New Lopi Republic 1750 - can't bring up temp

[TomatoLover]

Had the Republic 1750 installed Wednesday.

We are having a hard time getting this insert above 400 degrees. We know the wood is good, as we did fresh splits of our dried splits and checked each piece before loading-- mc is 15%. It was professionally installed with 12' insulated flue and insulated block off plate. The insert is definitely throwing heat, as the upper level 1400 sq. ft. is anywhere from 72-80 degrees. But according to both the Rutland thermometer (recommended in the manual) and the laser thermometer, the stove top temp is still struggling to get above 400. The left and right sides of the glass are getting coated with brownish yuk, which worries me. Also, the installer said to burn around 500, but we can't get it there. We are only loading about 4-5 small splits of oak, maple and black birch. Do we need to add more wood?

We're new to this and our only experience is with the pre-EPA dragon, which came up to temp quickly and easily. Any ideas?

 

[Fod01]

Hi - I found a thread from a couple years ago that may help...about half way down it starts to talk to getting the stove hot.
Good luck, and congratulations on the stove.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ow-my-stove-heats-itself-not-the-house.56354/

 

[Chimney Smoke]

I have a free standing 1750 and with dry wood it goes from cold to over 400 stovetop in about 20 minutes. 12 feet of chimney may be preventing a strong draft. If all your wood is truly 15% you should have clear glass and 550-600 stovetop temps every reload.

 

[begreen]

Are you closing down the air very much? With adequate draft closing down the air encourages secondary combustion. That heats up the stove top more.

If the wood is good and dry I would consider adding at least 3 ft of chimney. 15' is the minimum requirement for this stove. Many modern stoves require enough draft to pull air through the secondary manifold. Adding sufficient chimney may totally change the behavior of the stove.

 

[TomatoLover]

Are you closing down the air very much? With adequate draft closing down the air encourages secondary combustion. That heats up the stove top more.

If the wood is good and dry I would consider adding at least 3 ft of chimney. 15' is the minimum requirement for this stove. Many modern stoves require enough draft to pull air through the secondary manifold. Adding sufficient chimney may totally change the behavior of the stove.

Ugh! Should have proofread my post before sending it through. We have a 16' insulated flue, not 12'. Sorry for the confusion. I may very well be making mistakes with the air. Yah, OK, I'm probably not doing much of anything right with this thing right now, but hey, the house has not yet burned down and it is toasty in here, so that's a start.

I'm used to the dragon -- we go from a cold stove to 650 in about 20 minutes, while reducing air first around 400 and then again at around 600. I'm not sure when to start messing with the air on the Lopi. Leaving it wide open, it never gets above 400. Is this different with an EPA stove -- I need to start turning it down to get more heat?

 

[TomatoLover]

I have a free standing 1750 and with dry wood it goes from cold to over 400 stovetop in about 20 minutes. 12 feet of chimney may be preventing a strong draft. If all your wood is truly 15% you should have clear glass and 550-600 stovetop temps every reload.

Sorry - I should have typed a 16' insulated flue, not 12'. Is the 16' is good enough?

Assuming that the free standing 1750 and the 1750i are essentially the same animal, would you be willing to walk me through how you get yours going? Here are my questions:
1. How long do you leave the door open - at what temp do you close it?
2. How long do you leave the flue damper open when starting or reloading -- at what temp do you close it?
3. How long do you leave the air intake open - at what temp do you close it?

The only experience I have with burning wood is 4 months with the pre-EPA dragon in the basement, and I feel like I finally figured that thing out. So I'm feeling a bit frustrated with myself for not being able to figure out the 1750 and worried that it will take me another 4 months!

p.s. I really feel like I have to go by stove top temps right now because of the ambiguity in directions that reference what the flames or fire should look like. The dragon doesn't have a glass door, so I'm seeing flames for the first time. My husband and I have been sitting in front of the Lopi pondering, "Does that look like a lazy flame? Is that a secondary up there -- does it look like the Northern Lights?" Our kids think we've hit the eggnog early this year.

 

[TomatoLover]

Hi - I found a thread from a couple years ago that may help...about half way down it starts to talk to getting the stove hot.
Good luck, and congratulations on the stove.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...ow-my-stove-heats-itself-not-the-house.56354/

Thanks!

I'm still feeling like I need the "wood burning for idiots manual" with this new insert. It is not at all like the dragon in the basement, and so it has me a bit frustrated at this point. I feel like I have to rely on temperatures at this point because the dragon doesn't have a glass door and we're seeing flames for the first time with the 1750. I'm not sure when to close the door, when to close the by-pass, when to turn the air down. The directions and most posts use references to what the flames look like or what the fire is doing, but I need something concrete to overcome my operator error!

 

[bholler]

First off where are you measuring your temp? I don't know the stove but allot of inserts have a convective top If so and you try measuring it there your temp will be very low.. Also if the fan is on your temp reading will be low as well

 

[tarzan]

Add more wood

 

[blacktail]

We are only loading about 4-5 small splits of oak, maple and black birch. Do we need to add more wood?

