Big Box Store Stove Owners. Lets hear from you.

[DavidV]

I'm interested in hearing from folks who own and burn the stoves you find in the big box stores. Englander, Century, Summer's heat, etc. How happy are you with the stove, how does it heat, internal temps, external temps (of your house), etc.

Thanks,

David

 

[SeanD]

I bought an add-on wood furnace, the Englander 28-3500, in October from Home Depot. Installed it myself. Our home is 2500 sf colonial that does not have an open floor plan, but is very well insulated. We looked at Regency fireplace inserts but decided even the smallest insert would cook us out of our family room and leave the rest of the house cold.
My hope was to supplement our natural gas forced air furnace and save a little on the gas bill. The reality is that the wood furnace is our primary source of heat and NG is the backup. In fact the gas furnace has yet to come on. Our November gas bill was $22.29 while our neighbors were $150+. The wood furnace keeps the home between 68 - 70F even when outside temps are in single digits. I could easily raise the inside temp if I wanted to, but we are comfortable at 68.

 

[elkimmeg]

As much as I hate dealing with Home Depot, The stoves are what they are cheaper EPA approved stoves. Did you know Englander is the only EPA approved Pellet stove. These are not bad stoves. What one has to remember no product support at the sales end or service end. Nobody is there to walk you threw the process of the install. Things may be changing at Home Depot as they now entered the tool rental business and advertise service work for power equipment. So they must be subcontracting local companies for this service work. As much as I hate to shop there, I still do. Cannot replace the hours and convience and at times price. I mean 5 year warranty for the fire box. A lot of posters could have done much better buying one of these stoves than, I think its ok used one they know nothing about. The Centry is backed up by one of the largest Wood stove manufactures, Vermont Castings. Parts are available and VC is making a good effort in customer service to win back consumers. (Excellent thread) One other stove I saw recently From True Value, I think, A pellet stove called Cheap Charlie. It works and the owners are happy with it.
I have not seen it this year, But Home Depot last year, carried 22 gage welded seam black smoke pipe. Far superior to 24 snap seam

 

[beagle]

I purchased the Century 2500 insert from Northern Tool Company. Ordered in September, received in late November. Installed myself with a Ventinox SS flexible liner (uninsulated). It seems to work great. Pros: Good heat and beautiful flames. Cons: Firebox is on the small side, and the blower does not seem to move much air. Overall I am very plaesed with it, considering the price I paid.

 

[babalu87]

I have not seen it this year, But Home Depot last year, carried 22 gage welded seam black smoke pipe. Far superior to 24 snap seam

Shipping costs on the welded pipe have to be the reason nobody (even good local stove shops) is carrying it any longer
They can fit about 20 snap-pipes in the same space as one or two welded pipes

 

[elkimmeg]

Too bad it was a superior product. I know it was harder to cut and corrugate. No flexibility with adjustiable elbows but product quality was heads and tails over thiner gage snap fit alternative.

 

[mtguy]

I purchased an Englander wood burning insert from our local hardware store for $900 after comparing much higher priced stoves. I installed the stove and flex liner myself 2 months ago. Since then I have burned about 2/3's of a cord of fir and have not turned the heat on yet on the main level of the house. The gas furnace heats the basement to 62 degrees.
I try to keep the house temperature at 72, but can run it up to 80 degrees pretty easily and have had no trouble heating thru 2 spells of minus 25 degrees outside temps. Wake up to 68-70 inside temps.
Overall, Englander provided me with good answers to my questions during install and were easy to contact by phone.
My only complaint is the noisy blower when running on high speed, but so far am quite satisfied with my total investment of a little less than $1300.

Mt

 

[DavidV]

These are the stories I was interested in. Keep them coming folks. I have noticed that many of the people who have "high end" stoves kind of give off a disdain for the bread and butter stuff. I'm in the middle. I have hit a point in my life where I am transitioning from stoic functionality toward comfort and beauty. Personally I like the englander stoves. Very clean lines. I was going to go with an Englander insert for my own home but when I went to order it at the big box store I got sticker shock. they wanted 1300 for it. I went with a used appalachian. quite pleased with my choice. Appalachian has been great for customer support. But my main purpose in asking this question is to find out the experiences of those who bought the big box store stoves because I suspect they are just as happy as those who spent more on the "boutique" stoves.

