For many years I have been using a Papa Bear Fisher wood stove as a secondary means for heating. The Papa Bear is a great stove but it has one major drawback, it is grossly inefficient! At best it burns at approximately 35% efficiency which means about 65% of the BTUs contained in the wood goes right up the chimney. As a result a lot of wood is required to raise the room temperature to a comfortable temperature.

Second is because so much of the heat and secondary gases from the wood goes up the chimney the chimney gets very dirty requiring it to be clean three or more times a year to avoid build up which can result in chimney fires.

I replaced the Papa Bear wood stove with a Lopi Liberty wood Lopi woodstove stove. It is one fantastic stove with an efficiency rating of approximately 76% which means rather than 65% of the available BTU in the wood going up the chimney only 24% goes up the chimney. This result is a much cleaner chimney that only has to be cleaned once a year.

The Lopi Liberty wood stove is an air tight stove with a re-burning feature that burns the secondary gasses generated from the wood. The Liberty is the cleanest burning large stove ever approved by the EPA with only 2.6 grams of emission. It is also the largest stove made by Lopi, a division of Travis industries located in Mukilteo, WA. Their product line represents the best American made wood stoves.

Some of the great features of the Liberty wood stove are as follows:

· It has a cooking surface whereby you can actually cook on it in the event of a power outage.

· The front loading door has a large viewing window to view the fire.

· The large firebox can accommodate logs up to 24 inches in length.

· It features a single control to adjust air flow which makes it easy to achieve burn times up to 10 to 12 hours.

· The two-step top design enhances it’s functionally by providing a large cooking and warming surfaces as well as radiant and convective heat.

· It also has an optional blower fan that mounts on the bottom of the stove which greatly increases the output.

From my experience from burning wood in fireplaces, wood furnaces and various wood stoves over the years the Lopi Liberty wood stove is the best on the market for the price. It also qualifies for a $300 Federal Tax Credit under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2011. If you are in the market for a wood stove or a wood stove fireplace insert, I strongly recommend the Lopi.

Buying Firewood

Chimney Design and Construction

Chimney Fire Prevention

Chimney Sweeping | How to Clean a Chimney