Englander 28-3500 tips

I just upgraded to the Englander 28-3500 wood furnace from a DutchWest woodstove.
2800 sq ft home
Stove in the basement. .
Any tips or suggestions on how to "dial it in"..
I cant seem to get the lower air inlet and the upper air control right...I'm either getting too hot... (never overfired) or too low and getting creosote. ..

brenndatomu said:

Hi Nick, welcome to the jungle! This question has been raised here in the past, if you use the search feature here it may answer some questions for you until the Englander furnace owners show up...

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Thanks
I've been reading ALOT... I've been burning wood for a long time and was surprised at the creosote creation after only 1 fire... learning this thing is gonna be "fun"

My Dutchwest had the eco burn system in it... this is quite different

Ok... one night in... 32degrees outside...82 inside...this thing puts out a lot.of heat. ..
Now the creosote situation. .
My existing flue leaves the flue collar and goes up 4' to a 90...then 5.5' to a "tee" then 26' straight up to the cap....there is an incline on the 5.5' section...but i dont think that its enough.
The creosote was only in the first few sections of pipe and in the stove...
I'm changing the 90 out for 2 ...45 degree bends... then connecting them with a straight pipe... this will remove the horizontal flat run and I think seriously increase my draft and heat in the pipe....
Thoughts anybody......

maple1 said:

I would buy a manometer. Then there will be no guessing on the draft situation.

How full are you loading it? Smaller loads might help for this time of year.

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Just learned about the manometer.... never needed anything like that with the Dutchwest...

Not that full... still getting used to the stove.. dont want to go too high and hit the baffle plate..

Been reading here alot about this stove...
Coal bed...draft controls... etc

I will post before and after pics of the change...

I only burn seasoned oak..maple and cherry...moisture content measured with a meter is always lower than 18%. I check it before bringing it into the house. The wood is seasoned in a covered shed with ventilation front / back and top.

I have only loaded it with partial loads, but I think that I am not letting the fire get hot enough before closing the air controls. More time in the drivers seat needed here.

1 thing that I have read is that the spin draft control in the ash door is really only to be used for coal fires. Most of the threads I read here are that this is closed all the way and the air is mainly controlled via the air control at the top..... Correct / No / Advise.....

Speaking to a local fireplace place... they told me that the 2 45's will be better that the single 90. He said and I quote "you are asking that smoke to do an awful lot"

He believed that since the creosote was only in the stove, lower parts of the vertical and the long horizontal run, that the smoke was cooling to much too soon. I do have stage 1 and 2 creosote in the main vertical. The type of creosote that i an finding in the pipes and stove is not actually stage 3, (tarry) it is more like a liquid, very runny and almost no viscosity. Like black water. When it cooked off it did turn crusty.

As far as a Manomater.. / Barometric damper, I am going to need your help if I decide to go this route after making the current corrections. If worse comes to worse I can go back to the single 90. I have no idea how to use / "tune in" the damper.

I have read a few posts here vis-a-vis the damper and it seems that it is half and half with some people installing one under advice from other posters, only to cover it with foil because if didnt "work". Of course it may not have worked because it was not dialed in correctly.

The Dutchwest now seems like a playskool "my first woodstove" compared to this beast. It was basically a load and go.....hot fire, turn the knob, get the woosh.....done!

Now I almost feel like a mad scientist in the basement. LOL but I am ready to learn... as long as I dont burn the house down.

ok... here is the before pic... need a few pieces of pipe to make the new connections. Going to take the advice and put in a manual damper since I have it all open. Tomorrow I should have it done. Any suggestions on where the damper should go?

BTW when I disconnected the piping at the tee, I felt and heard a nice draft. In fact a piece of tissue paper got sucked right in. Its 60 degrees out and there is a ENE wind at 8mph... the "draft" is most likely the result of the venturi effect on the pipe.....but its promising. The inside of the vertical run showed no creosote...... even more promising.

How far up from the flue collar should the MPD go? I cant seem to find anything that gives an actual measurement or at least a basic guideline.

No draft spec in the manual.

The existing pipe is being removed and replaced with 2.. 45degree bends.. to make the very flat horizontal run go away. This is believed to be causing the creosote problems or at least greatly contributing to it. I will be coming up about 18" from the flue collar to the first 45... I guess install the MPD just before the first 45?

OK... all done. I am going to break down what I did in several different posts because I have a few questions to answer and some information that was given to me by someone that knows about these stoves and also owns a fireplace business in South Jersey.

But First I would like to thank everybody that has responded to my questions and have been gracious and kind with their answers. I hope that with the information that I am going to share, that I can do the same for someone as all of you have done for me.

This is the pic of the after. There is an almost 1" rise from the upper 45 to the "tee", although you cant really tell from the pic. There is a MPD located just above the first 45.

I have a roaring fire in right now to burn off the new pipe. (it was lit after this pic was taken).

OK now for information...
To answer Maple1..... I was making creosote like it was my JOB.... and I was selling it by the ounce. There was literally over a 1/4 cup of liquid runny muck in the bottom of the stove. When I opened the ash door it came out like I spilled a glass of it on the floor.

I do not have a pic, but it took 2 kitchen towels to clean it up.

As far as the manual, it is vague and references that local codes...bla...bla...bla...

The manual damper was installed and the spring is quite tight. I will keep an eye on it, hopefully with it being as far down as it is, wind plus the spring tightness should not be a problem.

The Englander 28-3500 spin draft on the ash pan door.
Now this information is being passed on by me from the man at the fireplace store. I am going to take his advise and experiment from here. I will post my own findings. I just wanted to preface with that.
Per him..... the spin draft knob is only used when making a bed of coals. This knob is opened and left open until there is a 2-3" bed of coals. This allows the newly created draft of the chimney pipe to suck air in from under the coals thus feeding the coals from the bottom and making a hotter fire. The slide draft on the top is also left full open during this process. According to him this is a gradual building process because as the chimney gets hotter, more draft, more air in the bottom, feeds the coals, hotter fire...etc...etc..etc.
Once the coal bed is 2-3" thick, is when this can be closed and larger pieces added. But!! according to him, dont fill the box, he told me that when you drop a bunch of wood on the coals, and then close the door, you are smothering the fire until it can catch up....makes sense, didnt think about that. Instead place 2-3 pieces on the coals and let them catch, then 2-3 more, then 2-3 more until the box is filled. 10 minute intervals between feedings. Coals stay hot, flue stays hot and the wood that is added catches to keep the entire system breathing properly. During this time he said that the upper air control can be adjusted as needed, after the last load of wood, this can be banked down and set for the long burn.

Now....as far as the ash pan......ash slots...and ash falling outside of the pan problem.
He told me that in his opinion this is a design flaw that they do not want to fix. He said that there are a lot of people spending a lot of time making metal plates and inserts to cover the sides to keep the ash holes over the pan.... his fix was simple.... fire brick... buy some fire brick and lay it down on the sides. Leave the center open for the ash, and for the air to flow through when making a coal bed. This will also hold more heat in the bottom, act like a gauge for making a nice bed of coals and solves the problem because the air that is blocked by the fire brick when making a bed of coals, is minimal. When the spin draft is closed, there is no air being fed in from the bottom anyway. I followed this advise also and will post my own findings. In the worst case I bought a few extra fire bricks that I can take out and keep on hand for the future if / when I need them.