Any negative experiences out there?

 

[Rick]

My first stove was a Englander insert. It worked fine for me. It wasn't all that cheap though, I paid over $800 for it 10 years ago. I'm not sure how much other "better" inserts were going for at that time. Back then, I wasn't aware of all the different manufactures, and the big box store I bought it from was still being seen as a Godsend. Support from Englander was also very good.

Rick

 

[Bushfire]

I have not seen it this year, But Home Depot last year, carried 22 gage welded seam black smoke pipe. Far superior to 24 snap seam

Shipping costs on the welded pipe have to be the reason nobody (even good local stove shops) is carrying it any longer
They can fit about 20 snap-pipes in the same space as one or two welded pipes

No this was earlier in teh season (maybe Oct.), but I had no problem getting 22 guage pipe from a good local stove shop in Leominster, MA. Of course, i have no idea if they still have any in stock.

 

[begreen]

Did you know Englander is the only EPA approved Pellet stove.

I'm glad that Englander, Breckwell, Cheap Charlie are providing more cost effective pellet stoves. Competition is good and the high price of some pellet stoves has gotten a bit out of hand IMHO.
Because they pollute so little, pellet stoves do not require EPA certification; some manufacturers, however, voluntarily seek this certification. The Englander EPA tested claim seems a bit more like marketing than a badge of honor.

 

[Michael6268]

Problem with the Englander Add on furnace sold currently at HD is that it is not EPA certified (exempt due to add on furnace status) and from what I have heard produces a lot of creasote and eats a ton of wood.....

 

[SeanD]

MIchael,
You are so right. Not only does it not have an EPA certification that is not required, it also doesn't have airbags or a flight data recorder. I don't understand how you can be critical of a company that doesn't get something that is not required.
As far as what you have "heard", let me tell you what I have experienced. I burn about 15 splits of wood a day. Temperature outside has averaged about 20F. Inside temperature is 68 to 70F. It has exceeded every expectation I had and will pay for itself by spring. I check my chimney regularly and it is clean.

 

[BrotherBart]

MIchael,
You are so right. Not only does it not have an EPA certification that is not required, it also doesn't have airbags or a flight data recorder. I don't understand how you can be critical of a company that doesn't get something that is not required.
As far as what you have "heard", let me tell you what I have experienced. I burn about 15 splits of wood a day. Temperature outside has averaged about 20F. Inside temperature is 68 to 70F. It has exceeded every expectation I had and will pay for itself by spring. I check my chimney regularly and it is clean.

Yeah SeanD, I looked at the Englander add-on furnace twenty years ago. I ended up going with the big Sierra insert and it has served me well but since I have another flue in the basement I have been looking at it again. I am glad to hear from someone that is using one.

England Stove Works is about a hundred and twenty five miles from me. They have sold thousands of stoves here in Virginia and everybody I know that has one loves'em. They are geared for the do it yourself'er to. Always have been.

What did HD charge you for the furnace?

 

[SeanD]

BrotherBart,
It was a little under $900. Spent another $50 on pipe and stuff. The problem was finding a store with one in stock. They sold like hotcakes and have been out of stock for a couple of months. Like other stove manufacturers England was surprised by the spike in demand this year.
My wife was very skeptical when I suggested we try to heat with wood. The past 2 years I have cut more wood than we could ever use, so we had plenty of free fuel. Now she is the biggest woodheat fan I know.
Sean

 

[Michael6268]

Sean D.
Only being critical because all the other stoves they make are EPA certed. So I think they should have also made this one a EPA stove. Never understood the laws on why its ok to pollute the evirnment with basically a old airtight design with a air jacket around it, but not ok to pollute with a old buck stove. Should have refraised my statement to "only problem with it is the EPA doesnt enforce "add on stoves" to the same regulations. And if you are only burning 15 splits a day you are lucky. Friend of mine had one and ate like 15 pieces every two hours and when he called Englander they said, "oh thats about average for a stove like this"! He had to get rid of it because of it.

