New here- found a used lopi freedom bay

[HardWoodW]

well I was just about to get a smaller insert cause it's all I could afford when my local sweep put me onto a lopi freedom bay that's just a few years old for about 900 bucks. I went and looked at it and aside for a few cracked firebricks it looks pretty sturdy; going to have it installed next week. It will be in a lower level rec room that has some air returns so I'm hoping to fire it up and turn on the furnace fan to circulate the air if I need to. I have two questions

#1) any advice for the first burn? I'm used to lighting a fire in a standard fireplace; aside from the damper control is there anything else that I really need to know about lighting a fire in a stove vs a standard fireplace?
#2) I presume since they advertise how to make an overnight burn that this thing will be safe to leave unattended as long as I have working smoke and CO alarms- is this correct?

Thanks

 

[drdoct]

Fine, I'll be the first to respond. WELCOME TO THE FORUM. Search really is your friend. No I'm not being a jerk, just saying there are many ways to burn and they've been covered a whole bunch. Wish I had a freedom bay. Looks like a huge insert. Does it have the fan with it? I rescued my Lopi Revere from about 1" of mud where it had sat for about 5 years. Nothing like taking a $2500 and chunking it in the mud outside forever. I'll try to tackle your questions now that I've given you the hearty welcome.

0. This wasn't a question but part of your top post: Using your furnace fan to circulate will probably have a negative effect on what you are trying to do. For more info use the search, lots have tried and posted and almost every one has failed at doing this.

1. First advice ever is to get dry wood. Not seasoned wood, dry wood. EPA stoves really choke on wet wood. Go to tractor supply and buy you a cheap magnetic rutland thermometer and put it on the top of the insert where the baffle ends (near the front). I usually put 2 splits in and apart from each other. Then I break off a little chunk of firestarter and put it between them. Then put the kindling (broken up pallets) on top of the starter. Open your bypass and your bottom air all the way and leave your door cracked open (not all the way open.. just 1/2 inch or so.) After that gets going really good then I just load up the stove with another 1 or 2 splits over the fire parts not really leaving much gaps. Then keep the door cracked again. Once that takes off pretty good and you start climbing in temp (10-15min) you will close your bypass and latch the door. Stay there until the stove reaches around 550. Once it reaches 550 you can close off your air around 1/2. Once you get to 600 you want to close it pretty much all the way. You should be seeing nice fire at the top where the secondary tubes are. Don't reload until you've got a nice coal bed and the stove is back to around 450 or so. Then open your bypass and your air and wait 30 seconds. Then slowly open the door and very slowly make sure it equalizes or you'll dump a load of smoke in your room. After that, take your poker and try to rake the coals towards the front. Stuff the stove as full as you can get it (no gaps this isn't an old smoke dragon). Leave the door cracked and close the bypass. Once it starts flaming good you'll do the same thing you did at the start.

2. Yes, this will perform an overnight burn quite well. As long as it's set up right and your wood is dry you shouldn't have to worry about a thing. Just always remember to close the door and the air when you go to bed.

Again, dry wood is your friend. If you don't have wood yet then you've got to find someone who burns and has a lot. Beg them to do a switch for green wood. You've got a better chance of winning the lotto than finding someone selling wood that's dry. Go ahead and buy next year's wood. and if you get oak buy 2 years from now's wood. It won't take long for you to get the hang of it. Good luck and again, welcome to hearth forum.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

download the manual from lopis site. read it. it has all the info you need, here you will get as many opinions as there are ... .....

 

[HardWoodW]

hey thanks for the tips/advice- yes the insert has a blower and is as large as my fireplace can hold. I've read the manual and consulted my good friend youtube and also viewed the Canadian wood burning video (thanks northern neighbors- man it's cold up there) but it always helps to hear some practical advice from a frequent burner. I have a stack of oak, ash, hickory that I split summer 08 that I've been using in my conventional fireplace which has a door and grate heater but still uses a ridiculous amount of wood- can't wait to upgrade.

 

[HardWoodW]

well got it installed and it's a whole lot easier to use that I thought it would be. I even woke up this AM to find hot coals so I just tossed in some new wood and off it went. In short- I love this thing. Lots of heat, easy to use, no smoke smell in the house now. Here are a few pics. Now- is it normal for me to just want to sit and stare at that fire?

 

[drdoct]

Congrats! Yes, it's normal to want to sit there in a trance while watching it burn. Did you go with a full liner install or slam that sucker? It looks really nice.