Englander 17-VL multiple issues

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Savant

New Member
Jan 16, 2016
1
Louisiana
Had a 17-VL installed in our living room and have been having different problems since beginning to use it.

First off, I was having a ton of difficult starting fires and the house was filling with smoke which I settled by checking and positioning the baffles correctly. Although the difficulty starting a fire did not subside, most of the smoke issues did.

I read to try different wood thinking somehow i had damp wood.. which is oak and had been indoors for the past year - when we bought the stove... we were delayed getting it installed. Tried different wood... fires still extremely inconsistent. Have store-bought oak and hickory... even some pine doesn't burn completely

Some of the problems:
1) Turbulence. Sometimes enough to extinguish a new fire... once the fire is going it whips around wildly... Sometimes I end up with what looks like a smoke cyclone rolling in a forward rotation inside the box - circling not traveling up to the baffles. Not exaggerating that. Smoke does push back out into the room on us occasionally... this is after warming the flue before starting the fire.
2)Fires remain difficult to start and maintain... sometimes after I have a good fire, it still goes out and leaves me with half-burned wood.
3) We've only had a really good fire with secondary burns once or twice.... and with all the youtube viewing, seeing the great fires and secondaries people are getting its pretty frustrating.

We have 12' of pipe. The installer measured and the clearances are correct with that and the pitch of the roof. The manual says the stove needs 15'. The chimney is on the front side of the house. We do have large trees in the yard in front and behind the house.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice!
 
Sounds like weak draft. This stove needs at least the recommended chimney height.
 
Try this analogy (since I see so many problems blamed on a stove). Think of your system like a car. The stove is just the gas tank, the wood is the gas, and the chimney is the engine. How often have you seen problems with the tank? In an car we hardly ever have someone say..."It's running bad, it must be the fuel tank". Same should go for a stove. Rarely is it the stove (it's just a steel box). So I would say your issue is the fuel or the engine. The manual calls for 15' and you have 12'. 3'ft can be a huge difference. These things are designed and have specs and if you don't follow them it's not the fault of the stove. IMO you need to start with good fuel and the right engine and diagnose from there if it's not working.

BTW; In all my time on this forum I have very rarely seen someone say " I installed exactly to specifications, have seasoned wood, and it still doesn't work".
 
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I'm one of the biggest cheerleaders on the forum for this stove. These things run like nobodies business once you get them figured out. I'm going to blame your wood, technique, and chimney height right off the bat.

You can get away with a shorter chimney, but in mild weather, you need to babysit the fire to get it going. My chimney is 10 feet total, but I'm guessing Saskatchewan mild and Louisiana mild are two different creatures.

The smoke cyclone is probably the door open too much and it stalls the draft. The door open too much or too little can flub your fire.

If you have a good fire and shut the door, it won't die. If you close it too soon, or throttle back the air hard, it could die. Also, poor wood will cause this.

How big are these trees by your chimney, and how far away are they? This can affect draft.

Describe how you start the fire, what size of wood, how you shut it down etc
 
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