The Lopi pellet stove line-up

[Chain]

I currently own a 1996 Lopi Fox Fire Pellet stove. I've been considering replacing it this year with a newer, more efficient stove. I've been researching Harman and Quadra Fire and have been impressed with what I've read in these forums. However, I've decided to at least consider another Lopi stove. I've had no issues with the Fox Fire other than it needs more frequent cleaning than newer models and it's a bit noisy. I'm curious if there's any Lopi owners on these forums who can provide me with their opinions on the newer Lopi stoves. I appreciate your thoughts and thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[nksdad2007]

I really like my Leyden. Had it installed December of '08. Had the Maine Woods pellets last year so i was cleaning a lot. Maine's choice pelelts this year which are better. After a bit of a learning curve and the help of reading here, i have learned a lot about what to look for and how to tune things to my situation. Did have the brass bearing seize to the auger shaft which caused a lot of noise and frustration trying to find. But it was all covered under warranty. The dealer said they had never seen this problem before. To do it all over again, i would buy the same stove. Heats wonderfully and looks great in our home.

 

[Chain]

I really like my Leyden. Had it installed December of '08. Had the Maine Woods pellets last year so i was cleaning a lot. Maine's choice pelelts this year which are better. After a bit of a learning curve and the help of reading here, i have learned a lot about what to look for and how to tune things to my situation. Did have the brass bearing seize to the auger shaft which caused a lot of noise and frustration trying to find. But it was all covered under warranty. The dealer said they had never seen this problem before. To do it all over again, i would buy the same stove. Heats wonderfully and looks great in our home.

Thanks for the info. The Leyden is the model I'm most interested in. It may be too big for the space I'm heating however.

 

[imacman]

Thanks for the info. The Leyden is the model I'm most interested in. It may be too big for the space I'm heating however.

Better a little too big, than too small. You can always turn the heat setting & blower down.

 

[jtakeman]

Thanks for the info. The Leyden is the model I'm most interested in. It may be too big for the space I'm heating however.

Better a little too big, than too small. You can always turn the heat setting & blower down.

X2 Running the stove in the lower heat range is much better for it long term than maxxed out and not keeping up. Can you say stove burn out! Nothing wrong with a bit to big. These stoves burn quit well in there low heat ranges. Bigger is really better here!

 

[summit]

too often people overlook the Lopi pioneer: It works really well, runs like a clock: and very simple to clean out. Does not have all the baffles, inner rear chamber dividers and bottle brush openings like the leyden / yankee stoves. If you are doing 1000 sqft or so, the pioneer is great... The only issue I have w/ is the price: it's MSRP is 2902! way to much for @30Kbtu heater (especially considering Harman's P43 model runs at 2499, w/ a higher btu output and tstat option incl) We have a bunch left over from last couple yrs that we have marked down to 2000 even (tstat included), but its a hard sell for folks when we have a P43 running on the hearth as well at 2499... I think, given the slow economy, and relative low oil prices, a dealer could be persuaded to knock at leats 10-20% off retail on a pioneer.
The pioneer does do the trick, however: I had the IR heat gun out today: with the little laser pointer shooting right into the heat exchanger and the heat setting cranked all the way up (to the max 3.5 lb/hr) it was reading 498 deg hot air coming out. Thats pretty good for a stove that claims a max output of 28k btu/hr! And, even on max output, the 55lb hopper will go for @ 15 hrs on high (or 2 full days on low).

 

[Snowy Rivers]

I agree 100% with the idea of sizing your stove so it can run in the low to mid range and do the job.

My current stoves are size very small (for little spot fires to take the chill off during moderate weather)

Medium to large size to do the job when its cold outside. and a really big Quadrafire when its really cold.

I can run 1, 2, or all three if need be and not have to melt them to keep the house warm.

Lopi are good stoves from what I have seen and heard around here.


Snowy

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

travis ind stoves continue to be the most dependable we've ever sold

 

[imacman]

travis ind stoves continue to be the most dependable we've ever sold

Ditto on dependable....I had an Astoria and never had even one problem....just ran & ran. If I didn't want a multi-fuel stove, I'd still have the Astoria, (although it WILL burn up to 50/50 corn/pellets too).

 

[smwilliamson]

My mother-in-law has a Leyden. She is the worst. She went through 3 stoves in 4 years. Occasionally she will forget half of the bag in the hopper, constantly puts wet pellets into the hopper. I saw her sweep up the floor once and toss the whole dust bin into the hopper. Yikes!

I clean the stove out for her now twice a year but the thing just keeps going and going and going. She wrecked a Harman P68, an Englander PDVC-25 and an Autroflamm something or other.

