Lopi wood stove?? Are they good?

[Himiler]

Several questions concerning the Lopi:
1. I'm currently looking at the Answer or the Revere. What other manufacturers compare to the Lopi? I have a 1500 sq ft single story slab on grade home.
2. Any recommendations on local (North Texas) dealers, Lopi or otherwise?
3. The dealer I chatted with today really cautioned me about burning Boise de Arc wood, said it was a quick way to ruin any stove. My friend has been burning it almost exclusively for 3 years in a Drolet. My thinking is with a bit of common sense it should be fine.
Thanks

 

[Pagey]

Several questions concerning the Lopi:
1. I'm currently looking at the Answer or the Revere. What other manufacturers compare to the Lopi? I have a 1500 sq ft single story slab on grade home.
2. Any recommendations on local (North Texas) dealers, Lopi or otherwise?
3. The dealer I chatted with today really cautioned me about burning Boise de Arc wood, said it was a quick way to ruin any stove. My friend has been burning it almost exclusively for 3 years in a Drolet. My thinking is with a bit of common sense it should be fine.
Thanks

1.) For similar steel stoves, you could look at: Buck, Quadrafire, Summer's Heat, or Englander (the last two are made by the same company, England's Stove Works).

2.) Sorry, no clue there.

3.) Never heard of this wood. What does the dealer feel makes it so hard on a stove?

 

[madrone]

3. The dealer I chatted with today really cautioned me about burning Boise de Arc wood, said it was a quick way to ruin any stove. My friend has been burning it almost exclusively for 3 years in a Drolet. My thinking is with a bit of common sense it should be fine.
Thanks

Osage Orange? Everybody here loves it. I've never even seen it, but to hear folks here tell it, it's the closest thing to coal. Do a search on this site for Osage. Anything that goes in a stove ought to be well seasoned first, and if it's a high BTU wood you'll have to get used to how to set the air control. Only wood that shouldn't go in a woodstove is chemically treated, plywood or painted wood.
Oh, and take anything your dealer says with a grain of salt.

 

[Himiler]

Thanks for the replys!
1. The dealer (Chimney King in Plano) really talked up the Lennox line of stoves and attempted to steer me away from the Lopi. Thanks to Hearth.com I brought more than a knife to a gunfight.
2. Wife & I are going to make a road trip out of visiting local (North Texas) wood stove insert dealers. I'll keep a notebook and share the impressions/results.
3. The Orange Osage, Hedgeapple, or Bo'darc are other names for this tree that's considered a nuisance by many in its range, and it's got some MEAN thorns. Guess it's tailor made for those with wood stoves and a bit of personal reliance.

Steve

 

[begreen]

Lennox sells Country stoves, which are stout and well made. Their plant is about 20 miles from here and only about 35 miles south of the Lopi plant. Both good stoves. Travis Industries (Lopi) also makes Avalon stoves which are very similar to their Lopi equivalents. Canadian made Drolet or Napoleon would be fine as well as Pacific Energy if available. You might also check to see if there are any Regency dealers in the area.

 

[Himiler]

Thanks BeGreen for the input.
I'm taking my cue for Country based on the Lennox reviews. Went back to the Country Stove reviews, and it's like people are talking about two different stoves. The one area I seem to have questions about with the Country involve the "blanket" above the top bricks of the firebox. I appears that this area would probably work fine until it gets thoroughly saturated and covered with creosote, ash, and any other combustion byproducts as the combustion gasses pass by this area, then it would become a black crusty mat. I've been accused of being too anal, could this yet be another example of my person"anal"ity? :roll:

 

[begreen]

Yep. Ceramic blankets and/or insulation board are used on top of the secondary tubes on several stove models. I too prefer bricks or for the insulation to be enclosed like on the Pacific Energy stoves. But with care, the other system works well and is not that expensive to replace. They get dusty with soot, but it is easy to shake it off and no one will be looking up there, promise.

 

[summit]

That really sucks that they do not offer internet sales for parts. What are they thinking? In this technological age so many people get their information from the web and find out what they need either from the web or a part number from the owner's manual and it is so easy to get online and get it coming. That is sad that they leave it all up to the local dealer to get the parts out to the customers. If you are heating an 1800 sq ft home with an Answer then it would definitely heat my home. What should I expect to pay for 12 ft of pipe for a wood stove?

As far as the internet sales thing: It's harmful to your local dealer, and does not provide the service and expertse needed for you. The reason lines like LOPI have good reputations is that they do not have internet sales, and this prevents the whoring out and cheapening of the brand to satisfy the price point issues you run into when comparing stoves on a computer screen. Parts needed for your LOPI should be few and far between, and any dealer worth his salt will have some gaskets and firebrick ready for you. Check a LOPI out on the dealer's floor, then check out a USSC or englander from a big box, check the fit and finish, you'll appreciate the reasons why they don't do internet sales.

 

[BrotherBart]

...then check out a USSC or englander from a big box, check the fit and finish, you'll appreciate the reasons why they don't do internet sales.

I guess that is the reason our, in business for 43 years, local stove store sold Englander stoves up until the big box price competition set in and then they started selling Lopi. He told me he just couldn't compete on them anymore. And he ain't lied to me that I know of since his daddy sold me a stove in 1985.

