informed me the napoleon 1400 doesn't have a damper (i think it was a damper, the thing that forces the gas to go around the unit inside and burn more effcienctly).
What do you all think? I'm really try to stay under $2000 for the stove, and 6" 20 ft liner (well, thats more of the "wife budget")
Thanks in advance.
Chris

P.S. Do I have to purchase the door and legs as an additional cost with the lopi, or is that included?

 

[Shane]

Lopi's are great stoves leaders in the industry. But there is a stove for everyone. Maybe look at the new Republic 1750 model from Lopi. Nice price point Lopi Quality warranty & efficiency. At any rate that's my .02 & I don't stand to make a dime from you.

 

[begreen]

Welcome Chris. Have you looked at the Englander stoves? (New England Stoveworks) Not that either the Lopi or Napoleon are bad stoves. There are a lot of satisfied users of both stoves. But with the Englander you can have a good stove and stay on a budget.
http://www.englanderstoves.com/wood_stoves.html

Where are you located? Mike or Bart should be able to find a dealer.

 

[wg_bent]

I think the Lopi is likely a nicer stove, but both will work well. It's like a chevy and a buick.

Look at Osburns and Quadrafire's too. There are so many. Don't stop at one dealer either.

Look at Vermont castings. They look really nice and seem to have a good following.

Morso also.

 

[glenng]

After a lot of research I went with the Napoleon 1400p. On the ratings page it gets only positive reviews. I like the big flat top of the Napoleon compared to the bi-level design of the Lopi. Its looks are utilitarian but its performance is very modern/efficient. Its a lot of stove for the money. My local dealer was great. WV Woodstove and Fireplace

GG

 

[kevinmoelk]

How big of a space are you trying to heat Upnorth? Are you trying to heat 24/7 or just supplement your gas bill? Tell us a little more about your situation, and perhaps there is another, better option for you.

-Kevin

 

[drhiii]

I purchased the Napoleon 1400, pedestal version. Couldn't be happier. 2000sq ft home, 90 year old Victorian and not exactly perfectly energy efficient but reasonably insulated. It can get chilly around here (Colorado... right now is below 10 degrees and has been -15 a few times this year as well). It took a few days to go on a shakedown cruise, but once I got familiar with the stove, it has been great. As someone mentioned, it is utilitarian, nothing fancy, but instead of $250-$300 gas bills, we are below $30 for the water heater mostly.

And it seems to burn fairly efficiently as well. It has a secondary burn and when you get a nice bed of coals, place two or three splits on them for the night, and things are humming along, it is beautiful to watch the flames lick the top of the stove and have the secondary burn light up the gasses at the top. I have just 'discovered' pinon for myself, and I can place a pinion split and an oak split in at bedtime, and it will still be heating the home 6-8 hours later easily. I am very happy with the stove. It works well for me. At first the only thing I didn't like was the ash pan delivery system... a little too small to scrape ashes into the small opening. But I learaned how to burn efficiently, and how to cycle ashes up onto burning wood, and I have not had to clean the firebox out in two weeks. Paid $750 for the stove, new, and $195 for the door, new. A happy Napoleon camper.

I'm getting ready to purchase my first stove and I wanted to get the opinions of others since I'm a little green. My wife and I just purchased our first home last winter and got one heck of sticker shock with the gas bill. So with have access to all the wood I can cut down, buying a stove seemed to be the way to go. I have read many other forums and some of the reviews and am a bit stuck. I'm looking at the napoleon 1400 and the Lopi endeavor. The napoleon seemed to be the way I wanted to go, but the sales guy was trying to talk me out of it to go with a lopi. Lopi seems nice but is more costly. He has also informed me the napoleon 1400 doesn't have a damper (i think it was a damper, the thing that forces the gas to go around the unit inside and burn more effcienctly).
What do you all think? I'm really try to stay under $2000 for the stove, and 6" 20 ft liner (well, thats more of the "wife budget")
Thanks in advance.
Chris

P.S. Do I have to purchase the door and legs as an additional cost with the lopi, or is that included?

 

[wg_bent]

6-8 hour burns on two splits? Hey Spike, sounds like the Napoleon is in competition with your PE.

My Osburn must be seriously inefficient. I'm putting 6-8 splits of oak for about a 7 hour burn. After that it's just coals were I can relight the next batch of splits, but the stove top is nearly cool enough to touch. Maybe in the 150 degree range or so.

 

[Shane]

Congrats on your purchase. One day I'll get someone to buy a Lopi. I keep trying!

