Englander 28-3500 furnace install / mods

I didn't read the whole topic, but 1/2" slots for wood ashes is about ideal.

Nice Mods.

Even if coals did fall into the ash pan, they would still burn and give off heat right? Not just a waste.

mustash29 said:

I filled the oil tank on Nov 2. It's been a chilly winter to say the least. I am now at a needle width below 1/4 tank. Wood use has been about 3.5 cord so far.

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I'm at 100 gallons so far for this winter, but probably will have burned about 50 more by the time they come for the end of heating season fill in April. That will be a lot for me-I believe last year I only burned about 50 gallons the entire winter, but temperatures were milder and I had more wood ready to go. I ran through my seasoned wood by about the second week of February. I've been doing pallet wood fires now and then and trying to use the oil heat sparingly.

Have you seen the

mustash29 said:

Sort of, depending on how the air controls are set. The main control washes the glass and feeds the firebox. The spin draft knob allows for "underfire" air and will tend to burn down the coal bed fast, leaving little coals for a quick re-fire. Allowing large coals to drop into the ash pan also hinders the ability to hold a healthy coal bed.

I believe this beast would be SOOO much better if it had dedicated secondary combustion tubes.

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Have you seen this tread, yet? Looks pretty easy. If I end up with another Englander Add-on, I really want to try something similar, for fun.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/modifying-a-central-wood-furnace-for-secondary-burn.54712/

Great thread. I'm def. going to pick mine up this weekend. I might add a steel plate to the bottom like you did. Prob. start with at least 3/8 grooves for proper airflow. Sounds like my life will be a lot easier starting this season.

When I looked at the stove in Lowes, I noticed a steel plate below the top baffle, that seems to slide front to back. What's that for? Appears to be a damper.

So just keep it all the way forward?

Cool...I haven't purchased the stove yet. I'm sure there's an instruction booklet.

I've got this stove have had it for 5 or 6 years. It's a fire breathing beast! All manual and fail safe. Replaced blower once after 3 years and took out Honeywell thermostat and replaced with an adjustable snap disc. Way quieter now. Chews up about 9 cords of wood per winter and burns clean once ya learn it's burn curve. It's a dang good furnace.

mustangwagz said:

I've got this stove have had it for 5 or 6 years. It's a fire breathing beast! All manual and fail safe. Replaced blower once after 3 years and took out Honeywell thermostat and replaced with an adjustable snap disc. Way quieter now. Chews up about 9 cords of wood per winter and burns clean once ya learn it's burn curve. It's a dang good furnace.

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What's your square footage your heating?

Wellll....my place is only like 1700 sq ft, so it COOKS us out no joke. i messed up back when i bought it and went way to big. i burn it at No less than 300 degree's Flue temp. (This temp is measured 18-20" above the collar on top of stove via a pyrometer probe and digital thermostat). Reason i cook it so hot is to achieve clean burn. I also drilled holes in the "Clean wash" lip near the door, they Sometimes act as half-fast (..read that quick) secondary burn holes. Yes, its overkill by a LONG shot, but when its 0 degree's outside, our windows and doors are open and we're wearing our skippies around.

The neighbor bought one also, his home is like 3200 sqft, it keeps his place in the 80's all winter. He has no problems with his either other than getting wood, he works to much and is to damn cheap to buy a log truck load if needed. lol

As for smoke shelf, yes run it with it pushed all the way back and the lip curled down...UNLESS you want to warm your flue quickly at start-up. If you pull it forward, and run it to warm it up, it'll help with flue draft issues and back-puffs. I have no drafting issues, i got lucky. lol ive seen some ppl with crappy chimneys have lots of smoke issues, this is one trick i learned thanks to the Wood-Chuck's design with their "slide" above the fuel door.

If i had time and energy to put in the secondary burn tubes like a gentleman did over on the other forum i run around on, i could cut wood consumption down by atleast 1/3 but i aint gonna monkey with it right now. just got a pellet stove, been playing with that instead. so far, got 11 cords of White and Red oak, Locust, cherry, hickory, and a little bit of maple, and just ordered 3 tons of pellets..i aint playin this year.. hahaha

I may have to pick your brain re. the snap disc once I get the stove. I was wondering what the factory settings are on the thermostat, and if I would be able to adjust to fit my application? I took a quick peek at the blower in the store the other day...I didn't notice of there were oil ports? 3 years doesn't seem like a long time for a motor to last if you can clean/oil it?