 

[DBoon]

I would have a hard time being convinced that a stove brand (or any brand) sold through a big box store is as good a quality, in general, as one not sold through a big box store. The big box stores chisel every penny out of the manufacturer over time and result in a cheaper quality construction. It might still be good enough, but it is most likely not the same quality as one that doesn't take that route for distribution.

So I would prefer to buy something of very high quality once and not have to need a lot of replacement parts than buy something cheaper and need a lot of service and parts support. I'm not saying that this is true of any of the stove brands mentioned here, but when the quality is less, there is a greater need for a wide, easy availability of "parts".

 

[begreen]

Mass production can dramatically reduce costs while maintaining reasonable quality. But one needs to sell volumes of the product to make up for the tooling costs. Henry Ford figured that out quite awhile ago.

No doubt there are some compromises with the lower cost like heat shielding optional, poorer bottom shielding, insulation board, etc. But basically these stoves burn as well or better than the others. Just look at the low emissions for the Englanders. They may be simple, but they get the job done well. If they were poorly made, we'd be hearing it here for sure.

 

[WOODplay]

YES! LOPI Endeaver is what I have and I love it. Really nice! Great heat transfer and also good cooking area when you don't have power. I would buy another for the basment if I had the money.

 

[btuser]

I've got a Freedom insert. A couple bricks cracked right away, other than that its an insert. I did notice from the specs it's one of the heavier inserts. Got home and the house was 65F. Right now the room is 80F. Hard to lay off the throttle when the woodpile is full.

I went for the wood insert for one reason above others: I had a lot of trees to get make disappear. Other than that I would have gone for the pellet stove, but now I'm wary about the fluxuations in the cost of pellets. I'd like to know how the price can go from $250 all the way to almost $400 in a single season. Makes me think the oil guys own the pellet stores too.

 

[sixman]

I was also concerned about the price of pellets when I tried to make my decision between wood and pellets. Sure they may be $250 - $300 now but how about in 4 years??? The wood is the same price and the labor is the same. Since I started this thread months ago I have gone from not knowing what kind of stove, pellet or wood, to a fully self installed Lopi Endeavor. I now have at least three year of wood cut and stacked thanks to the reluctant help of my girls, when we cut our first bit of wood I told them that it would be enough for the whole winter and they were excited till we went out to cut more. Dad we already have enough for the winter, why do we need to cut more. Not sure they get the whole seasoning thing but that is okay because I do it to make sure they are warm and safe from a chimney fire from burning green wood. We have already had a few fires this year but not quite cold enough to keep the Lopi cranked up. I plan to update in a few weeks and leave a review for future Hearth.com users. This place is awesome and many thanks to all that helped. BB, BG, Firefighterjake, Summit, Pagey and the old Savage just to name a few and Savage I hope you get good news from the Dr. today. I know that I live way too far away but I would gladly bring you wood if you were my neighbor.

 

[Treacherous]

I didn't even consider pellet stove. Trees are everywhere near cabin and firewood permits are easy to get.

 

[sixman]

A permit here is "Hey, do you mind if I cut some of that mesquite?" And they say "I wish you would cut them all down!"

 

[Treacherous]

A permit here is "Hey, do you mind if I cut some of that mesquite?" And they say "I wish you would cut them all down!"

Never really asked anyone.

$20 permit here lets you get up to 4 cords IIRC.

 

[sixman]

That is cheap enough. I bet it is better wood than mesquite. Mesquite is a really good hardwood but you get a lot of rounds.

 

[Treacherous]

Usually maple or fir

 

[firefighterjake]

I was also concerned about the price of pellets when I tried to make my decision between wood and pellets. Sure they may be $250 - $300 now but how about in 4 years??? The wood is the same price and the labor is the same. Since I started this thread months ago I have gone from not knowing what kind of stove, pellet or wood, to a fully self installed Lopi Endeavor. I now have at least three year of wood cut and stacked thanks to the reluctant help of my girls, when we cut our first bit of wood I told them that it would be enough for the whole winter and they were excited till we went out to cut more. Dad we already have enough for the winter, why do we need to cut more. Not sure they get the whole seasoning thing but that is okay because I do it to make sure they are warm and safe from a chimney fire from burning green wood. We have already had a few fires this year but not quite cold enough to keep the Lopi cranked up. I plan to update in a few weeks and leave a review for future Hearth.com users. This place is awesome and many thanks to all that helped. BB, BG, Firefighterjake, Summit, Pagey and the old Savage just to name a few and Savage I hope you get good news from the Dr. today. I know that I live way too far away but I would gladly bring you wood if you were my neighbor.

Thanks for the attaboy . . . but truthfully I learned . . . and still learn . . . a lot here myself . . . which is probably why I continue to hang around . . . well that and the chance to give Backwoods Savage a hard time with the way he runs his wood splitter.

 

[tickbitty]

For anyone interested in Lopi stoves, they have a whole video gallery on their page now, from a factory tour to how to light a fire etc etc, there is some good stuff on there!
(broken link removed to http://www.lopistoves.com/videos/)
All the videos are with one of the heads of the company and feature the Endeavor. It definitely gives you a pretty good feeling about the quality.
There's also a page with cooking recipes!