 

[upnorth9986]

I have a 1500 sq ft 1.5 story house. Built in the early 40's and a little leaky on the insulation. One thing I noticed with the napoleon was it did not appear to have a manual damper, as were the lopi did. Is this a big deal (i.e. to help with starting out when you first light the fire) ? I will check into a few others ( I beleive someone mentioned an englander) and look at some of the reviews.

Also, I am in SE michigan (metro detroit).

Thank you all so far This site is really helpfull!

 

[stoveguy2esw]

if you wish to look into englander (my company) , click this link to find a dealer in your area. normally i do not push product in here , but begreen suggested i might be able to find a local dealer for you , this is the michigan dealer locator from our website hope this is helpful to you

http://www.englanderstoves.com/Dealers/mi.html

 

[drhiii]

I will say that while I have been very happy with my purchase and use, there is nothing more valuable than having access to an owner or energetic employee of a company or product. Having this relationship as the gentleman who posted info about his company below is to me, priceless. Having this would heavily influence my interest in a product... it is priceless. I would look intently at Englander, fwiw.

if you wish to look into englander (my company) , click this link to find a dealer in your area. normally i do not push product in here , but begreen suggested i might be able to find a local dealer for you , this is the michigan dealer locator from our website hope this is helpful to you

http://www.englanderstoves.com/Dealers/mi.html

 

[stoveguy2esw]

well , thanks for the comment DR, as for the napoleon its a great unit, solid reputation , its not suprising you are so fond of it, nice stove, the lopi is also a quality unit, our poster could do well with either one of those, im sure we could keep him warm as well.

 

[drhiii]

Well, it is not said lightly. Customer relationships are paramount. Having gone through the myriad of goods and services throughout time, there is nothing as valuable as having the ear, the attention, of an owner. If I were the person who was looking at particular models, I'd assign 90% of my choice to the fact that I could have a dialogue with you. Am not kidding... that kind of thing is priceless.

well , thanks for the comment DR, as for the napoleon its a great unit, solid reputation , its not suprising you are so fond of it, nice stove, the lopi is also a quality unit, our poster could do well with either one of those, im sure we could keep him warm as well.

 

[upnorth9986]

I think I am going to go witht the Lopi. My local dealer is willing to part with it for $1400, not to much more that what the napoleon would cost me. Lopi does seem to have a few perks and designs quality over the napoleon from what I have read. I do however have a venting question. I need to revent my stove and hot water heater seeing as which they go into the chimney. I'm pretty sure I can feed both into a double wall b-vent with a fan.
My questions are:
what type of duct fan do I need?
Can I use a standard tee or must I use a double wall tee (if there is such a thing)?
Once im noutside, must I maintain a double wall pipe?
how far up do i have to go?
and can I use double wall stove pipe kits that I have seen for sale at lowes?

 

[glenng]

I do however have a venting question. I need to revent my stove and hot water heater seeing as which they go into the chimney. I'm pretty sure I can feed both into a double wall b-vent with a fan.
My questions are:
what type of duct fan do I need?
Can I use a standard tee or must I use a double wall tee (if there is such a thing)?
Once im noutside, must I maintain a double wall pipe?
how far up do i have to go?
and can I use double wall stove pipe kits that I have seen for sale at lowes?

UpNorth

Are you asking whether or not you can vent your woodstove and gas water heater together in the same flue? If so ,Absolutley not. You can not vent gas and solid fuel appliances in the same pipe.Its against code and illegal and dangerous. I just finished my woodstove installation. I had to install a tankless hot water heater system that directly vents to the outside without a chimney. I also have a relativly new hi-efficiancy gas furnace that vents outside too. Then I had to reline the chimney with a stainless flue-liner for the wood stove. Saftey is my #1 concern, I spent a ton of $$$ before my house was even suitable for a wood stove. Saving money at the exspense of saftey is something I could not do even though I am on a tight budget. Well my stove has been running for 3 days and Its nice and warm and wonderful. And worth all the trouble I went through to do it right. I`m very happy with it. Its a Napoleon 1400p

Glenn

 

[upnorth9986]

I ended up going w/ the Lopi endeavor. The re-venting proved to a fun task (i just ended up going straight up with a wye connection) I did end up finding out there was a lot more to the whole process than just slapping a stove. Either way, I had to re-vent my furnace and HW heater to get it up to code( lucky there wasn't a fire before, i'm not sure how that slipped by the inspector when I bought the house)
I was also curious about the tankless HW heater though. As it stands now, i re-vented the two through a 6 inch. My furnace only outputs 56,000 btu's. Would I be able to vent a tankless HW heater with the furnace in the future seeing as which I have a 6 inch double wall vent??
Also, anyone know of a good site I can purchase double wall black stove pipe for a good price and that wont really nail me on the shipping??
Thanks in advance.
Chris