 

[SeanD]

Wow. The only way I could burn 15 logs every two hours would be with the door open. Can't imagine how hot our home would get. Maybe your friend was burning smaller pieces of wood. My splits are 20-22" long and 5-6" diameter. All hardwood (cherry, elm, locust and oak) aged about 18 months. About every 8 hours I put in 4 or five logs, open the damper to get a good, hot fire going and then back off on the air to slow the fire. Less wood if it is not so cold outside.
I will also tell you that my chimney is not billowing with clouds of smoke. Most often you can barely tell I am burning. I don't know how that correlates with emission quantities, but I have to think it could be much worse.

 

[saichele]

So Sean -

It's OK for this to share a flue with your regular furnace/HW heater? I thought that was a no no.

As far as wood consumption, that's about what my insert eats, but it's really only heating about 1200 sq ft.

Steve

 

[BrotherBart]

So Sean -

It's OK for this to share a flue with your regular furnace/HW heater? I thought that was a no no.

As far as wood consumption, that's about what my insert eats, but it's really only heating about 1200 sq ft.

Steve

Hmmm... I never saw anywhere where he said he was sharing a flue?

 

[SeanD]

Nope, don't share a flue. When we built this house I had an extra flue put in the chimney with the idea of putting a stove in someday. Put a cap on it until I was ready to add the wood furnace.
Actually, if I had to put in a chimney for this it would have been much harder and more expensive to do. Maybe to the point of killing the idea. But since the flue was there, all I had to do was uncap the chimney, open the thimble and hook up the furnace.

 

[elkimmeg]

sean I have an extra flue tell us more about the boiler does it supply forced HW to baseboard heat is it fed threw your existing boiler Man that seems like the way to go forget the fans to push heat around I need more info thanks

 

[saichele]

So Sean -

It's OK for this to share a flue with your regular furnace/HW heater? I thought that was a no no.

As far as wood consumption, that's about what my insert eats, but it's really only heating about 1200 sq ft.

Steve

Hmmm... I never saw anywhere where he said he was sharing a flue?

Nope, you're right. Must have been at the englander site.

nevermind.

Steve

 

[SeanD]

Elk,
Not a boiler. It's a forced air add on furnace. Like a woodstove inside a metal box. When the temperature in the air space between the stove and box hits 125F an 850cfm fan turns on. This forces the hot air into an 8" hot air duct coming out of the top of the outer box. This is connected to your existing NG furnace hot air delivery duct work. I put a butterfly gate in this duct to insure the air flows one way - into the living space.
My natural gas furnace is a Carrier Infinity system. I turn on it's fan at the slow speed to run constantly. You can barely hear it run. This circulates the air through the house constantly, with a shot of warm air from the wood stove every 5 or ten minutes. It also runs the electronic air cleaner and humidifier. If the inside temp ever falls below 60, the carrier furnace turns on. Hasn't happened yet.
Sean

 

[Ant50]

I have a 1400 sf ranch with a open floor plan..kitchen, living room, dining room, and with 2 bedrooms on one side and a master bedroom and bath on the other side. I have a Avalon Pendalton, purchased from Craigs old store, which is their smallest stove(rated 700 to 1200?? sf) in the living room. I will say I am very inpressed with this stove. I live in NJ so we don't get extreme cold, but last year we got a couple 0 and 5 degree nights, but I can keep the house anywhere between 72 and 80 degrees depending on how often I feel like loading the stove. The only downside to this stove is the small firebox which can fit about 3 split pieces of wood, which means loading every 1.5 to 4 hrs depending? An overnight burn can get 6 to 7 hours but really don't put out alot of heat, but is good for fast restarting. I recentling added a 16x20 family room off the back of our house and added a 1000 sq Century woodstove purchased from Lowes. I bought it last year on clearance before the room was finished for $319. I will say this stove heats very well, prob. a little big for just one room but I try to burn smaller fires in it. The secondary combustion works very well also. One thing I did notice is the Avalon is a double walled stove and the Century is a single walled stove, the Century seems to heat up faster and cool down faster as well. I will say for the money and for one room heating it is a nice stove but can tell the diffrence in quality between the Avalon..ie welds, gasket sealing, door closing,and most importantly dealer end service.