Pellet stove modifications

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Thank You - Thank You. I also need to thank several hundred people - in alphabetical order.
But I will wait to do that, after the campaign contributions begin to roll in.
I promise change - change that your pellet stove can believe in.
When I take over - there will be no more pellet pigs - no need - pellets will just appear on your pellet pile as needed.
Your stove will be cleaned by the new department of stove cleaning - the window washed, and the ashes empty. Nobody will be denied service, regardless of existing conditions and defects.
This will reduce the deficit, increase employment, save the polar bears, and put an end to intercontinental drift.

I was awarded what ? What am I running for ?
 
603BOB said:
Thank You - Thank You. I also need to thank several hundred people - in alphabetical order.
But I will wait to do that, after the campaign contributions begin to roll in.
I promise change - change that your pellet stove can believe in.
When I take over - there will be no more pellet pigs - no need - pellets will just appear on your pellet pile as needed.
Your stove will be cleaned by the new department of stove cleaning - the window washed, and the ashes empty. Nobody will be denied service, regardless of existing conditions and defects.
This will reduce the deficit, increase employment, save the polar bears, and put an end to intercontinental drift.

I was awarded what ? What am I running for ?

And don't tell me....a newly appointed (but not voted on) Pellet Czar, that no one will check the background on.
 
Hehehehehe

He saved my butt a lot of trouble and no voiding the warranty :)
I ended up using a 10Kohm resistor to set it back with the digital thermostat controller :) Works great!

Tis my award for 603BOB
 
Now that my stove water heater is working so good I am about to hook my homemade windmill into the loop. The stove is idling along today because it is so warm. It is 38 here today. Only used part of a bag of pellets yesterday and dumped the rest in this morning. House is at 72 degrees. Hooking the thermastat up was one of the best things I ever did. I hit the big 60 today so I am free from all chores and I am doing what I want. I hope everyone had a nice xmas. I know I did.
 
rowerwet said:
Al in MN said:
so who is gonna call him first? I already have a pellet boiler, and I paid $7,200 for my pellet boiler, $2,500 is a steal.....

I can save you even more. with it being so warm here today I think I will sell the extra heat I am not using. For a hundred bucks I will put an hours worth of heat in an envelope and mail it to you. All you have to do when you get it is warm it up to the temperature you want and use it. No shipping charges and no packaging fee. There is a limit on how many you can get. I only have a limited amount so will only sell two per household. They are going fast so please get your order in now. Cash only.

God bless the Birdman
 
Here is the hopper extension I built. It holds about another bag and a three quarters making for a total of two and three quarter bags. I built in a sight glass so I could tell when there was a little over a bag left in the stove. I built it so I did not have to drill any holes in the stove. It uses the old lid holes to fasten the back of it down and I made two fingers on the front to hook tightly under the existing lip. I reused the lid on the extension and it looks like the whole thing came with the stove. The purchase of the Englander was one of the best thing I have ever done it heats my whole house and now I don't have to fill it twice a day. The only thing I am sorry about is that I waited so long to get one.
 

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Honestly, you deserve a medal for what you have created here ! And probably a blue ribbon for any wife who would allow it in the family / living room. But I know you didn`t build it for looks alone. Form above function isn`t the recipe here.
 
Being that the sides of the PDVC gets so hot it`s understandable why you decided to extract heat off them to heat water.
Since they aren`t part of the heat exchanger I wonder how sheet metal side panels (similar to the optional clearance panel on some stoves )with the top and bottom open would work regarding convection ?
 
birdman Jack said:
Here is the hopper extension I built. It holds about another bag and a three quarters making for a total of two and three quarter bags. I built in a sight glass so I could tell when there was a little over a bag left in the stove. I built it so I did not have to drill any holes in the stove. It uses the old lid holes to fasten the back of it down and I made two fingers on the front to hook tightly under the existing lip. I reused the lid on the extension and it looks like the whole thing came with the stove. The purchase of the Englander was one of the best thing I have ever done it heats my whole house and now I don't have to fill it twice a day. The only thing I am sorry about is that I waited so long to get one.

Except for the sightglass(and of course the heat exchanger), almost identical to my extension. The 40 lb hopper capacity was main problem I had with the stove. This past weekend I cut out a 4 inch square on the right side to easily clean the room blower and siliconed a 6 inch patch over it when I finished cleaning the blower. I just use a eyeglass screwdriver to gently scrape the fins and a piece of 1/4 tubing attached to shop vac. It wasn't just that the blower was hard to get to, it was the fact that the holes the sheet metal screws go in do get worn over time. The first time I cleaned my combustion blower, one of the screws broke off. The holes for sheet metal screws just aren't meant to be used forever.
 
Gio said:
Honestly, you deserve a medal for what you have created here ! And probably a blue ribbon for any wife who would allow it in the family / living room. But I know you didn`t build it for looks alone. Form above function isn`t the recipe here.
It is not in the family room it is in my computer room. My man cave where the guys hangout and check to see what I am working on. I always have something new and interesting for them to check out. I think the thing is beautiful. Wife does not mind because we keep the house up around 74 degrees with just the stove. It looks even better with no oil bill at all this year. It is a thing of beauty.
 