Feed it. Here's a pic of a reload in my 1250.
Every load is different, so it's hard to set any rules on when and how much to cut the air. On a perfect day with mine, i can cut to 50% air at 400°, then 10% air at 500. With the air dialed down and secondaries cranking, the temp will go up more and then level off.

 

[TomatoLover]

First off where are you measuring your temp? I don't know the stove but allot of inserts have a convective top If so and you try measuring it there your temp will be very low.. Also if the fan is on your temp reading will be low as well

Rutland therm. sits in the middle of the stove top (this is an insert that sticks out and has a 10" cooktop). I did notice today that when we turned the fan down, the stove did get hotter.

 

[TomatoLover]

Feed it. Here's a pic of a reload in my 1250.
Every load is different, so it's hard to set any rules on when and how much to cut the air. On a perfect day with mine, i can cut to 50% air at 400°, then 10% air at 500. With the air dialed down and secondaries cranking, the temp will go up more and then level off.

Holy crap, Batman! We have about 1/3 of that in the 1750 (based on my fear of things getting out of control, which might be a bit irrational -- call it Newbie Jitters). We'll feed it and see what happens. Thanks!

 

[begreen]

Ugh! Should have proofread my post before sending it through. We have a 16' insulated flue, not 12'. Sorry for the confusion. I may very well be making mistakes with the air. Yah, OK, I'm probably not doing much of anything right with this thing right now, but hey, the house has not yet burned down and it is toasty in here, so that's a start.

I'm used to the dragon -- we go from a cold stove to 650 in about 20 minutes, while reducing air first around 400 and then again at around 600. I'm not sure when to start messing with the air on the Lopi. Leaving it wide open, it never gets above 400. Is this different with an EPA stove -- I need to start turning it down to get more heat?

Good. 16 ft is much better. Yes, turning down the air will intensify the secondary burn thus improving the burn efficiency and making the stove hotter. With a full load of wood you are going to see a lot more heat. Keep the fan off on startup. Wait until the stove is up to temp.

 

[blacktail]

It definitely took some time for me to feel comfortable loading it up like that.

 

[tarzan]

Didn't mean to sound so blunt in my above post. Had a minor child emergency and left it with my main thoughts.

The only other thing I would add at this point is when you do fill the stove fuller it may be wise to do so with larger splits, not ones re-split and checked for moisture.

A full or near full load of small splits can really take off on you do to so much surface area off gassing at once.

 

[coldkiwi]

Looks like your blower is cooling down the themo,you probably have a higher temp than you think.Pack the wood in there!

 

[weatherguy]

These newer stoves are almost backwards from your old stove as you turn the air down the stove gets hotter from the secondaries, since you're used to a dragon you'll have a small learning curve. Mines usually about 400 when its a hair open and it'll just take off from there.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

Sorry - I should have typed a 16' insulated flue, not 12'. Is the 16' is good enough?

Assuming that the free standing 1750 and the 1750i are essentially the same animal, would you be willing to walk me through how you get yours going? Here are my questions:
1. How long do you leave the door open - at what temp do you close it?
2. How long do you leave the flue damper open when starting or reloading -- at what temp do you close it?
3. How long do you leave the air intake open - at what temp do you close it?

The only experience I have with burning wood is 4 months with the pre-EPA dragon in the basement, and I feel like I finally figured that thing out. So I'm feeling a bit frustrated with myself for not being able to figure out the 1750 and worried that it will take me another 4 months!

p.s. I really feel like I have to go by stove top temps right now because of the ambiguity in directions that reference what the flames or fire should look like. The dragon doesn't have a glass door, so I'm seeing flames for the first time. My husband and I have been sitting in front of the Lopi pondering, "Does that look like a lazy flame? Is that a secondary up there -- does it look like the Northern Lights?" Our kids think we've hit the eggnog early this year.

When starting from cold I use kindling and dry white pine. Once the initial fire is going I spread out the coals a bit a put 3-4 small pine splits on and leave the door cracked for around 5 minutes. After that I close the door and leave the air open. After around 10-15 minutes I usually close the air half way. At that point the stovetop is around 400 and the flue is around 325 (single wall magnetic thermo). The I fill it up with the air half open and after a few minute close the air around 7/8. It really depends on the wood and every startup and reload can be different.

 

[Woody Stover]

We have about 1/3 of that in the 1750 (based on my fear of things getting out of control, which might be a bit irrational -- call it Newbie Jitters).

when you do fill the stove fuller it may be wise to do so with larger splits, not ones re-split and checked for moisture. A full or near full load of small splits can really take off on you do to so much surface area off gassing at once.

You're wise to proceed with caution at first, when putting a full load in. When burning in the new load, don't get too many small splits off-gassing at once or the secondaries may really take off. You'll get more comfortable with the process as you learn how the stove burns with bigger vs. smaller splits, damp vs. drier wood, and how the different species of wood vary in burn characteristics. Dive in and have some fun!