Hi everyone. I just signed up to this forum. I have been reading it for the past few days and wanted to give my opinion on my LOPI AGP stove.
First I have to say that I have been burning wood for over 10 years. I have a LOPI Answer stove that is used as an insert. The build quality is great and all I have every had to replace are crack bricks and the door gasket. That being said. The LOPI AGP stove is just as beautiful as my ANSWER. I love the look of the bay door and the ash lip/tray. The AVALON is the same exact stove with out the fancy door and ash lip/tray. Even though the LOPI was a few dollars more, the look did it for me. It is extremely similar in look to my wood burning stove.
So due to a car accident at work I had to have my neck fused and no longer can split wood. With the way prices are now for home heating I went out to the store I brought my ANSWER and had them install the AGP.
The unit is beautiful and in a few hours I had great heat coming out of the unit. The hopper holds almost 80 LBS. They advertise that it holds 80 LBS but its just not true. I would say its more along the lines of 65-70 LBS.
So two hours later after the installer left, I started to get cold. I went down stairs to where I had the unit installed and saw that the unit had gone out. I went to the instruction manual and went through the shut down start up process. The hopper was full, the unit internal fan was running just no fire.
I called the company I brought it from. The owner walked me through all of the same things that I had did. He asked me to remove all the pellets. Not fun. Had me the hopper door switch and do the start processes. I did. The feeder motor wasn't working. He told me that he would order the part and have it delivered and repaired. I asked him for a new unit. He stated that LOPI doesn't do that and that they would have a repair man at my house on Thursday. This happen on a Monday.
In my head I thought of a returning the stove, stop payment on the check.
I wrote an email to the company who makes the stove, Travis industries. Got a response the next morning saying that the owner of the location that sold me the stove had been in contact with him and that they will fix the problem. Not happy.
Thursday comes and early in the morning the repair man comes. True to what was being said, the feeding motor/auger was seized. The repairman said a few things that really made me mad. He showed me the new feeder/auger motor. It was double the size. This is the statement that made me mad. He said, "This is the motor that is NOW IN PRODUCTION IN THE NEW STOVES BEING MADE." He also stated that the snap disk on these units are defective and he also replaced that. He left and the stove was running beautifully.
When he left I felt like crap. I wrote an email to Travis industries again stating that I was not happy and that I wanted a new "NOW" stove explaining that I just brought the stove and didn't want old stock especially since the knew there was a problem. I left my phone number.
I got a call a few hours later. They explained to me that they have stop production of the AGP stove due to those motors starting to fail. Also explained to me that as soon as they noticed the problem they fired to company that made the motors. He said that they will continue making the stoves and are waiting for the motors to come in. They have a "Hand full of them" for repair and that they had fedex next day for my repair. He informed me that I was the first one that had the motor die in two hours. He said that it was happening in weeks and months or not at all.
He asked me what would make me happy. I informed him that I wanted double the warranty on the moving parts. They come with a two year. He agreed and sent me an email stating so. So at this point I am happy.
As of today my stove has been running for four days straight and it is working great. I have a split level ranch house. Total of 4 levels. I had the stove installed in my family room. An area of about 30 feet by 20 feet. It keeps that level at 78. I had them install the external thermostat option and it is set to 80. The main level is at about 72. The bedroom level is at 68-70.
I have loved my LOPI ANSWER. I really believe the company is a great company. I just wanted to warn everyone who has or is buying one to call and make sure they get the upgraded motor. I am telling you, I saw them both. The new motor is double the size. Good luck and I look forward to being a member on this fourm.
Robert
First I have to say that I have been burning wood for over 10 years. I have a LOPI Answer stove that is used as an insert. The build quality is great and all I have every had to replace are crack bricks and the door gasket. That being said. The LOPI AGP stove is just as beautiful as my ANSWER. I love the look of the bay door and the ash lip/tray. The AVALON is the same exact stove with out the fancy door and ash lip/tray. Even though the LOPI was a few dollars more, the look did it for me. It is extremely similar in look to my wood burning stove.
So due to a car accident at work I had to have my neck fused and no longer can split wood. With the way prices are now for home heating I went out to the store I brought my ANSWER and had them install the AGP.
The unit is beautiful and in a few hours I had great heat coming out of the unit. The hopper holds almost 80 LBS. They advertise that it holds 80 LBS but its just not true. I would say its more along the lines of 65-70 LBS.
So two hours later after the installer left, I started to get cold. I went down stairs to where I had the unit installed and saw that the unit had gone out. I went to the instruction manual and went through the shut down start up process. The hopper was full, the unit internal fan was running just no fire.
I called the company I brought it from. The owner walked me through all of the same things that I had did. He asked me to remove all the pellets. Not fun. Had me the hopper door switch and do the start processes. I did. The feeder motor wasn't working. He told me that he would order the part and have it delivered and repaired. I asked him for a new unit. He stated that LOPI doesn't do that and that they would have a repair man at my house on Thursday. This happen on a Monday.
In my head I thought of a returning the stove, stop payment on the check.
I wrote an email to the company who makes the stove, Travis industries. Got a response the next morning saying that the owner of the location that sold me the stove had been in contact with him and that they will fix the problem. Not happy.
Thursday comes and early in the morning the repair man comes. True to what was being said, the feeding motor/auger was seized. The repairman said a few things that really made me mad. He showed me the new feeder/auger motor. It was double the size. This is the statement that made me mad. He said, "This is the motor that is NOW IN PRODUCTION IN THE NEW STOVES BEING MADE." He also stated that the snap disk on these units are defective and he also replaced that. He left and the stove was running beautifully.
When he left I felt like crap. I wrote an email to Travis industries again stating that I was not happy and that I wanted a new "NOW" stove explaining that I just brought the stove and didn't want old stock especially since the knew there was a problem. I left my phone number.
I got a call a few hours later. They explained to me that they have stop production of the AGP stove due to those motors starting to fail. Also explained to me that as soon as they noticed the problem they fired to company that made the motors. He said that they will continue making the stoves and are waiting for the motors to come in. They have a "Hand full of them" for repair and that they had fedex next day for my repair. He informed me that I was the first one that had the motor die in two hours. He said that it was happening in weeks and months or not at all.
He asked me what would make me happy. I informed him that I wanted double the warranty on the moving parts. They come with a two year. He agreed and sent me an email stating so. So at this point I am happy.
As of today my stove has been running for four days straight and it is working great. I have a split level ranch house. Total of 4 levels. I had the stove installed in my family room. An area of about 30 feet by 20 feet. It keeps that level at 78. I had them install the external thermostat option and it is set to 80. The main level is at about 72. The bedroom level is at 68-70.
I have loved my LOPI ANSWER. I really believe the company is a great company. I just wanted to warn everyone who has or is buying one to call and make sure they get the upgraded motor. I am telling you, I saw them both. The new motor is double the size. Good luck and I look forward to being a member on this fourm.
Robert
