Englander Model 28-3500

Thank You for the reply
Well I cannot find anything in my manual about plenum distance from joists. 2" ?

Hey waterboss, what does the temp on the front of your stove get to when youve got a good fire going?
And do you leave the bottom draft opened at all ounce its going?
Thanks
Rusty

When I have a good fire going and it's loaded to leave for work or at night for bed, the gauge will run up to a max of about 550 degrees. It stays there for about 4 1/2 - 5 hours of the approximately 8 hour total burn time, when it is then back down to coals. If the gauge was on top like my Lopi I figure that would be a max of about 700 degrees. I have switched the gauges in the past to see, and they run exactly the same. The bottom spinner air inlet. Kind of hard to describe, but if you put an imaginary dot on the door above the spinner at 12 o'clock, and then turned the spinner open only 1 to 1 1/2 of the "vanes" that's it (not full truns). It is only open a very small amount. The bottom spinner, I understand, is really primarily used for burning soft coal in this unit, I only burn wood, but I have found I get the best burn with it like this. I do open it more (half to three quarters of the way) when I am stoking the fire from coals in order to establish flame. I also have the top (primary) air control open all the way at that time. Typically my process in the morning would be to put in three splits loaded north / south, get the flame going, dial bottom spinner to my normal setting, go upstairs, get a cup of coffee, go back down to the basement (about 5 minutes to get coffee) slide top air control to half position, then go watch the news / weather, (about 15-20 minutes) (temp is up to about 315) go back downstairs to the basement, load the stove all the way (maybe ten splits total of varying sizes), move the top air control to just under half way open, go finish watching the news and eat some breakfast while the load is getting a good char, (about 20 minutes), and then slide the top air control to a quarter open. About 15-20 minutes later the temp gauge will be up around 500.

This seems to work well for my set-up, but I'm sure the times and control positions vary from stove set-up to stove set-up and also depending on your chimney type and how "good" the wood you have is. I do vary my wood load and control positions based on outside temps and forecast, as well as early and late season fires. That stuff you'll learn with experience and a little trial and error. Hope this helped.

Upnorth765 said:

Thank You for the reply
Well I cannot find anything in my Englander 28-3500 manual about plenum distance from joists. My plenum is about 2 "off my joists. I just got this stove/furnace add on and have not hooked it up yet but was wondering if I do not hook it into the furnace is there any reason why i cannot just burn wood in it and use it like a regular wood stove and let the air blow out the top without hooking it into the furnace?? Or is it not made for that and my insurance will drop me?

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what is the btu rating for your whole house furnace? , i just about guarentee its higher than the output of the stove, yet there is no problem with a 2 inch clearance to ductwork for that unit i checked in with r/d today about this post and found that 2 inch clearance is just fine, and was asked the same question i just posted, and had it answered as i have written as well. way i see it , ducts should not be "zero clearance " with anything, but the wood furnace is dumping heat that is cycling in and out at 150 degrees at the most and that heat drops significantly after the blower has run for a minute or so, looking at the other furnace mentioned, i didnt look to see if it was mechanically inducted( fan on the front blowing into the firebox) i could see a larger clearance with it in case that fan stuck on and overfired the unit, but ducting should not get hot enough to cause combustion with a few inches clearance.

Well I called Englander today and asked them the recommended height for the furnace plenum. The guy there told me 16 inches???? He must have been wrong though My lp furnace plenum (formerly an oil furnace) is only 2 inches from the joists and there is no way it could be lowered to 16 inches without a total rebuild??? I don't know what the insurance adjuster will say but i may just be using my 28-3500 as just a wood stove and not a furnace add on unless I can get this straightened out. :-(

Thanks for the reply
The Stove is about 18 inches from the Furnace. Do you mean build some sort of plenum just for the wood furnace then route it into the LP furnace plenum??

Englander says 16" and Mike from Englander says 2" ? ? ? Single wall connector pipe has to be 18" from combustibles, so I really find it hard to believe a plenum has to be 16". Not positive but I believe the type of thermostat that comes with that unit has a "limit stop" probably set somewhere around 150-160 deg. which limits the temperature of the air that can enter the plenum/duct system. While it sounds like there is a bit of confusion between the "two Englander reps" , I think the 2" is probably ok, but I would probably go 6" for the first 6' just to be sure.

Mike from Englander??? Who is that??

What do you mean by Plenum?
Which part?
Man im so confused..
Thanks
Rusty

The plenum of the Natural gas or LP furnace is the first piece of metal ductwork that sits on the top of that furnace that the rest of the ductwork branches out from. The 8" pipe (the one in the front on the top of the add-on) typically will be hooked in to this. In your 28-3500 manual look for the page that says "Installation diagrams and Thermostat Wiring for 28-3500/50-SHW35/50-TRW35" Figure 3 shows a typical hook-up to the Nat Gas or LP furnace.

Rusty. Sorry for not explaining the Plenum more. If you would have asked me 2 weeks ago before I bought my 28-3500 I would not have known what a plenum was either. Due to insurance companies I have had to learn alot.
Now what if I built a seperate Plenum on top of my stove and then ran about 4 or 5 seperate 8 inch ducts into my existing duct work or into my LP plenum?? Could I use flexible duct or not ect...What would the insurance people say about that do you think??? I bought the add on to use for my whole house and see no way to make my LP furnace plenum lower. Help is Appreciated.