I was hoping to save on wood consumption with this stove. It sounds like your usage is based on you letting it roar most of the time. Again...I might find that I can't damp it down as much as I want at night, as the blower might not stay on? I too, may have to fiddle with other thermostat options.

Factory On setting is 150 Degrees, Factory off is 100, Emergency ON is 200..that means its gotta come on at that setting or risk overfiring the firebox adn crackign stuff. you can adjust the on and off but dont touch the emergency ON setting. Reason i changed mine to snap disc is cuz the honeywell is a bi-metal type, pretty common, but its NOISY in my opinion. I have mine in my main living quarters just blowing freely through the house. i dont have a basement in this old dump. so i cant plumb it into duct work.

Oil ports, yes it has them...my first motor i NEVER realized it and missed it in the manual...the 2nd motor i seen them when it showed up in the box, actually had stickers on em. They're SMALL and hard to get to, especially the one thats towards the inside of the blower..my suggesetion is Get an old bottle of rem oil, (gun cleaning oil) when its empty, take a WD-40 straw, and jam it into the opening of the bottle squirter..then fill with 30 weight motor oil (non detergetnt stuff) and bingo itll make life easier.

As for Having it roaring...no, i burn it at a clean flue temp accroding to my wood. its just to dang big for my little house and cooks us out. haha. I run it with the bottom spin draft open "the thickness of a nickel" by this i mean open the spin draft, hold a nickel against the door, spin draft shut till it wont close no more cuz nickel is sammiched in there, then pull nickel out. Thats a pretty common base setting for this furnace, then use your top to control it the rest of way. i NEVER have to slide the top draft more than half ways open, ever...maybe if im starting stubborn wood with a very small amount of kindling, but still, i never ever run it wide open, never have. haha. Will blower shut off at night?..nope, it stays on pretty much continuous here at my place when its fired up unless fire dies out or power goes out. Will the glass get dirty?..yah if your burning crap wood, wet, unseasoned stuff. Good dry seasoned wood wont make alot of water vaper and creosote. 9 chances outta ten, if you got good dry wood, you'll prolly have to close the bottom spin draft a few notches and then resort to top slide draft. Im all about nice dry wood, or atleast Non-green wood.

Get yourself a stove pipe thermometer, either the cheap magnet kind that they sell at stores, or buy a nice digital one with an alarm on it for high temps or low temps and a pyrometer probe this way you can better learn the stove when you get it. got my fancy one for 80 bucks shipped to the house, i forget the maker of it, its pretty neat. Sure, the glass will show ya flames, but is it burning clean? lol i worry to much about clean pipes cuz i had a chimney fire as a kid and it scared the chit outta me, now im 29, have a wife, a 5yr old boy, and another on the way....Best bet your butt im making things as fail-safe as possible.

ill help as much as possible on other questions if anyones wandering.

Because I use this for my shop, I have to stoke the stove for the night around 9 or 10 pm. I trudge across the yard, and fill the bed of hot coals to the brim with wood for the night. then, I'll usually bank it all the way down. With my current stove, (3' long firebox made from an old water tank....no gasket on the door) the bed of coals is so hot, I mix some 1/2 seasoned wood on top of the dry wood. I bank it down for the night and go out around 6 or 7 in the morning.

I was hoping that with the new stove, I can fill it around 9 pm, and still have the blower running in the morning. I'll have to see if I can get 9 hours out of it and not have the blower shut down.

Thats possible, but itll depend greatly on the wood you burn. I can burn big chunks of hickory for 12+ hours and still burn clean with it. BIG piecces of hickory around here are hard to find tho, most are pretty small still but when someone offers me a honkin big shagbark, i drag it home somehow..even if i gotta pull it with my car! hahaha. Great wood in these stoves or any stove for that matter.

I burn alot of locust too, ppl always say "geeze, burning good fence posts..." So what, they aint no skinny little tree's so im gonna use em! They'll make your baffle bow when they're cookin!

I have a lot of oak this year, which is similar to the hickory. Typically, I use a lot of maple, beech, and if I'm forced to....ash. I get cherry too on occasion. Looks like I'm going to have to set this up, and see how it works best. It can't be worse than the stoves I've been using for the last 20 years.

Just fyi, i bought my 28-3500 new last year. when the time came to oil the motor i couldnt find the ports. I am pretty mechanically inclined/a big DIYer so that stumped me. I emailed the company and was informed that they are now using both motors with and without oil ports and its hit and miss as to what you get on it. I do love the furnace for as a first time burner though. I am going to look into adding on a filter box to keep the basement dust in the basement.