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We just moved into our home a few months back, an 1880's home. There has been a Lopi wood burning fireplace insert added and we have the bill showing everything was cleaned and checked out last spring...and we have the most basic, sketchy instructions on working the air intake and damper I have ever seen. I don't think we're doing this very efficiently - can anyone explain opening and closing the air intake and damper/baffle/whatever it's called on the top?
We had one of these units in a rental house awhile back. It was not a good choice for us as investors with renters, but it had been installed by the former owner/resident. We found that the size of the woodstove was too big for the area it was to heat; when it was properly burning, it was way too much heat in the area and it wouldn't sustain a smaller fire. We replaced it with a smaller woodstove, which also required replacing the stack with a smaller diameter stack so it would draw properly with the smaller fire.
The trick to operating these sealed firebox woodstoves is to place an appropriate amount of wood (depends a lot on the wood type you have, hardwood, softwood, aged, dry, etc.) in the stove to begin with. It's a trial and error thing that you'll have to learn as you go.
Fully open both the damper and the air intake when you start the wood fire (we used crumpled newspapers to start the wood, with some kindling wood in the stove). When the fire gets going and the stove starts heating up, then slowly reduce the air intake to control the burning rate.
As you reduce the air intake and the fire burn stabilizes, you can then also reduce the damper to further slow down the airflow going up the stack. As long as the fire continues to burn steadily and the flue doesn't back up smoke into your room, you can try to further close both the air intake and the damper, just a little bit at a time.
If you shut off the air intake too much, the fire will die down and become too cool to sustain a good clean burn. If you shut the damper too much, the airflow will back up out of the stove and into your room.
What you're seeking is a good combination of airflow in to sustain good wood burn into a bed of hot coals and just enough airflow up the stack to allow the fire to heat the stove and not have the BTU's just roaring up the chimney with all the heated air from your room. There will be many possible adjustments that will help promote this goal, and it's pretty tough to go far wrong. You may find that using a stove thermometer and a flue stack thermometer will help guide you to the most efficient combination of controls.
These woodstoves should burn your wood to a very fine ash, even woodcoals that are buried in fine gray wood ash.
When the fire has burned into most of the wood supply, you'll need to add more wood. First open the intake air supply a bit and the damper a bit, then open the firebox door. This keeps the fire from backing up into your room as the increased airflow from the open door hits the fire. Add a bit of wood, then close the door. Allow the new wood to start burning, then return the flow controls to where they'd been set before.
Another way to verify good combustion/fire temps is to go outside and look at the top of the smokestack. It should have almost no visible smoke if you're burning clean wood.
If it's smoky, you're running the stove with too small a fire for the firebox or too little airflow going in. That's not good because a cool, smoky, smoldering fire is not burning the wood completely and is just throwing creosote up the stack.
You may find that your flue/stove/airflow/wood situation allows you to fill the firebox with as much wood as you can place in it and it will burn for many hours, heat well, and burn cleanly. You may also find that it will only need a more modest amount of wood and will throw out good heat for a long time, too. After awhile, your fiddling with the stove should give you some confidence in the size of fire, approximate settings of the controls, and what to expect for duration of the fire between refueling/cleaning/ash removal. Have fun and enjoy!
Safety Concerns: always be sure you have a fresh air supply into the house for the wood fire, always have a CO detector in the room, and pay close attention to the woodstove and it's fire when in use.
It may be a matter of semantics, but the info above is a bit erroneous if your Lopi is like mine. What I think the writer is addressing as a damper is really the "valve" that controls how much air/smoke/heat goes up the chimney without being routed back to the front and up through the heat exchange chamber. The shaft to this "valve" should be pulled out/toward the operator whenever starting or adding wood to the fire. The lower shaft controls the amount of air to the burning chamber. It should be open (shaft pulled toward the operator) whenever the fire is being started. When adding wood to a fire, crack the door. With the upper "valve" open, the air should rush through the door crack toward the back and up the chimney. Wait a moment for the flow to stabilize, then slowly open the door and insert the wood. Then close the door and close the "valve. Hang in there, Matt
Hi, I am a firefighter and want to warn you and the first poster that IF ANY SMOKE COMES INTO THE HOUSE WHEN YOU "TURN A VALVE" YOUR STOVE IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY AND IS A DEADLY HAZARD! The chiminy pipe is supposeed to be sealed, if it is not carbon monoxide will get into the house. Go to www.lopifire.com/productguide (http://www.lopifire.com/productguide - broken link) and download the owners manual. I would strongly suggest you have a CERTIFIED chiminy inspector do an inspection and certification on these fireplaces. I have one in our businessModerator cut: no business websites, please and another in a rental home. both were just inspected, cleaned and certified by a certified chiminy sweep company.
Depending on the stove, our stoves directions say that the top push rod should be pulled out for starting and after the fire is established pushed in to slow the flow of heated air up the vent, the bottom push valve should be pushed in for starting and then pulled out to slow the flow of air to the fire thus slowing the burn. Please check the owner's manual first. Also, make sure the company checks the door seal, if it is not perfect have it replaced.
Thank you all for your replies - and yes, thank you to the fireman, we have the receipt from a Lopi certified chimney sweep.
It takes some tweaking. The owner's manual gives you only the vaguest of directions and it's taken us a little while to figure how much to shut the bottom and open the top and vice versa to start or maintain the fire. We're still learning but we've made great leaps and are able to do a more controlled burn now. The trick apparently is to get a very hot fire going before shutting the top valve and leaving the bottom valve side open to let the heat build up so that the blower will come on. Once that's done the air intake can be cut to half to keep the fire hot but not burn at the speed of light.
It's been a learning experience but we truly are enjoying it. We have a 2100 square foot open plan home and it has done an excellent job of keeping us fairly warm - the heater doesn't turn on much. If we close a couple of doors it's just plain balmy in the living room (just like I like it!).
Again, thanks to you all for the detailed instructions. Since the opening and shutting of valves is exactly backwards to what it seems it should be, we've printed this out and keep it with the manual in case we have a brain collapse and forget what we're doing.
Also remember to clean that chimney every year as dampered down fires cause a build up of resins that can catch fire in your chimney. I never get any build up in my chimney as I have a fireplace with not much of a damper and my wood is very dry and my fires are very hot clean burning fires. But this can be a house burner if not kept up with. I check it and brush it out every year but there is never anything in there ! We actually cook on our fireplace about 3 or 4 times per week. I made a grate that we just stick in there over the coals.
Hi again, if it makes you feel any better I had the same experience when we bought honeybee. I thought logically and that turned out to be a mistake. FYI, i found that there is a great cream sold at most Home Depots for cleaning the glass. also shaklee makes a glass cleaner paste that works great . I am having a vibration problem with my fan and I took it apart and found worn bearings. I looked up the cost of a new fan and it is $275 plus shipping. I am going to take the fan apart this summer and rebuild it. That should cost about $30. Have a great Christmas and Happy holiday to all here!
I forgot to mention that I have had the air tubes on the top of the fire box fall down as they are hit by wood being put in. I found that the two sliding collars on the end hold the tube in and sometimes the set screw is missing. i took the rings out and drilled them to accept a set screw, I used a phillips and indexed it so when the tube holes are down I can get to the screw easily from below. Cheers to all!
Concerning those "air tubes", where do they get any air? I see little "bursts" of flame up there as though air was being forced in, but I have no idea where the air would come from. Hang in there, Matt
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