Lopi Liberty Woodstove: A Review
The Lopi, (low pie) Liberty is the largest woodstove in the Lopi line. It weighs 490 pounds and is made of steel. The salesman said it is capable of heating a 2500 square foot house, and can handle a 24-inch log in its large burn bed. I’m pleased to announce that it heats our 2400 square foot house with ease.
The Lopi Liberty wood stove is one of the biggest stoves that is certified as a clean burner by the EPA. This means you won’t be smoking out the neighborhood with noxious fumes.
It burns so clean, in fact that it can be used even during days that air quality is bad. This assumes, however that you are burning dry well seasoned wood. Wet or green wood will burn dirty no matter how good the stove. When the fire is going well, the only thing you can see coming out of the chimney is heat, there is virtually no smoke.
The liberty has large flat cook tops that are perfect for heating whatever you desire. We don’t use it for cooking food but we do put a pot of water with potpourri on the stove. The sweet smelling vapors rise with the heat and spread throughout our house quickly.
Starting the fire in the Liberty wood stove is very easy. The Liberty has two air control valves that when open, pull a lot of fresh air into the burn bed. A little bit of paper under some kindling with some big logs on the side and one match is all you need to start a raging fire.
Once the fire is going well, the easy to close air intake levers can be adjusted to the perfect burn intensity. If you want a fast burning hot fire, keep the airflow high, if you want a slow burning ambient heat fire, tamp it down a bit by closing the air valves
Just before I go to bed at night, I put a couple of hardwood logs into the fire and tamp the air inflow all the way closed. This keeps the fire going, but creates a very slow burn. When I wake up the next morning the house is still warm, the wood is burned to ash, however there is a nice layer of coals still glowing. It is very easy to restart the fire simply by opening the airflow and adding wood.
The literature on the Lopi Liberty woodstove says that it will burn for 12 hours if properly tamped down. I have started fires easily after 16 hours though. As long as you have some good ash to insulate the coals, the fire is easy to start back up. The firebricks inside the burn bed and the surrounding steel stay warm for a long time and help in restarting the fire.
One of my favorite features of the wood stove is the large viewing window on the front. Being able to see the fires’ glow makes for a nice mood-setting feel. When the lights are low the fire flicker is mesmerizing.
I definitely got everything I could have asked for with the Lopi Liberty woodstove. It’s large enough to heat our whole house, it’s efficient and clean enough to use all the time, and it’s sturdy enough to last a lifetime. I’m sure this thing will outlive my house and me. If you have a large house and are in the market for a wood stove, I would certainly consider the Lopi Liberty.
