# First break in fire of Lopi Leyden



## BJ64 (Sep 16, 2008)

I fired the Leyden for the first time.  I brought the stove up to 400 degrees rather gradually according to the Rutland temp gauge mounted on the top lid.  We were able to smell some fumes from the paint but they were not anywhere near as bad as I feared.  The back plate did smoke after I engaged the secondary combustor by closing the bypass.  I opened the window for that even though it was not anything that would really smoke up the house.  I did leave the front doors cracked open per the directions regarding first firing.  

There were reports of the paint popping off on earlier Leydens and problems with the bypass coming open.  I have not seen these problems yet.  The back plate states the stove is a year old from the date of manufacture.  Perhaps that year allowed the paint to set better or perhaps Lopi improved the paint.  I have noticed that Lopi did change the bypass closing device since the 2006 models (mine was made in September 2007).  

I was impressed with the amount of heat put out by a small amount of wood.  I think the family will prefer this stove over the old fireplace we used last winter.

Additional info – I think the Lopi Leyden is the same or similar to the Avalon Arbor.  I’ll let the experts verify that for future readers.  The stove is 28-inches from the wall.  My wife took the picture with her "bird hunting" 70x300 mm zoom lens.  It seems to have compressed the field of depth from 12 feet away.  I am having to use single wall connecting pipe for a while since double wall connecting pipe is on back order in this area.


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## Larry H (Sep 17, 2008)

Beautiful looking stove.  Nice looking finish too!  Have a safe warm winter.  From your sig it looks like ya' have all the tools to do so.
Larry


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## Tfin (Sep 17, 2008)

Very nice indeed.  How close is that curtin to the stove though?


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## BJ64 (Sep 17, 2008)

Tfin said:
			
		

> Very nice indeed.  How close is that curtin to the stove though?



The curtan is 24-inches away.  That is still too close in my books considering it could blow around.  I closed it to reduce back light for the pic then pushed it back out of the way.  

There is a story about why the stove was put there and not where the wife's fireplace still is and you probably already know how it goes  :kiss: .  There was a better location in the room but it was under a valley in the roof  :-S .  Another site was too close to the door and the third site was where the Christmas has to go  >:-( .  The den was not an option and the wife declared she was not going to cook on it in the kitchen  :exclaim: .  The dining room idea was shot down as well  8-/ .  So, I have a new room mate in my office area of the living room.  Life is hard sometimes.     :red:


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## Tfin (Sep 17, 2008)

BJ64 said:
			
		

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Yeah, I hear ya.......I'm well aware how those scenarios play out myself.   :down: 

Nice looking stove though.  Hopefully you (and your wife) will enjoy it and the warmth it produces.


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## BJ64 (Sep 17, 2008)

Tfin said:
			
		

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LOL...Thanks for the comments and understanding.  

You see where her doggies were found after I fired it up.  Deb was right in there with them.  We are going to have a lot of enjoyment out of it.


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## skinnykid (Sep 17, 2008)

real nice, I wanna get a stove like that next time. That curtain behind it kinda spooks my though..


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## WILDSOURDOUGH (Sep 18, 2008)

Very nice Stove- if I can say so.

(We really like ours too)
Did you get the blower attachment ? Found that it really throws the heat 'out' and away, air circulation is a good thing.
I use heavy gauge single wall pipe for the connector too- think that is all you will need.

Best to you.


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## BJ64 (Sep 18, 2008)

Wildsourdough said:
			
		

> Very nice Stove- if I can say so.
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> (We really like ours too)
> Did you get the blower attachment ? Found that it really throws the heat 'out' and away, air circulation is a good thing.
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I did get the blower for it.  I bet it will blow out some heat when I get the rear combustor fired up.  I fired the stove again today but I did not get it hot enough to close the damper.  I was afraid I wold get the house too warm.  

I have one question about the blower heat sensor.  Did you just stuff yours between the conector pipe adapter and heat shield?  That is what I did and it works fine.  It does stick out some and I was wondering if I needed to poke it down further. I'll try to post a pic tomorrow since I'm at work now.


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## myzamboni (Sep 18, 2008)

BJ64 said:
			
		

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You can be right, or you can be happy.

Such is life.