I was so impressed with the stove I bought one. Love it.

 

[Dr_Drum]

I will chime in here. My Leyden has been flawless and can really crank out the heat.
Mike -

 

[Chain]

Great info. folks. Thanks and keep it coming. I should mention that my Fox Fire is only used as a secondary heat source as I have hot water base board heat via a #2 fuel oil boiler (Utica boiler) as my main source for the entire house. I only light the pellet stove when I'm actually home. My house is only 1750 square feet and the pellet stove is in my living room which is the largest room in the house and has sort of a mini cathedral ceiling. I've noticed over the years that despite two ceiling fans circulating, the back bedrooms furthest from the stove don't get much heat from the stove. Frankly I'm not sure if a larger stove will do much for this issue given the lay out of my house. It's not that big of a deal for me as I like my bedrooms cooler anyway.

But I have considered the larger Leyden model just for having the additional capacity if needed. I have yet to visit the three closest dealers to me to begin price comparisons and am curious what people have paid for their stoves. Any help on this issue would also be appreciated (if you don't mind sharing such private info.). Thanks again for all the info.

 

[Fsappo]

I dont sell the Lopi stoves, but I do have a dealer down the road from me that does. We end up servicing a lot of stove from surrounding dealers that drop the ball. I have to say I cant recall in the past few years hearing anyone having an issue on a Lopi stove. The calls I get are from folks that own:
Englander (always happy when they realize they arent screwed by buying at a big box store and can get top notch service from Englander direct)
Quadrafire (I think more due to the fact our local quad dealers arent real big on customer service)
Hudson River stoves (made in china and not sold thru any real reputable dealer network)
USSC (sold thru the tractor stores, etc and not as easy to get over the phone service help as englander)

If you have loved a Lopi, I'd stay with a Lopi. Also, most large stoves have almost the same turn down rate as smaller stoves, so I agree with the oversizing. Most importantly, make sure whatever stove you buy is bought thru a dealer who has a good reputation and a good service policy. Research the warranty on the stove and question the dealer about how they handle service, if they stock common replacement parts, etc.

 

[muss]

I'm happy with my Leyden. Bought it new 3 years ago. Didn't really know how to run it properly till the ignitor went & had to run it on manual. Great heat output. Good luck ! Muss

 

[Chain]

There must be something about the ignitor's in the Lopi as mine went up a couple years ago as well. Although it wasn't in the third year of use but much later. Makes me wonder.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

There must be something about the ignitor's in the Lopi as mine went up a couple years ago as well. Although it wasn't in the third year of use but much later. Makes me wonder.

all ignitors are prone to failure, travis ignitors are as good as any out there ime

 

[richkorn]

I guess I am in the minority because I have had some issues with my Lopi Leyden, although it has been running great (and quiet) for a few months now. Both fans had issues and were replaced and I've had noise/buzzing issues from the damper/damper rod, refractory panels, top baffles, outside panels etc., but I think that's because of the installation in front of and venting up my existing fireplace flue (don't know why though). Fuse on the control board blew a few weeks back for no reason, had to go down to the HD to get some that size and no problems since.

All in all I really like it and am impressed with the build quality. Good looking stove too!

 

[Don2222]

Hello

The Lopi line is made by Travis Industries who also makes the Avalon line. They look similar, have similar electronics and are just as reliable. I purchased the Avalon Astoria, the larger one mainly because it has the 115 lb hopper. I really like being able to dump 2 full bags of wood pellets in there and have it run for a couple of days on the low setting! No half open bags or little buckets of pellets lying around looking conspicuous and taking up room
So you may want to consider it. You can tell the videos are very similar.
Lopi Yankee
(broken link removed to http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6533193&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color;=&fullscreen=1&autoplay=1)

Avalon Astoria
(broken link removed to http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6520407&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color;=&fullscreen=1&autoplay=1)
e

Don

 

[summit]

There must be something about the ignitor's in the Lopi as mine went up a couple years ago as well. Although it wasn't in the third year of use but much later. Makes me wonder.

Ignitors go on you: they are all made by a source outside the stove co, and they are all prone to fail. learn to run your stove on a manual light 1st thing, and you will have very few "calling the dealer in a panic" times. The lopi ignitors are pretty rugged, should last thru the wtty period of 2 yrs on it. If it does not? run it on a manual start till the wtty cavalry arrives. The only drawback to the lopi is that they don't have a "hi-low" setting: when they reach temp in tstat mode, they shut off, then wait to reignite. Its fortunate they use such a rugged ignitlor, as completly auto all thime time adds alot of wear and tear on the igniter.