Panhandler said:
birdman Jack said:
Here is the hopper extension I built. It holds about another bag and a three quarters making for a total of two and three quarter bags. I built in a sight glass so I could tell when there was a little over a bag left in the stove. I built it so I did not have to drill any holes in the stove. It uses the old lid holes to fasten the back of it down and I made two fingers on the front to hook tightly under the existing lip. I reused the lid on the extension and it looks like the whole thing came with the stove. The purchase of the Englander was one of the best thing I have ever done it heats my whole house and now I don't have to fill it twice a day. The only thing I am sorry about is that I waited so long to get one.

Except for the sightglass(and of course the heat exchanger), almost identical to my extension. The 40 lb hopper capacity was main problem I had with the stove. This past weekend I cut out a 4 inch square on the right side to easily clean the room blower and siliconed a 6 inch patch over it when I finished cleaning the blower. I just use a eyeglass screwdriver to gently scrape the fins and a piece of 1/4 tubing attached to shop vac. It wasn't just that the blower was hard to get to, it was the fact that the holes the sheet metal screws go in do get worn over time. The first time I cleaned my combustion blower, one of the screws broke off. The holes for sheet metal screws just aren't meant to be used forever.
It is only 12" higher but it holds a lot because it is square. I also emailed Englander to make sure adding it would not void my warrantee. They said no problem. They must enjoy what they do and make money to.
 
birdman Jack said:
Gio said:
Honestly, you deserve a medal for what you have created here ! And probably a blue ribbon for any wife who would allow it in the family / living room. But I know you didn`t build it for looks alone. Form above function isn`t the recipe here.
It is not in the family room it is in my computer room. My man cave where the guys hangout and check to see what I am working on. I always have something new and interesting for them to check out. I think the thing is beautiful. Wife does not mind because we keep the house up around 74 degrees with just the stove. It looks even better with no oil bill at all this year. It is a thing of beauty.

I`d love to see it myself. The oil bill (lack of it) has to be the frosting on the cake.
 
Finally got the heater covers put together and mounted. Added insulation on the inside and I hope this will raise the temp on the water a few more degrees. The reflection on top of the stove is from the mirrored tape around the sight glass.
 

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That is some wild lookin stove Birdman. The guys at Englander never dreamed of such a thing.......LOL.

Keep us up-to-date on the performance.
 
macman said:
That is some wild lo stove Birdman. The guys at Englander never dreamed of such a thing.......LOL.

Keep us up-to-date on the performance.
I could not have done any of this without permission from the guys at Englander. I did not want to void my warranty because the stove is only a few months old. I emailed them each time to make sure I was OK before I put anything on. I think I am their secret r&d department. You do have to admit they not only make a great stove but anyone else would have voided my warranty for even asking. Will post my readings in a couple days to let you know how I make out.
 
Here is the monster in my fathers basement. We took a quad Mt Vernon and converted it into a furnace and added a magic heat.
19872_1243940546666_1473931141_30784452_1132798_a.jpg

That is powered by a 14" duct fan and is controlled with an AC thermostat set to turn on and off at 115.

19872_1243940586667_1473931141_30784453_4625490_a.jpg
 
I would like to figure a way to get more heat from my quadrafire castile. I would like to figure a way to blow the heat that accumulates between the fire box and the cast iron sides of the unit. There is a 2 inch gap on both sides with vent at top on both sides. Has anyone done any modificatios to the castile to get more heat? I like what they did with the mount vernon, can you explain the fan you installed on the vent pipe? Thanks for the help.
 
That is just the standard 6" magic heat. We used reducers and silicone to install it and the basement went from being 63 to 70. In return it helps keep the floors warmer.
 
Meneillys Woodland Products said:
That is just the standard 6" magic heat. We used reducers and silicone to install it and the basement went from being 63 to 70. In return it helps keep the floors warmer.
Other than an improved heat exchanger, this is probably the only way possible to get significantly more heat from a pellet stove.
Since the inlet and outlet are quite large I don`t see it as a restriction , but who would want it in their living room?
 
Meneilly’s Woodland Products

How long has that magic heat been operating and how much ash accumulates in it and in the tee with it operating?
 
We have had it in for a month now and it has a cleaning rod like stoves do. My father gives it a pull when he fills it and so far every thing is working good. When we do the full stove cleaning we are going to remove it and see what it is like inside. It shouldn't have a problem because it is just fly ash not something that likes to build up and catch fire. I will take pics while cleaning. We are starting to think about adding another one above because the exhaust is still hot to the touch.
 
Thank you for the reply.

I'd be quite interested in how it all works out when you get around to cleaning things.
 
Meneillys Woodland Products said:
Here is the monster in my fathers basement. We took a quad Mt Vernon and converted it into a furnace and added a magic heat.
19872_1243940546666_1473931141_30784452_1132798_a.jpg

That is powered by a 14" duct fan and is controlled with an AC thermostat set to turn on and off at 115.

19872_1243940586667_1473931141_30784453_4625490_a.jpg

Hows that Magic Heat working? I have one off of my woodburner and wanted to incorporate it into my pellet stove chimney pipe but I was worried about the amount of ash that might build up in it.

Sorry about that. I was on page 3 when I saw the picture of your heat reclaimer and got all excited. I see you have already answered. Thanks. Please keep us updated because I would really like to do the same thing with mine.

On a side note: That must be a bear to get into to clean? I have a Mount Vernon and I have to clean it daily.
 
The blue and orange part is on the old door hinge so it swings open just like the cast door. The flexible pipe lets it move also. We get temps on the sheet metal around 175. That is what happens when you don't buy the furnace you should have to save money.
 
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