Now is NOT the time!!!!

It’s been fairly cold in this part of the country lately hanging around zero, wind, snow and haven’t past much over 10F. No big deal I love it! It also means burn time the time I, as well as most of us wait for.
To get to the story here I have a Lopi 1750i insert and absolutely love it. The only trouble it has ever given me is the bypass getting jammed and especially when she’s hot! Well last night it was bed time I packed it full of splits got it going good went to close the bypass..... no go! Stuck solid! So I let it burn open pipe for the night and shoveled out the hot coals this morning before work so it could cool during the day. Worst part was the propane furnace running today!
Rushed home from work with the intention of disassembly and cleaning of the whole stove. I figured why not start from the top down especially since we were roasting at 15-20 degrees today Busted out the ladder and the soot eater and polished the chimney.
Couldn’t pass up an aerial stack shot either

On to the inside, not much in the pipe so that was good

 

Similar here without the stove trouble to prompt it. It was hot here today, high of 24, so I also let the stove die out during the day and inspected the chimney before the cold spell this weekend.

I didn’t take pictures but the IS is keeping it nice and clean. Now if I only had a wood collection like yours!

 

Start disassembly and cleaning. Remove the roll pins to get the secondary tubes out. Then push up the front two fire brick and remove the front steel baffle. The ash on top of the upper bricks can build up and hinder the bypass so I cleaned them up good.
Then the back two bricks and center baffle comes out allowing access to the baffle. Here’s the culprit!! After the bypass is out you have to pull the floor fire bricks out to make room to remove the rear steel baffle. I got it out took it out to the garage and between the grinder and wire wheel got it cleaned up a bit Knocked off the sharp edges and cleaned everything out good. Start putting it back together and looked at the upper steel baffles and noticed they are sagging a bit, I’m guessing from heat. The bypass rides half on the rear fire brick and half over the opening in the rear baffle. What I notice is that since the baffles are sagging it allows the bypass plate to tilt when it gets over the bricks. This seems to cause the worst of the jamming which is worse when it’s dirty. I think I’ll invest in some new steel baffles or try to square these up some day. For now I put it back together and it seems a lot better.
While I had it tore apart I also removed the blower assembly to clean it. Let me just say if you have a blower on your stove take it off and clean it! Holy dust bunnies!!! Blew it all out with the compressor and the whole set up is like new again! Just in time for the weekend deep freeze that’s on the way!
I think HDRock youve got the freestanding version have you had any trouble like this?

 

Glad that you got it all figured out and it went smoothly! Just in time for the cold snap! Hahaha

 

She’s cruising 550 right now bypass closed and air closed rolling some secondary burn all is well. What do you and blacksmith think about straightening the steel baffles Scotty Overkill ?

 

Nice work!

It's got to be really nice now that you can rechooch and keep the propane in the tank.

 

For sure! I hate that sound of pennies blowing out of the furnace vent!

 

Apparently our stoves are not the same, I didn't know that the insert had a bypass in it, my free standing does not have it.
The only time I ever took that big baffle plate out of the back was when I wanted to lighten the stove to bring it in the house.
Are you talking about the baffle (brick) supports look warped?
Those look straight to me on mine, the secondary tubes are sagging a little tiny bit, not a problem though and it is to be expected.

This is my stove



This is your insert

 

How did you control the fire with it stuffed full and the bypass stuck open?

 

Hmmmm....that’s pretty interesting ! I always thought the free standing and insert were just the same! As far as the sagging pieces I’m talking about reference #4, #5 and #6. The worst being #5 and #6 which allows that rear set of bricks to be much lower and cause a funny angle on the bypass plate #7.
How is your stove to add wood to and get started since it’s on permanent bypass? If I forget to open mine for reloading the flames and smoke and such are meeting you at the door...

 

Just shut the air control down all the way. Basically was just straight piping the heat and smoke right up the chimney. Not exactly the same stove my bypass operates from the front, but ITV works the same.

 

That is funny.


Non EPA stoves ran open pipes for years and with good wood and air control, burned fine, Glad you got it fixed on the warm day J. Dirt

 

That’s what I figured it’s no different than an older style stove when it’s open. I guess it’s just a matter of more efficiency. This thing still amazes me as far as smoke output. There’s a little at start up and reload until the wood takes fire, then I usually can’t even smell it burning outside let alone see anything out of the chimney!

 

That’s for sure, but it was the best day out of the last month and what’s here today. Lesson learned for sure! Going to make full disassembly and cleaning a yearly off season ritual.

 

I have an Avalon 1750 which is the same parent company as your Lopi (Travis Industries).
My stove is freestanding and does not have a bypass. My draft is very good and startups are quite easy.
I also have a Lopi Liberty which has a similar internal design to all of our stoves. The baffle supports are known to weaken due to heat. They may scale and sag but that’s all dependent on use and burn habits. They’re steel and can be replaced with oem parts. There was a guy on ebay making supports and tubes for Travis stoves.
I rehabbed the Liberty from a Craigslist score (2002 model) and noticed the baffles and cracks at the corners around the baffle and secondary manifold. I had my welder buddy make a new center baffle support. Good quality angle iron and a steady hand is all ya need. I think my dealer’s list price was $70ish.

For reference, my 1750 is 7yrs old and shows no damage to the steel components. They are “wear” parts, but aren’t showing any wear ... yet.