I have not seen Lopi stoves so cannot say whether good or bad. Personally I like Harman pellet stoves, I like the the way the pellets are augured in and ashes pushed out, makes clean up easy and they do seem to be very reliable. I have a older countryflame stove which is ok but Harman seems better. And no I am not a Harman dealer, just someone who learned nuances and features that are better than stove I have. Whichever stove you buy, look for stove that can burn multi biofuels since future pellets will be made from other sources besides wood, like switchgrass, cherry pits, walnut shells. Lot of possibilities but many sources will create more ashes and most wood pellets stoves cannot handle that. Jasper

For us, keeping paint on our 100yo cedar siding has been a real headache. However, you're talking to old wood fanatics here (me included) who consider it worthwhile - on a historic house, having the original wood is worth it. Your house is not historic (based on date and I think I remember other threads about it). So I don't know if you would have an authenticity issue with the wood. For me, one issue would be ease of colour changing. I remember your brick, so colour will be tricky. You might like to change it (all) sometime, and vinyl does not invite painting. If you did want to cover the wood, I'd go with metal rather than vinyl myself. Vinyl just seems like a very inferior material, whereas metal siding is getting quite cool these days - lots of new options out there. In fact, that may be a solution for your brick too. Whole house covered in metal? Or Hardiplank? That way if in 100 years a fanatic buys your house, the original brick is retrievable :-) Karin L

What your tech did is to install a sediment trap or 'dirt leg' on the gas line. It is not only common, it is a Code requirement to prevent dirt or flakes of metal from the inside of the pipe from clogging the gas inlet to any appliance. This dirt leg is installed so that it can be easily removed for cleaning in the event it does become full. See the link below and scroll to partion that defines a sediment trap as used in architecture. Here is a link that might be useful: Sediment Trap

Update: So, said relative copped to knowing something went wrong with the heater but left it on over night while they slept upstairs and turned it off the next morning. Noticed black film on the counters, and the room looking hazy but I guess the soot on the walls was not settled yet, as he couldn't tell. It is what it is. We worked a few weekends trying to clean it up for got little done for two people. We did purchase suitable supplies. We just lacked man power and time. So, I called the a national restoration/cleaning company. They had done some flood stuff in our residence years ago and they did a great job. Were there in a split second it seemed, when the house flooded from a washing machine. Anyhoo, the closest franchise was 99 miles away and they agreed to come. Met with a technician on Feb 28 and we went over the work to be done. Within a few days, I had a quote in hand. We are self pay and not going through insurance. To clean the two rooms of soot and the hallway, the cost would be $1500. We thought that very reasonable and agreed. They arrived 1.5 hours late on Monday the 20th at 11:30 and left at 5. We left the place unlocked and they came back Tuesday, I am not sure what time, but the note they left me says they were finished at 3pm. I returned yesterday, Wednesday, and this is what I came back to. I will post a before and then an after, where I wiped it with 409. If I can wipe it clean, so can they. It should not look like smeared soot. After cleaning, I left a message with the answering service, for the technician to call me. Little did I know that the franchise owner's name is the same, so he is the one to call me this morning. I explained my dissatisfaction with the work and send him 25-30 photos, including those from December, when the issue happened, to the pics of what I had cleaned over the months, and what it looked like after his 2 guys left, and what it looked like after I wiped some places down. I hope to hear something tomorrow, after the morning meeting with the staff/technicians. I was not expecting the room to look like a freshly painted white room but I did expect and was led to believe, that the soot would be cleaned up and gone. There are many places it discolored the paint and I get that. I contracted to have the place cleaned up. They also did not clean the light fixtures as per contract or the 2 inch blinds on 9 windows, per contract. And the hallway was a joke. Most of it had not even been wiped at all. I am not sure how they thought we would not notice. I have not paid one dime yet. Kitchen Ceiling when I walked in Kitchen ceiling after I wiped with 409 Ceiling by upper cabinets Look what a little 409 can do. I should not be having to deal with this. It should have been done right the first time. I feel bad for the owner, with the two schmucks that lost him money on this, because it clearly is not finished. Thing is, I will let him make it right, but I do not want either of those two guys coming back. I want someone who is conscientious about their work and actually gives a hoot.