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## N/A N/A (Sep 18, 2008)

Very nice stove BJ! I like the red foxes in front of it too


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## BJ64 (Sep 18, 2008)

FIREFIGHTER29 said:
			
		

> Very nice stove BJ! I like the red foxes in front of it too



That was good.  Of course I told Deb you called them miniature Coyotes.   :lol:  

If you had an idea where we moved from you would understand the joke.


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## N/A N/A (Sep 18, 2008)

BJ64 said:
			
		

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What kind of dogs are those?


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## WILDSOURDOUGH (Sep 18, 2008)

Yes, that is where I put the sensor- between the back of the stove and the heat shield, maybe three inch's down from the pipe conector. 
Couldn't get it to go in any futher- too tight a fit with the heat shield.

Fired my stove tonight as we are going down to twenty somthing and we have my wife's 91 year old mother living with us- got to keep the ladies warm.

My stove is just burning away in secondary combustion now- top is 500 Degrees, stovepipe says 375. You should be very pleased with how little wood is needed to maintain the Lopi, and it nice to not see smoke beltching out of the chimney when you get it up to tempature and kick it in secondary burn.

Great starts !


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## woodburn (Sep 19, 2008)

Nice looking stove- good luck with it.  I have the Avalon Arbor, yes it is the same stove as the Leyden, both made by Travis Industries.  As you use it more, let us know what you think about it's performance.  I find mine heats very well, but nowhere near the 12-18 hour burntime stated.  I load the box full, and I am down to coals and ready to reload in 4-5 hours.  This is with closing the bypass and choking down most of the way.  I don't see stovetop temps over 550, but I guess it's got a pretty large surface area for a medium sized stove- it heats 2,000 sq. feet no problem.  She'll stink as you get her hotter with your next break-ins.  Enjoy your stove!


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## BJ64 (Sep 19, 2008)

Wildsourdough said:
			
		

> Yes, that is where I put the sensor- between the back of the stove and the heat shield, maybe three inch's down from the pipe conector.
> Couldn't get it to go in any futher- too tight a fit with the heat shield.



As you can see mine is put in quite similar.  My daughter Samantha likes to see her picture here at "wood pile.com" and she is pointing out how my sensor wires were put in.


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## BJ64 (Sep 19, 2008)

woodburn said:
			
		

> Nice looking stove- good luck with it.  I have the Avalon Arbor, yes it is the same stove as the Leyden, both made by Travis Industries.  As you use it more, let us know what you think about it's performance.  I find mine heats very well, but nowhere near the 12-18 hour burntime stated.  I load the box full, and I am down to coals and ready to reload in 4-5 hours.  This is with closing the bypass and choking down most of the way.  I don't see stovetop temps over 550, but I guess it's got a pretty large surface area for a medium sized stove- it heats 2,000 sq. feet no problem.  She'll stink as you get her hotter with your next break-ins.  Enjoy your stove!



Hi Woodburn

I have seen similar reports of short burn times with the Leyden in the hearth.com stove reviews.  I did ask the dealer about that issue and he reported that there was a problem identified with the older models and there was a fix included on mine.

The bypass baffle had a problem of creeping open which would shorten the burn time.  Perhaps this could also lower the stove top temps as you have observed since the heat would be escaping out the top past the open baffle.  Somebody with knowledge about this will have to tell us.  Anyhow; Travis did rig a fix for the matter.

The pictures of red and black stoves are of early model Leydens found on the showroom floor in October, 2006.  Note that on the left hand side of the stoves' rear heat shields there is no device visible in the area above the baffle closing level.  For the benefit of other readers the baffle closing lever is not visible in the 2006 pictures but it is located on the left side near the back. 

The other picture is of my daughter Samantha pointing out the new baffle closing lever lock device on my stove.  My stove was built in September, 2007 according to the tag found on the back.  The locking device is clearly visible from the front of the stove.

I would hope that this locking device would be available to all early model Leyden and Arbor owners.  I think this would be worth bugging your dealer about.


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## woodburn (Sep 21, 2008)

That is great to know about that lever lock.  Thanks for sharing.  Thankfully, my bypass has never popped open.  My stove was manufactured in August of '07, a month before yours.  I remember reading the reviews before buying, and I knew the bypass could be a problem, so I asked my dealer.  He told me they had corrected the problem, but mine doesn't have that locking device like yours.  Maybe they made a correction to the correction.  I have to check to see if the new Arbors have that same mechanism shown on your Leyden.  Anyway, since my bypass has never opened, that's not the culprit for the poor burntimes.  Let me know how your burntimes go.  Don't hesitate to PM me about these things.  I am curious about how other Leyden/Arbor owners feel about their stoves.