 

[imacman]

......Its fortunate they use such a rugged ignitlor, as completly auto all thime time adds alot of wear and tear on the igniter.

I bought my "dealer showroom used" '05 Astoria in the fall of '08, and it had the original ignitor in it. I used it exclusively on a 'stat all winter, and sold it last fall.....same ignitor, and the new owner is still using it. I even bought a new replacement ignitor for it to have "on hand", as I was worried about the ignitor burning out, but I ended-up selling that too.....never needed it.

 

[Chain]

There must be something about the ignitor's in the Lopi as mine went up a couple years ago as well. Although it wasn't in the third year of use but much later. Makes me wonder.

Ignitors go on you: they are all made by a source outside the stove co, and they are all prone to fail. learn to run your stove on a manual light 1st thing, and you will have very few "calling the dealer in a panic" times. The lopi ignitors are pretty rugged, should last thru the wtty period of 2 yrs on it. If it does not? run it on a manual start till the wtty cavalry arrives. The only drawback to the lopi is that they don't have a "hi-low" setting: when they reach temp in tstat mode, they shut off, then wait to reignite. Its fortunate they use such a rugged ignitlor, as completly auto all thime time adds alot of wear and tear on the igniter.

This is the third year I've been without my ignitor and have been manually lighting it since then. Since I only use the stove when I'm actually at home, it isn't a big deal to use a little gel starter and ignite it manually. The only drawback is you need to check on it a few minutes after lighting in order to adjust the feed rate and draft in order to get a good efficient burn. No big deal, really. It's actually easy to replace but the closest dealer needed to order it since my stove is several years old. After calling to inquire and was told it'd be a few weeks, I just decided to go the manual route.

 

[mark 64]

I bought mine from the frost and flame in Gotham Maine in December of 08 and installed it myself, they sold me all the parts and gave me some tips it went in with out a hitch what they did not tell me was they will not honer the warranty. unless they install the stove so they charge 170.00 per service call plus labor but hay the parts a free after fighting with them for 3 weeks ! since then the auger motor burned out. they blamed the pellets ( I bought pellets from them ) the control panel fried they accused me of running it on a generator that was last year. this year I have gone Thur two ignite rs . and the frost and flame has been so busy calling me a moron refusing to give me the parts and asking if I am ready for a service call and then sending me off with a fuse that I had to contact Travis industries. just so I could the parts to fix it. so if you do end up buying a pellet stove do your homework make sure you can get parts from more then one source and that is an ethical dealer (check the BBB no surprise the frost and flame got an FFF rating) and the labor is covered in the warranty.


PS
thanks I do like the idea of running it in manual mode. guess I should have bought a home depot special I could have saved thousands
on the nightmare in my basement .

Mark k

 

[summit]

I bought mine from the frost and flame in Gotham Maine in December of 08 and installed it myself, they sold me all the parts and gave me some tips it went in with out a hitch what they did not tell me was they will not honer the warranty. unless they install the stove so they charge 170.00 per service call plus labor but hay the parts a free after fighting with them for 3 weeks ! since then the auger motor burned out. they blamed the pellets ( I bought pellets from them ) the control panel fried they accused me of running it on a generator that was last year. this year I have gone Thur two ignite rs . and the frost and flame has been so busy calling me a moron refusing to give me the parts and asking if I am ready for a service call and then sending me off with a fuse that I had to contact Travis industries. just so I could the parts to fix it. so if you do end up buying a pellet stove do your homework make sure you can get parts from more then one source and that is an ethical dealer (check the BBB no surprise the frost and flame got an FFF rating) and the labor is covered in the warranty.


PS
thanks I do like the idea of running it in manual mode. guess I should have bought a home depot special I could have saved thousands
on the nightmare in my basement .

Mark k

just because you hooked it up yourself is no reason for them to tear up the wtty... they are putting the screws to ya,

 

[Dr_Drum]

I bought mine from the frost and flame in Gotham Maine in December of 08 . . . .
Mark k

I was going to buy mine there in July 08 as well, but they were back ordered and they wanted half the money to put me on a waiting list. I did get my Excel vent there. After hearing how they have been to you, I'm glad I kept looking.
Mike -

 

[mark 64]

Not only is the frost and flame putting the screws to me on the warranty. every time I would go in for parts they tell me that I have no idea what I'm doing and that If they installed the stove this would not be happening and try sending me off with a fuse. so now I go in with part in hand and they tell me that they will be testing the part and if is not bad i will be charged for the part. at first I would argue with them. now I just smile and ask them get my part. so now I am stuck with a lopi layden that burns up an igniter every ton and a half of pellets so I will not even sell on craigslist ! any ideas on what kind of recourse I can take.

Thanks Mark