Upnorth765 said:

Mike from Englander??? Who is that?? ???

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Mike is a guy who is a member of this forum and is in charge of customer service at Englander. He posted a reply to this post a few replies back. Goes by StoveGuy(ESW- England stove works) Anyhow, if this thing is going into an existing furnace duct/plenum, just run black stove pipe up a convenient spot in the duct /plenum. Keep it away from combustibles 6" and you will be fine. The thing has a limit switch and cant get too hot to do any damage. There is no benefit of building a separate plenum on top of you stove. All that is going to do is be a heat loss by having that much more ducting to transfer the heat into before it gets into you main ducts.

Upnorth765 said:

Well I called Englander today and asked them the recommended height for the furnace plenum. They said 16 inches???? My lp furnace plenum (formerly an oil furnace) is only 2 inches from the joists and there is no way it could be lowered to 16 inches without a total rebuild??? I don't know what the insurance adjuster will say but i may just be using my 28-3500 as just a wood stove and not a furnace add on. :-(

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who did you talk to?????

i'll check again and see about getting a clear answer. i'll post when i get it

Mike from Englander looked into this and said that plenum to joist distance is 2 inches and it is listed on the back of the stove on a tag. Thank you for looking into this.

Upnorth765 said:

Mike I got you PM and will be contacting you. Thanks for looking into this.

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no problem, i'll get you straight, sorry for the mixup

update, sorry for taking so long, acording to drawings and specs provided by our safety testing done at warnock hersey the clearance to combustibles from the unit and affected plenum is indeed 2 inches, this is posted on the safety tag on the unit along with aditional clearances and such required by WH for UL listing. i have drafted and will mail a letter on my company letterhead as promised to Phil. if any others who are in need of such a statement from our company as to this issue i will be glad to oblige. please contact me to request this letter. i am going to see to it that this information will be included in the next revision of the installation/operations manual for this model.

mike holton esw

Hi guys....Just registered...Very first post. Google is an amazing tool
I'm in to snowmobiling, therefore my user name.
I too, am looking to Englander 28-3500 for my basement. My current stove, the one that was in the house when we bought the place (7 ys ago) has seen its better days and served its purpose well, its a small stove, its not big enough to "heat" the house, (2050 sq ft. 2 sty Colonial) but enough to "sustain" the current temp. Basically, in the morning, the furnace kicks on, gets the house to 68, and then the stove is enough to hold that temp thru out the day.
It worked well,,,,up to now, its just too burnt out, i'm getting an air leak somewhere, it doesn't hold the fire like it once did.

So with that said.......I'm interested in the 28-3500.
i printed this thread out and will read it in detail later on.

WaterBoss....I'm in Western New York, Buffalo burbs. From your pictures, your set-up / arrangement is very similar to what i have. If your standing in front of your stove, your furnace is just to your left....Correct?

Where did you buy your stove? and if ya don't might posting....how much did ya pay?

To others who posted, what other "add-on furnaces" did you consider before purchasing a 28-3500?

What was the deciding factor: Price? Availability? Supplier location?

I seen on the Englander site, that many Big box store carry these, and some local shops......I haven't gotten on the phone yet to find out if one is currently available locally, i'm willing to travel....say....150 miles from Buffalo to get one. (if that's the one i decide on...????)
This would be a nice summer project for me, i'd like to get one soon to have time to work with and get it piped up, and not have to wait till fall and then be under the gun to get it in.
Plus....with it being 570 lbs....man....how the heck i'm i gonna get it in my basement.....

The blower on these....850 CFM...how big is that? is that like a furnace size blower?

And,,for the blower, Has any one piped in to there cold air return on their furnace? Or does it just draw air from around the stove , in the basement?

Any Input is greatly appreciated if someone knows a shop that has a 28-3500, - WNY, North East Pa, Southern Ontario....please post.

Thanks!

I bought mine at Home depot a couple months ago 1/2 off for $400.

Where are you? and do they have another one??

I am in MN and it was the last one thats why they had it at 1/2 off. Call around who knows what you will find though.

BeGreen said:

Ibjamn, welcome. Is there any possibility of installing a stove on your first floor? A basement stove installation is unlikely to heat the whole house. Woodstoves are designed primarily to be space (room) heaters.

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Hi, begreen i would like to put my two cents worth . I have to disagree with you on that . I heat my single family 28x52 ranch from the basement , with a coal , or pellet stove . or wood stove. It takes a little longer but it can be done. Here is what I did, the stoves are in the basement, i placed a floor grate right above the coal and wood stoves, then i placed two 4x12 registers in the other end of the house, and ran two 6 in. flex ducts to the room were the stove are, and I get natural convection . It works pretty well , when i want to move more heat up i open the cellar door .NO fans just natural convection.

p.s. the other end of the house is 3 to 5 degrees cooler , depending on what the outside temp. is .thats were the bedroom are, and i like it it cooler anyway