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## dmj718 (Nov 27, 2008)

I have the Avalon Arbor...installed Feb. 08.  It has been a total nightmare!  My house smelled like smoke all the time the first week until I discovered that smoke was coming out around the top lid.  They had installed the lid upside down and it wasn't sealing properly.  The dealer came out and turned the lid over (replaced the lid after cleaning and painting it).  It took me another week to realize that the loud bang in the middle of the night was the bypass crashing open.  The dealer came out to check it, then told me that they had to order the "fix".  They would also replace the glass clips since they already knew that they would likely fail.  I was told that Travis Ind. knew about these problems, but wouldn't send the fix until the customer complained.  Then the auto-humidifier started going...water leaking through the roof onto the stove.  I don't really know how long this went on before I discovered it since the water just dripped on the stove and evaporated.  I had always had difficulty getting the fire going since the first few weeks.  I knew it just wasn't drafting properly, but couldn't figure out why since I was operating the stove exactly as stated in the manual and my wood is dry/seasoned alder and maple (cut, split, stacked, and covered for 1 - 3 years).  Within a few weeks of that, I came home from taking my daughter to school to find the house full of smoke and the chimney in full blaze.  Travis Ind. sent a factory rep. out who sledge hammered the whole interior out and re-built the entire stove (3 months after initial installation).  They know that there are problems with this technology, but had me pretty convinced that the new insides would fix the problem.  It worked pretty well all summer...as long as I didn't light it.  Well, except for the raging river of water leaking in during August rains.  Now the entire top is rusted.  Alas, the weather cooled for the Fall and it was time to start up the stove again.  It worked for a few days then started the same issues...hard to start, frequent blazing chimney fires if I opened the bypass while having a hot fire (like when you need to fill the box), smoke coming out whenever the front or top is opened to add wood.  My fires are hot and I love the heat, but clearly they haven't figured out how to handle the creosote problem in the chimney with the advertised low, slow burn to get the 10-12 hour burn time.  

Is anyone else having problems with drafting properly and chimney fires?  I just want them to get this thing out of my house at this point.


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## InTheRockies (Nov 27, 2008)

Beautiful stove, Bobby Joe.  I like the look of enamel, but don't know if I'd ever get an enameled stove (I'd be worried about chipping it).  I bet those 2 "miniature coyotes" camp out in front of that stove all winter.    Enjoy.


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## woodburn (Nov 29, 2008)

dmj- 
Sorry you've had such a horrible experience.  I have a similar problem in regards to the hot chimney when the bypass is open with a raging fire.  My internal thermometer can easily read 1200 degrees if I don't monitor closely when reloading and that wood ignites.  I'm not sure why you are calling them chimney "fires" though.  What makes you think you are having a chimney fire and not just getting ridiculous stack temps?  In my case, I think I have stronger than usual draft because I have a completely straight run, double wall, and 9 ft of stack in the house.  When the wood is stacked high if I bend down and look in the stove, I can see huge flames being pulled right up the chimney.  This is what causes the extreme temps in my case, not a chimney fire.  I watch the thermometer and close the primary air most of the way when it hits 7 or 8 hundred degrees.  Then it usually stays about 8 hundred.  Sometimes I have to cose the air all the way, and the temps still climb to 1,000 deg.  in that case, I shut the bypass right away and withing minutes its back to 800.  It shouldn't be like that, but once that initial BS is done and I can close the bypass and cruise, I get great burns.  Nowhere near the 12-18 hour bogus claim that travis makes, but still, great burns.  No problems with any smoke.  You MUST OPEN THE BYPASS everytime you load the stove.  If you're failing to do this, this is definitely why you say you are getting so much smoke when you open the doors or top.  If that bypass is open, the smoke will be sucked right up the chimney.  Also, you must wait till the stove is real hot- over 450 to close that bypass and get a slow burn.  It may drop to 400 or so during the burn, but that's fine.  My stovetop stays anywhere from 4-500 for the bulk of the burn.  Do you have a thermometer on your stack and on the stovetop?  Try these things and good luck.


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